Geographic Mobility, Kinship and the Family in South India
Author(s)
Ramu, G. N.
Abstract
Much of the research on the Indian family is an attempt to establish the presence or absence of the joint family. The present paper deviates from the usual joint family controversy and focuses on the nature of the kinship and family ties among the 287 migrant lower-class and lower-caste gold miners in Kolar Gold Fields in Mysore State, India. The data suggest that the geographic mobility has caused the breakdown of the localistic patrilineal kinship system. However, the kinship ties are maintained despite the spatial distance. The nature of the kinship ties among the respondents is predominantly expressive and instrumental in character. In the city the modal family is the nuclear family. The respondents have adapted to the industrial setting despite the breakdown of their face-to-face extended kinship system.
