Network Analysis and Ethnographic Problems

Network Analysis and Ethnographic Problems:

Process Models of a Turkish Nomad Clan

Douglas R. White and Ulla C. Johansen

Lexington Books

Network Analysis and Ethnographic Problems:

Process Models of a Turkish Nomad Clan

(graphic for the back cover)

Paul Pangaro 1990, Course Description (Cybernetics)

Network Analysis and Ethnographic Problems:

Process Models of a Turkish Nomad Clan

Douglas R. White and Ulla C. Johansen

With a foreword by Andrey Korotayev

Dedicated to the memory of Thomas Schweizer,

whose stimulating creativity brought us together in this work

Blank

Contents Summary

Foreword by Andrey Korotayev ix

Preface and Acknowledgments xiii

Chapter 1 Introduction: Networks, Ethnography and Emergence 1 58

Chapter 2 Problems of Analysis 59 95

Chapter 3 Ethnographic Setting 97 109

Chapter 4 Theory, Rules and Exceptions 111 125

Chapter 5 Network Models and Complexity:

Measures, Graphs, and Context 127 163

Chapter 6 Clan Structures and Dynamics 165 223

Chapter 7 Marriage, Rank and Migration:

Fractality in Social Structure 225 294

Chapter 8 Demography, Structure, and Social Change 295 319

Chapter 9 Decentralized Leadership and Network Cohesion 321 375

Chapter 10 Graphic Approaches to Nomad Solidarity:

The Endoconical Clan 377 406

Chapter 11 Conclusions 407 439

Glossary 441 465

Appendix: The Nomad Genealogical Data and the WWW 467 471

Bibliography 473 488

Index of Authors 489 492

Index of Subjects 493 499

About the Authors 500

List of Photographs

Frontispiece: June 14, 1957, the funeral service after 40 days (mevlût) of patriarch Fındıklı Abbas (840, Ecevitli lineage), attended by most of the family heads. Although members of the clan are highly cooperative, competition had already begun with the brother of the deceased who became tanıdık kişi that same year.

Ethnographic and Leadership after Chapter 3

Patriarchs after Chapter 6

Contents Overview xix

Contents Overview

Preface
Organization of the Chapters
Acknowledgements
Further Reading
Chapter 1 Networks, Ethnography, and Emergence /

1

Networks and Ethnography /

2

The Path of Network Analysis in the 1960s /

3

A Network Paradigm Developed in Long-Term Field Studies

4

What is different now? /

5

Ethnography and Complex Interactive Processes /

6

Network Theory and Emergence: Four Propositions /

7

1. Structural properties / 8
The probabilistic theory of network topology and dynamics / 11
Generalizing the theory of network topology and dynamics / 21
2. Micro-macro linkages as explanatory principles / 24
3. Many structural properties have configurational Effects, whether or not they have micro-macro linkages / 26
4. Emergents may be local or nonlocal, depending on whether they have micro-macro linkages / 27
Ethnography and Emergence / 29
Unexpected Change: Emergence and Ethnography / 32
When does Network Analysis Matter? / 33
Sidedness: An Example where Propositions B through E Apply / 35
Emergence and Network Analysis in Ethnography / 37
Social Organization and Structure / 37
Organization and Groups / 38
Emergent Rules and Emergent Groups / 39
Cohesion and Emergent Groups / 40
Structural Cohesion as a Nonlocal Emergent / 44
Bounded and Overlapping Multiconnectivity Groups / 46
Edges and Boundaries / 47
Further Reading / 48
Notes / 49
Chapter 2 Problems of Analysis / 59
The Network Approach to Kinship and Marriage,
or Genealogical Networks / 64

Key Analytic Terms for Social Network Groupings: Emergent Patterns from Behavioral Choices

66

A Representation for Kinship Networks / 71

P-graph

/ 72

From Genealogies to Genealogical Networks

Method: Preparation of Data

The P-graph Genealogies / 75
The Merging and Splitting of Lineages in the Genealogies / 75
Computer Analysis /

