Forbidden Relatives: The American Myth of Cousin Marriage - Couverture souple

Ottenheimer, Martin

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0252065409 ISBN 13 : 9780252065408

Editeur : University of Illinois Press, 1996

Synopsis

Forbidden Relatives challenges the belief--widely held in the United States--that legislation against marriage between first cousins is based on a biological risk to offspring. In fact, its author maintains, the U.S. prohibition against such unions originated largely because of the belief that it would promote more rapid assimilation of immigrants.
A social anthropologist, Martin Ottenheimer questioned U.S. laws against cousin marriage because his international research into marriage patterns showed no European countries prohibit such unions. He examines the historical development of U.S. laws governing marriage, contrasts them with European laws, and analyzes the genetic implications of first cousin marriage. Modern genetic evidence, Ottenheimer says, doesn't support the concept that children of these unions are at any special risk.
Ottenheimer's book, the only volume available that deals with kinship in this way, will challenge readers and give them much to consider and discuss.

A propos du livre

À propos de l?auteur

Martin Ottenheimer, a professor of anthropology at Kansas State University, is the author of Marriage in Dmoni and Historical Dictionary of the Comoro Islands.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: University of Illinois Press
• Date d'édition: 1996
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0252065409
• ISBN 13: 9780252065408
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 192
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible