View source for Endogamy

{{Short description|Marrying within a specific ethnic group, class, or social group}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{more citations needed|date=March 2023}}
{{Anthropology of kinship |concepts}}
'''Endogamy''' is the cultural practice of mating within a specific [[social group]], [[religious denomination]], [[caste]], or [[ethnic group]], rejecting any from outside of the group or belief structure as unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relationships. Its opposite, [[exogamy]], describes the social norm of marriage outside of the group.
Endogamy is common in many cultures and ethnic groups. Several [[religious]] and [[Ethnic religion|ethnic religious]] groups are traditionally more endogamous, although sometimes mating outside of the group occurs with the added dimension of requiring [[Marital conversion|marital religious conversion]]. This permits an exogamous marriage, as the convert, by accepting the partner's religion, becomes accepted within the endogamous group. Endogamy may result in a higher rate of [[recessive gene]]–linked [[genetic disorder]]s.
==Adherence==
{{Further|Population genetics|inbreeding}}
Endogamy can encourage [[sectarianism]] and serves as a form of self-segregation. For instance, a community resists integration or completely merging with the surrounding population. Minorities can use it to stay ethnically homogeneous over a long time as distinct communities within societies that have other practices and beliefs.
The [[Isolationism|isolationist]] practices of endogamy may lead to a group's extinction, as genetic diseases may develop that can affect an increasing percentage of the population. However, this disease effect would tend to be small unless there is a high degree of close inbreeding, or if the endogamous population becomes very small in size.
==Social dynamics==
The [[Urapmin people|Urapmin]], a small tribe in [[Papua New Guinea]], practice strict endogamy. The Urapmin also have a system of kinship classes known as ''tanum miit''. Since the classes are inherited [[Cognatic kinship|cognatically]], most Urapmin belong to all of the major classes, creating great fluidity and doing little to differentiate individuals.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Robbins
| first = Joel
| title = Becoming Sinners: Christianity and Moral Torment in a Papua New Guinea Society
| publisher = University of California Press
| year = 2004
| isbn = 0-520-23800-1
|pages=191–192}}</ref>
The small community on the [[South Atlantic]] island of [[Tristan da Cunha]] are, because of their geographical isolation, an almost endogamic society. There are instances of health problems attributed to endogamy on the island, including [[glaucoma]] and [[asthma]] as research by the [[University of Toronto]] has demonstrated.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7766656.stm |publisher=BBC News |title=Worldwide search for asthma clue |date=9 December 2008 |access-date=15 March 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111123092415/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7766656.stm |archive-date=23 November 2011 }}</ref>
==Genealogy==
Endogamic marriage patterns may increase the frequency of various levels of [[cousin marriage]] in a population, and may cause high probability of children of first, second, third cousins, etcetera.
If a cousin marriage has accrued in a known ancestral tree of a person, in historical time, it is referred to as [[pedigree collapse]]. This may cause relations along multiple paths between a person's autosomal-DNA matches. It creates stronger DNA matches between the DNA matches than expected from the nearest path.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.legacytree.com/blog/dealing-endogamy-part-exploring-amounts-shared-dna | title=Endogamy Part 1: Exploring Shared DNA &#124; Legacy Tree Genealogists | date=13 October 2016 }}</ref>
Cousin marriage should not be confused with [[double cousin]]s, which do not cause a pedigree collapse. Certain levels of [[sibling marriage]] and cousin marriage is prevented by law in some countries, and referred to as [[consanguinity]].
A long term pattern of endogamy in a region may increase the risk of repeated cousin marriage during a long period of time, referred to as [[inbreeding]]. It may cause additional noise in the DNA autosomal data, giving the impressions that DNA matches with roots in that region are more closely related than they are.
==Examples==
{{expand section|endogomy characteristics in Japan|date=April 2023}}
Examples of ethnic and religious groups that have typically practiced endogamy include:
*[[Aari people|Aari]]<ref>[[David Reich (geneticist)|David Reich]] (2019), [[Who We Are and How We Got Here|Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past]] {{ISBN| 978-019-882-1250}}, pages 219-223. '''Quote:''' "Today there is an intricate caste system that shapes the lives of many people within Ethiopia, with elaborate rules preventing marriage between groups with different traditional roles. The Ari include three subgroups--the Cultivators, Blacksmiths, and Potters--who are socially and genetically differentiated from one another and from non-Ari groups. Since the Ari have a distinctive genetic affinity to the forty-five-hundred-year-old ancient highland individual compared to other Ethiopian groups, it is clear that there were strong local barriers to gene exchange and homogenization within the region of present-day Ethiopia that persisted for at least forty-five hundred years. This is the best example of strong endogamy that I know of even more ancient than the evidence of endogamy in India that so far is only documented as going back a couple of thousand
years."</ref>
*[[Alawites]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/14/syrias-ruling-alawite-sect/ | title=Syria's Ruling Alawite Sect | date=14 June 2011 }}</ref>
* The [[Amish]] of North America<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/articles/2004/07/23/sids.php |title=Genomics in Amish Country |last=Ruder |first=Katherine 'Kate' |date=23 July 2004 |publisher=Genome News Network}}</ref>
*Various [[Arab tribes]]<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3629435 | jstor=3629435 | title=The Structure of Endogamous Unilineal Descent Groups | last1=Patai | first1=Raphael | journal=Southwestern Journal of Anthropology | year=1965 | volume=21 | issue=4 | pages=325–350 | doi=10.1086/soutjanth.21.4.3629435 | s2cid=147674220 }}</ref>
* [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]], indigenous Christian people of upper [[Mesopotamia]]<ref name="Awoyemi2014">{{cite book|author=Dr. Joseph Adebayo Awoyemi|title=Pre-marital Counselling In a Multicultural Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nm1LCAAAQBAJ&pg=PT75|date=14 September 2014|isbn=978-1-291-83577-9|pages=75–|publisher=Lulu.com }}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
* [[Armenian people|Armenians]] have a history of endogamy due to being almost entirely surrounded by Islamic neighbours while being a strongly Christian nation.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Armenia in Pictures|last=Waters|first=Bella|publisher=Learner Publishing Group|year=2009|isbn=9780822585763|location=Minneapolis, MN|pages=25}}</ref>
*[[Béké|Békés]]
*[[Copts|Coptic Christians]]<ref>{{cite journal|author=Patrick Alexander Younan |title=The Coptic Christians of Egypt: Dhimmitude and Discrimination |journal=Law School Student Scholarship |date=2014 |url=https://scholarship.shu.edu/student_scholarship/608}}</ref>
* [[Daylamites]], an ethnic group living south of the [[Caspian Sea]] in ancient and medieval Persia
* [[Druze]]<ref name=dawn>{{cite book|title=Displacement and Dispossession in the Modern Middle East|last= Chatty|first= Dawn |publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-81792-9|date= 15 March 2010}}</ref>
* [[Haemophilia_in_European_royalty|European royalty]]
* [[Gitanos]] typically practice endogamy within their ''raza'', or [[Patrilineality|patrigroup]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Gay y Blasco |first1=Paloma |title=Gitano Evangelism: the Emergence of a Politico-Religious Diaspora |url=http://www.transcomm.ox.ac.uk/working%20papers/WPTC-01-04%20Gayyblasco.pdf |website=Index of working papers |access-date=3 February 2020 |ref=www.transcomm.ox.ac.uk/working papers/WPTC-01-04 Gayyblasco.pdf |archive-date=25 September 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060925054608/http://www.transcomm.ox.ac.uk/working%20papers/WPTC-01-04%20Gayyblasco.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* [[Greek Cypriots]] usually practice endogamy in order to maintain their status as the majority ethnic group on the island of [[Cyprus]].
* [[Iranian Turkmen]]s{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}
* [[Lepcha people|Lepcha]], an ethnic group in India, Nepal, and Bhutan
* [[Judaism]] traditionally mandates religious endogamy, requiring that both marriage partners be Jewish, while allowing for marriage to converts. [[Orthodox Judaism]] maintains the traditional requirement for [[endogamy in Judaism]] as a binding,<ref name="Kid68b">''[[Nashim|Kiddushin]]'' 68b</ref> inherent part of Judaism's religious beliefs and traditions.<ref>{{Cite web |first=Jerome M. |last=Epstein |date=29 October 2020 |title=Endogamy is a mitzvah |url=https://jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com/endogamy-is-a-mitzvah-2/ |work=[[Jewish Standard]]}}</ref>
* The [[Knanaya]], an endogamous group within the [[St. Thomas Christian]] Community of India. The community claims to have arrived to India in the fourth century and have been noted for their historical practice of endogamy.{{Citation needed|date=December 2021}}
* Members of [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] or other religious and/or cultural groups relating to [[Mormonism]]
* [[Sayyid|Sayyids]]
*[[Saint Thomas Christians|Syrian Christians of Kerala, India]] – but [[marital conversion]] is allowed.
* [[Parsis]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Qamar |first1=Raheel |last2=Ayub |first2=Qasim |last3=Mohyuddin |first3=Aisha |last4=Helgason |first4=Agnar |last5=Mazhar |first5=Kehkashan |last6=Mansoor |first6=Atika |last7=Zerjal |first7=Tatiana |last8=Tyler-Smith |first8=Chris |last9=Mehdi |first9=S. Qasim |title=Y-Chromosomal DNA Variation in Pakistan |journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics |date=May 2002 |volume=70 |issue=5 |page=1119 |doi=10.1086/339929 |pmid=11898125|pmc=447589 }}</ref>
* [[Rajput]]s<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fischer |first=R. J. |year=1997 |chapter=Castes and Caste Relationships |title=If Rain Doesn't Come |url=https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/index.php/SSSC/article/download/8057/8181 |publisher=Manohar Publishers and Distributors |pages=53''ff''|isbn= 978-8173041846}}</ref>
* The [[Vaqueiros de alzada]] of Spain<ref>García Martínez, Adolfo (2009) [1988]. Los vaqueiros de alzada de Asturias: un estudio histórico-antropológico (Second edition)[in Spanish]. Oviedo: KRK Ediciones. p.746-748. {{ISBN|978-8-483-67229-7}}.</ref>
* [[Yazidis]]<ref>{{Cite book|title = The Yezidis: The History of a Community, Culture and Religion|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ql4BAwAAQBAJ|publisher = I.B.Tauris|date = 23 December 2014|isbn = 9780857720610|language = en|first = Birgül|last = Açikyildiz}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|title = Everything You Need to Know About the Yazidis|url = https://time.com/3091932/yazidi-iraq-isis-obama/|magazine = [[Time (magazine)|Time]] |access-date = 7 February 2016|first = Mirren|last = Gidda}}</ref>
* [[Mandaeans]]
* Most [[Hindu]] [[Jāti|jatis]] on the [[Indian subcontinent]], as well as many endogamous [[baradari (brotherhood)|baradaris]] among [[South Asian Muslims]]
* The Surti and the Kaanam (Bharuchis) of Gujarat. In Gujarat on either side of the Narmada River lies two major cities, Surat and Bharuch. Those lying south of Narmada are generally termed as Surtis and those north of it are termed as Kaanam. Endogamy was historically practiced amongst these two groups and it continued as they migrated to other regions of the world. Surtis would only marry Surtis and Kaanams would only marry Kaanams. It is only recently in the past 50 years that this practice has been discontinued. Before that, if a girl's family could not find a suitable partner amongst their group in the migrated land, they would prefer getting her married to a boy from back home (Gujarat) even though boys of marriageable age would be available in their land of migration.
==See also==
* [[Anti-miscegenation laws]]
* [[Arranged marriage]]
* [[Assortative mating]]
* [[Consanguinity]]
* [[Ethnic nationalism]]
* [[Ethnoreligious group]]
* [[Genealogical DNA test]]
* [[Interfaith marriage]]
* [[Jāti]]
* [[Miscegenation]]
'''Cousin marriage:'''
* [[Cousin marriage]]
* [[Gotra#Marriages and gotras|Marriages and gotras]]
* [[List of coupled cousins]]
'''Marriage systems:'''
* [[Exogamy]]
* [[Homogamy (sociology)|Homogamy]]
* [[Hypergamy]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
*{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Endogamy |volume=9 |short=x}}
* {{cite journal |url=http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/38/6/1453.full|doi=10.1093/ije/dyp313|title=Commentary: The background and outcomes of the first-cousin marriage controversy in Great Britain|year=2009|last1=Bittles|first1=A. H.|journal=International Journal of Epidemiology|volume=38|issue=6|pages=1453–1458|pmid=19926668|doi-access=free}}
{{Types of marriages|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Endogamy| ]]
[[Category:Caste]]
[[Category:Incest]]