ABSTRACT
The chapter begins with an account of the concept of house in the context of the comparative literature on ‘house societies’. It examines in detail how Nuaulu sacred houses are constituted and function within individual clans, and the relations of networks of kin comprising these, and how they are clustered into groups we can call households, residences and the domestic groups. Genealogical relations with members of other clans are introduced, and attention is devoted to the existence of ego-focused networks and how developmental cycles alter the composition of, and relations between, these identifiable groupings. The chapter concludes by describing the incorporation of people through fosterage and adoption.