Coding of Data /

Spreadsheeting and Transforming the Network Data / 87
Computer Assisted Analysis / 88
Providing Data and Analytic Tools for Analysis / 89
Summary / 90
Further Reading / 92
Notes / 93
Chapter 3 Ethnographic Setting / 97
Historical Background / 97
Fieldwork Conditions / 99

Population

Group Names and Multiple Levels of Membership / 100
Economic Basis and Inheritance Rules / 102
Lineages, Islam, and FBD Marriage / 105
Leading Personalities / 105
Summary / 106
Ethnographic and Leadership: Illustrations / Insert
Further Reading / 108

Notes

/ 108
Chapter 4 Theories, Rules, Exceptions, and Models / 111
Recurring Groups, Linking Alliances: A Critique / 111
Rules for Generating Recurrence in Social Structure / 113
Diachronics and Diversity / 119
Rules for Generating Diversity: FBD Marriage / 120
Summary / 122
Further Reading / 123
Notes / 123
Chapter 5 Network Models and Complexity: Measures, Graphs, and Sensitivity to Context / 127
Models for Large Networks, Small Worlds / 127
Small Worlds with Navigability / 128
Realistic Social Network Models for Complex Small Worlds / 129
Models for the Aydınlı: Lineage Fractals and Complex Small World Networks / 130
Aydınlı Marriage Networks as Complex Small Worlds / 131
“Arab” Type CSWs with Segmented Lineages / 135
Simulation Models / 135
Investigating Fractal Marriage Networks through Simulations: Agent-based Models / 136
Hammel’s Principle of Demographic Network Biases: The Example of Status Bias / 137
Feynman Simulation / 140
Deepening the Foundation for a Network Theory of Kinship / 142
The Axiom of Choice / 143
Baselines of Measurement of Particular Types of Marriage / 144
Prevalence / 144
Interactive Rate / 145
Selective Rate / 146
Relative rate / 147
Distributional Measures for Marriage Types / 148
Exponential Distributions / 148
Power law Distribution / 148
Truncation and Testing Distributions / 149
Temporal Distribution / 149
Using Graph Theory in the Study of Kinship Networks / 150
Summary / 156
Further Reading / 161
Notes / 161
Chapter 6 Clan Structures and Dynamics / 165
The Oral Tradition: Reconstructing the Past / 165
Taking the Genealogies / 166
Oral Traditions of the Lineage Founders / 168
The Genealogy and Relinking Marriage / 174
Written Historical Data about the Development of the Clan / 174
Clan Amalgamation / 175
Social Ranking of the Lineages / 177
Intermarriages and Descent as Bases of Clan Cohesion / 178
Sedentarization and Genealogical Memory / 179
Social Terminology and Social Change / 180
Introduction to the Computer Analyses, 1 – 20 / 180
A Note on Software / 181
Analysis 1: Finding Generation, Counting Marriages / 182

Tabulation by Generations

187

Computing Generational Depth

188

Keying the Dates

188

Generational Statistics

189

Tabulation of Marriages

191

Tabulation of Children

192

Analysis 2: The Structural Endogamy Hypothesis

194

Bicomponents of Kinship Graphs / 196
Giant Bicomponent / 197
Distance / 198
Analysis 3: Structural Endogamy with Outside Tribes / 201
A Single Tribal Origin / 206
Analysis 4: Clan Roots – Singularity and Multiplicity / 208
Analysis 5: Relinking as Attractor for Further Marriage Affecting Size of Groups / 212
Analysis 6: Dispersal of Marriages in Clan Integration and Exponential Distribution of Ancestors / 215

Summary

219

Patriarchs: Illustrations

Insert

Notes / 222
Chapter 7 Marriage, Rank and Seasonal Migration: Fractality in Social Structure / 225
Equality and Rank / 226
Competition for Social Rank and Feuding / 226
Barth’s Model of Nomad Dynamics / 227
Negotiations and Choice at Marriage / 228
Bride Payments and the FBD / 228
Marriage Exchange / 232
Marriage Choice and the Extended Family / 234
Meeting a Potential Spouse in the Circle of Families, Enlarged through Close Ties of Reciprocal Exchange / 236
How are Close Marriages Attained? / 237
Analysis 7: Local Curvature and Network Structure / 238
Network Neighborhoods and Curvature / 241
The Lowland-Highland Continuum / 243
Local Clustering Density and Continuum Scaling / 251
The Cascade of Lineage Segments and their Fractal Relationship / 251
Structural Properties of the Sublineage Marriage Network / 254
A Small-World Network of Strong Ties: Local Clustering and Short
Distances Among Reciprocating Sublineages / 257

Equality in Generation between Husband and Wife

262

Ambiguities of Individual and Marriage “Generation”

263

Individual and Marriage Generation Looked at as Mutually Informative

265

Analysis 8: Same Generation Marriage and the Qur’an

266

The Problem with Counting Generations for Individuals / 267
Rank, Seniority, and Lineage / 270
The Distance between Norms and Behavior / 271
Difference between Marriage Frequencies and Preferences / 271
Analysis 9: Fractality in a Marriage System / 272

Competition and Fractality; Fractality Defined and Tested

273

The Fractality of Two-Family Relinking

278

Power-Law Theory for Preferential Attachment to Degree and

Preferential Attachment to Relinking (Ring Cohesion)

279

Preferential Attachment to Degree

279

Lack of Preferential Attachment to Degree in the Kinship Domain

280

Preferential Attachment to Relinking

280

Ring Cohesion Theory

281

Fractally Segmented Lineages as Self-Organizing Systems: Navigable Small Worlds in the Kinship Domain

284

Fractally Segmented Lineages as Self-Organizing Systems

286

Summary

287

Further Readings / 291
Notes / 292
Chapter 8 Demographic Choice and Constraint:
Historical Structure and Change / 293

Demographic Opportunity and Constraint as Influences on Social

Cohesion, Resilience, and Change / 295
Analysis 10: Co-Selection Bias among Siblings / 296
Marriage Choice and Constraint / 299
Spatial and Network Constraints in Finding a Spouse / 299
Demographic Constraints in Choice of a Spouse / 300
Analysis 11: Cousin Marriage Demography / 301
FBD and the Agnatic Line / 304
FBD Marriage: Index of Tradition, or Generator of Diversity / 305
MBD Marriage: The Effects of Spatiality and Demography / 306
MZD and the Uterine Line / 307
Analysis 12: FBD and MZD Demography Compared / 309
Theory and Measurement: FBD and MZD Demographics / 309
MZD-FBD Inverse Correlation: Residence as a Third Factor / 311
Findings from Controlled Simulation / 312
Marriage and Social Change / 315
Stayers and Leavers Revisited / 316
Summary / 316
Further Readings / 319
Chapter 9 Decentralized Leadership and Network Cohesion / 321
Decentralized Leadership and the Aydınlı Case / 321
Aydınlı Leadership and Network Cohesion / 322
Network Cohesion Created by Marriage as a Predictor of Emergent Leadership: Hypotheses and Measures / 325
Measuring Network Cohesion Created by Marriage / 327
The Logical Construction of Social Cohesion / 328
Reliance on Dependant Nodes for Cohesion in Kinship Networks / 329
Direct versus Mediated Forms of Cohesion / 331
Analysis 13: Hierarchical Embedding of Cohesion / 334
Concentric Rings of Decreasing Pairwise Connectivity / 335
Leadership and Levels of Exocohesion / 337
The Erosion of Exocohesion over Time / 338
Growth of Size as a Dilution of the Exocohesive Groups / 339
Tanıdık Kişi and Cohesion / 340
Analysis 14: Exclusion Principles, Cohesion versus Adhesion / 342
Adhesion versus Cohesion (Maxflow versus Point Connectivity) / 345
Marriage Behavior that Avoids Enhancement of the Centrality of Others / 348

