ABSTRACT
Beyond his immediate household family each individual recognizes a range of bilateral kin. Genealogies are remembered to a depth of three to four generations, and the scope of recognized collaterals reaches roughly to the third-cousin level. Both lack of mobility and the fact that kin ‘look’ for one another lead to a connection between kinship and locality at the community or area level. Each campesino village consists of a dense network of kinship and affinal ties, and these bonds spill beyond the borders of a community into adjacent hamlets. Therefore, within a locality each individual bears a complex and total kinship status. Yet, paradoxically, in everyday terms, this complete system of relationships determines little of an individual's actions. Except in cases of renunciation, an individual must recognize his kinship bonds, but the relationships themselves need not be activated. In this respect, the broader kinship network provides a marked contrast to intra-household bonds. Households are largely self-sufficient and independent; within the context of the home, family ties are of utmost importance. Coresidents must fulfil their mutual obligations. By contrast, kinship and affinal links outside the household are sporadically utilized. The broader kinship network is characterized by ‘ascribed optation’.
