Radcliffe-Brown. Futher notes on joking relationships.

Tpico I

Existem duas forma de entender um costume ou uma instituio (ver DUVIDA I): 1
(...) to examine the part it plays in the system or complex of customs and institutions in
which it is found and the meaning that it has within this complex for the people
themselves 105. Ento: a) a relao entre o fenmeno e o sistema e b) seu signicado. 2
O mtodo comparativo (creio que R. se refere anlise terica comparada)

R. afirma que as j.r. advm de (...) from kinship, or more usually from marriage... 105

PROBLEMA. What is there in all these relationships [j.r.] that makes this type of
behaviour appreprice, meaningful, and functional? 106 DUVIDA. O que quer dizer
functional aqui?

Tpico II

Para entender as j.r. preciso entend-las em relao com outros costumes que veem
associados a ela: o costume de evitar o outro, por exemplo.

As j.r. e a evitao so associados amizade. SUB-PROBLEMA. Mas o que significa

amizade nesse contexto?

On the basis of comparative analysis it seems to me that the assertion of 'friendship'

means an obligation for the two persons not to enter into open quarrel or conflict with
each other. 107

HIPTESE. As j.r. e a evitao servem de meios para evitar conflito.

Logo em seguida, R. cita dois exemplos para corroborar sua hiptese: 1 pessoas que
fizeram o rito de passagem juntas podem entrar em uma relao de troca de presentes e
2 pessoas nascidas no mesmo dia em cls diferentes e hostis entre si podem entrar em
uma relao de trocar presentes. DUVIDA. No segundo exemplo, est claro que uma
relao de entregar presentes regularmente para o outro (o que me parece tambm um
desdobramento da relao de evitao) pode evitar o conflito aberto entre os cls ou ao
menos entre duas pessoas de cls hostis entre si. Mas no primeiro exemplo, onde est o
provvel conflito?

Tpico III
But these special forms of 'friendship' can, of course only be fully dealt with in terms
of a study of forms of social relationship in general, and this is not the place in which to
take up that very wide subject. Some social relationships are required by custom to be
based on respect, of difl^crent degrees and expressed in diff^erent ways; others are such
as to permit a certain degree of familiarity, and in extreme cases of licence. The rules of
etiquette are one method of standardising these features of social relations 107

R. insere as j.r. e as relaes de evitao no conjunto das formas de relao social, ou

seja, nosso autor est generalizando.

(...) the customs of avoidance or extreme respect towards the wife's parents, and of
privileged 'joking' with the wife's brothers and sisters, can be regarded as the means of
establishing and maintaining social equilibrium in a type of structural situation that
results in many societies from marriage. 108.

SUB-PROBLEMA. Se as j.r. e as r.e. cumprem a mesma funo, porque uma e no a

outra? Porque outros fatores entram em cena, como o fator geracional.

GENERALIZAO. Thus the special structural situation considered in this theory is

one of groups which maintain their separateness, each having its own system of internal
relationships between its members, and an indirect connection of a person of one group
with the other group through a particular personal relation. 109

As joking relationships e as relaes de evitao surgem entre dois grupos separados,

cada qual com seu conjunto de relaes sociais entre seus membros, mas ligados por
alguma relao entre um membro de um grupo e um membro de outro grupo.
DUVIDA. Elas, ento, cumprem a funo de evitar uma relao conflituosa entre os
dois grupos? DUVIDA II. Essa uma unio de opostos de que fala Radcliffe?

HIPTESE. The theory that I have offered of joking relationships between persons
related through marriage or by kinship is that they occur as social institutions in
structural situations of a certain general kind in which there are two groups, the
separateness of which is emphasised, and relations are established indirectly between a
person in one group and the members or some of the members of the other. The
relationship may be said to be one which expresses and emphasises both detachment (as
belonging to separated groups) and attachment (through the indirect personal relation).
These relationships of 'friendship', by avoidance or joking, contrast in a marked way
with the relationships of solidarity, involving a complex system of obligations, that exist
within a group such as a lineage or a clan. 109-10

A teoria uma tentiva de lidar com as formas de relaes sociais.

Solidarity x friendship

Tribes and clans are distinct separated groups each maintaining

its own identity and separateness. 110
Two clans may, in some instances, be united in a way in which there is a permanent
union of solidarity between the clans as groups and the members thereof. On the other
hand there may also be a relation between two clans of active or latent hostility. There is
a third possibility, that between two particular clans there may be a relation neither of
solidarity nor of hostility but of 'friendship' in which the separateness of the groups is
emphasised, but open conflict between the groups or the members on the two sides is
avoided by establishing a relation in which they may insult each other without giving or
taking offence. 110-1)

PROGRAMA. It should be made clear that what such a theory attempts to do is to deal
with all the known examples of a certain recognisable type of institutionalised
relationships in order to discover what common social feature makes this type of
behaviour appropriate, meaningful, and functional. 111

DUVIDA. A friendship o mesmo tipo de relao social que as unies de opostos?

I am distinguishing, therefore, a certain class of what I call 'friendship' relations, from

what I have called relations of solidarity' established by kinship or by membership of a
group such as a lineage or clan112

ABSTRAO

1. We may regard as one type of 'friendship' in this sense the relation set up
between persons or groups on the basis of a continued exchange of goods and
services. 112

2. A component of the relationship between groups is very commonly a certain

amount and kind of opposition, meaning by that term socially controlled and
regulated antagonism. 112

3. The joking relationship is thus one example of a wider kind; for it is a relation
of friendship in which there is an appearance of antagonism, controlled by
conventional rules. 112

4. As joking relationships no fim das contas so um tipo de relao social muito

mais vasto friendship relationships.

Oposio: antagonismo regulado e controlado socialmente.

 DUVIDAS

I) Isso no se contradiz com o que foi dito em The comparative method in

Social Anthropology? Em que Radcliffe afirma que existem o estudo
histrico e o estudo terico?

II) A anlise histrica e a anlise terica podem as duas servir tanto para
analisar custumes ou instituies de uma cultura, como para fazer uma
anlise comparativa. A anlise histrica pode ou analisar a origem de um
fenmeno cultural, ou analisar a origem de um conjunto de fenmenos
culturais que, se supe, tm uma origem comum. O que se faz aqui uma
reconstruo histrica. J a anlise terica foca em qu, quando ela voltada
para analisar fenmenos culturais isolados? Em estudar a relao de uma
instituio ou costume com o sistema? Estudar sua funo? Eu sei pelo
menos que um estudo sincrnico.