Marriage Networks among Australian Aboriginal Populations

International audienceIn the study of marriage networks, primary emphasis is given neither to classificatory schemes nor to normative precepts, but to the emergent patterning of consanguinal and affinal connectivities. The present paper develops certain aspects of this approach with respect to Australian Aboriginal populations. It demonstrates the importance of bipartite or dual organisation of matrimonial networks among both 'remote' and 'settled' Australian Aboriginal groups and addresses a number of theoretical and methodological issues pertaining to the definition, the delimitation, and the structuring of marriage network entities