246
Thus, contrary to Faure's "modest" claims, I see very little in his alternative thesis which offers any criticism of Freedman's model worthy of anthropological note, unless of course one finds it fair to force any body of ideas to answer questions it was not initially intended nor prepared to ask. Ironically, there is more in this book which is broadly supportive of lineage theory than contrary to it. For one thing, Faure's talk of lineage society as being real would have been enough to make Meyer Fortes, Maurice Freedman and other ancestors of lineage theory jump out of their graves in delight, especially if viewed in light of recent attacks by anthropologists who have argued that “descent groups” and **social structure** are imaginary constructs which have no basis in empirical reality at all. (Holy 1979, Dumont 1970) Even Faure's attempt to dissociate the village as something that should be understood in its own terms is confounded by his failure to look at the village as anything other than the aggregation of descent groups. In short, his talk of rights of settlement, rules of inheritance, genealogical linkages, membership criteria and relations to inalienable property reproduces the whole language of descent and social structure which is at the root of lineage theory (in any of its versions). To wit (anthropologists, take note),
The history of the lineage is one of the most important means of recording village membership, and given the fact that settlement rights are inheritable until they are surrendered, for instance, by the act of moving away, this is exactly what the researcher should expect of the villager's narrative. (p. 30)
Nonetheless, the founding of separate lineages, each holding independent settlement rights, but which retained the claim to, even if they did not practice, common ancestral worship, is clearly illustrated. The acquisition of independent settlement rights was, no doubt, a stage in lineage segmentation. (p. 47)
I have described four dimensions of the lineage in the organization of the villages of the eastern New Territories. First, the lineage embodies the inheritance of the rights of settlement in the village. Second, it is the corporate body, or the collection of corporate bodies, that holds property.
Page 270
Page 271