Matrilocality, Social Solidarity, and Culture Contact: Three Case Histories

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Abstract
Using data from three seminomadic-semisedentary bilateral societies--the Apache (with special reference to the Chiricahua and Mescalero), the Miskito of eastern Nicaragua, and the Mbayá of the Paraguayan Gran Chaco--hypotheses are presented concerning the adaptive significance of the matrilocal residence pattern characteristic of these groups. It is suggested that the functional value of cores of consanguineally related women lay not in economic activities per se but in their maintenance of traditionally oriented households under conditions of culture contact which necessitated that men be away from home for considerable periods. Matrilocality also facilitated the incorporation of large numbers of captives into these societies.

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