Lewis Henry Morgan's Comparisons: Reassessing Terminology, Anarchy and Worldview in Indigenous Societies of America, Australia and Highland Middle Ind

About 150 years ago L. H. Morgan compared relationship terminologies, societal forms, and ideas of property to recognize the interdependence of the three domains. From a new perspective, the book will re-examine, confirm and criticize, Morgan's findings to conclude that reciprocal affinal relations determine most 'classificatory' terminologies and regulate many non-state societies, their property notions, and their rituals. Apart from references to American and Australian features, such holistic socio-cultural constructs will be exemplified by elaborate descriptions of little-known contemporary indigenous societies in highland Middle India, altogether comprising many millions of members.