This dissertation research project supports an anthropology student from the University of Michigan studying changes in marriage patterns in two tribal communities in eastern Indonesia. The project will examine the effects of cash crop production (in one group) on traditional marriage exchanges and responsibilities within and between family groups. One group has substituted cash exchanges for traditional goods, and the project hypothesizes that these cash exchanges are associated with increasing social stratification. Methods include local surveys, participant observation, and structured interviewing. This research is important because tribal groups all over the world are becoming increasingly monetized. Understanding how the commercial aspects of their lives changes traditional social relations will help policy makers deal with these usually negative aspects of economic development.