Analysis 15: Distributed Cohesion in Kinship Networks

/ 348
Analysis 16: Network and Attribute Leadership Predictors / 350
Entrepreneurship and Parents’ Status as Predictors of Emergent
Leadership / 360
Leadership, Marriage, and Social Change / 362
Analysis 17: Overall Cohesion, Lineage, and Leaders / 363
Summary / 370
Further Readings / 371
Notes / 372
Chapter 10 Graphic Approaches to Nomad Solidarity: The Endo-conical Clan / 377
The Endo-conical Clan / 378
Analysis 18: Age Ranking and the Endo-conical Clan / 381

Analysis 19: Levels of Relinking

389

Maximal Chains / 390
Chain-Reduced Graphs / 391
Demographic Change in the Stayer Bias for Larger Families / 392
Analysis 20: Time Slice Graphs of Network Change / 394

Historically Recent Breaks in the Cohesive Relinking of the Clan

399

Summary

403

Further Reading / 404
Notes / 405
Chapter 11 Overview and Conclusions / 408

Overview

408

Dynamics: The Long-Term Findings / 409
Long-Term Ethnography versus Longitudinal Analysis / 409
Ethnogenesis of the Clan: Understanding Dynamic Complexity / 411
Clan Cohesion, Segmentation, Expulsion, and Transformation / 413
Enlarging the Concepts Concerning Clans / 415
Decline: Demographic Changes through Outmigration and Continued Viability of Nomadic Social Forms / 416
The Anthropology of Relations / 418
Norms and Behavior: What People Do and What They Say / 418
Structural Endogamy as Extra-cohesive Connectivity Reproduced in the Practice of Marital Relinking: Social Inclusion and Exclusion / 420
Subgroup Analysis / 421
Leadership and the Political System / 424
Measuring Relinking Density and the Porousness of Structural Endogamy / 427
Identification of Emergent Forms / 428
Intra-lineage and Blood Marriages as Extra-cohesive Relinking / 428
Graphic Approaches / 431
General Methodological Conclusions / 433
Complexity Theory / 434
Looking to the Future of Longitudinal Studies / 435
Further Readings / 437
Notes / 438
Glossary / 441
List of Terms in the Glossary / 441
Ethnographic and Sociological Vocabulary / 446
Behavior / 446
Norm / 446
Types of Kin / 446
Marriage Behaviors / 447
Role Relations / 447
Kinship Terms / 447
Graph Theory / 448
Node / 448
Line / 448
Graph / 449
Relation / 449
Networks Vocabulary: / 449
Network / 449
Small world / 449
Tie / 450
Structural Properties of Graphs and Networks: / 450
Reciprocity / 450
Curvature / 450
Balance, Clustering and Ranking / 450
Transitivity / 450
Properties of Triples / 451
Cohesion, Structural Cohesion / 451
k-components / 451
Exocohesion / 451
Adhesion / 451
Centrality / 452
Recursive centrality / 452
Centralization / 452
Edge Betweenness and Cohesion / 452
Structural and Regular Equivalence and Blockmodeling / 452
Methods of Graph and Network Analysis: / 453
Hierarchical Clustering / 453
Automatic drawing, spring embedding / 453
Eigenvalue/Eigenvector analysis / 453
Analytic Vocabulary for Kinship and Social Organization: / 453
Asset and Marriage Transfers: / 454
Wealth-asset / 454
Bridewealth / 454
Dowry / 454
Descent Groups: / 454
Clan / 454
Lineage / 454
Affinity and Descent: / 455
Agnatic / 455
Uterine / 455
Cognatic or Bilateral / 455
Modes of reckoning descent / 455
Postmarital Residence: / 456
Patrilocal / 456
Matrilocal / 456
Neolocal / 456
Network-Defined Concepts in Social Organization
Structural Endogamy / 456
P-graph / 456
Emergent group / 457
Emergent rule / 457
Emergent role / 458
Emergent process / 458
Complexity Theory: / 458
Micro-macro linkages / 458
Emergents and Emergence / 458
Complexity / 459
Tipping Point / 459
Power-law growth or decay / 459
Fractality / 459
Exponential growth or decay / 459
Appendix / 459
Bibliography / 472

xxv