WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF POLYANDRY? : 2. SUCCESSIONAL

Unlike fraternal polyandry, where a woman will receive a number of husbands simultaneously, a woman will acquire one husband after another in sequence.

This form is flexible. These men may or may not be related. And it may or may not incorporate a hierarchical system, where one husband is considered primary and may be allotted certain rights or privileges not awarded to secondary husbands. Such as, biologically fathering a child.

In this particular system, the secondary husbands have the power to succeed the primary if he were to become severely ill or be away from the home for a long period of time or is otherwise rendered incapable of fulfilling his husbandly duties.

Successional polyandry can likewise be egalitarian, where all husbands are equal in status and receive the same rights and privileges. In this system, each husband will have a wedding ceremony and share paternity of whatever children she may bare.

Other Classifications: Secondary
Examples:

The Irigwe Tribe- Non-fraternal Successional

Irigwe Tribesmen during a ritualistic dance.1959

The Irigwe of Nigeria are one specific instance of a society that practices polyandry in the form of primary and secondary marriages. The parents of the couple typically arrange the primary marriage while the bride- and groom-to-be are young children.

The secondary marriages are initiated by the couples themselves, are relatively inexpensive, and nearly always function to produce offspring. The woman plays a large role in her own secondary marriage arrangements as she is expected to accept several engagements from different suitors, but her father ultimately must approve before she is able to accept.

A woman's control over her secondary marriages exists not only before she is married, but also after she bears her first child. She is able to decide which engagements she would like to honor and which she would not. While there is no specific mention of women's status among the lrigwe, the amount of control one has over her own future may indicate that women have relatively high status in the marital union. " ... while men are not ranked in these unions, wives hold a special status in some societies." Although the Irigwe were of rather low socioeconomic status, the unions within the society seem to be highly regarded.

The Shoshone Native Indian Tribe-Fraternal Successional Levirate

For the Shoshoni, the levirate required, as it typically does, that when widowed, a woman marry her deceased husband's brother. It also required that if a woman takes a second husband while her first husband is still alive, the second husband must be a brother of the first.

The levirate requirements, then, allowed for an easy transition when the first husband passed away, and encouraged fraternal polyandry within the society.

Shoshone Indian family in traditional dress.1895

Brothers in the union were of equal status, both were called "father" by their children, and biological paternity was not of any relevance. also reports of Shoshoni polyandry that it seemed "not to have been uncommon ... and carried no social stigma" . A function of fraternal polyandry among the Shoshoni was that while one husband was away from the home hunting, another was present at home with the wife. The Pawnee seemed to have used fraternal polyandry in a similar manner.

The Pawnee Native Indian Tribe-Fraternal Heirarchal Successional

The Pawnee practiced fraternal polyandry. A younger brother was taught to think of his older brother's wife as his own wife, and usually was invited to live with the couple once he became a young man. The secondary husband was allowed sexual access to the wife at the discretion of the primary husband, possibly after the younger brother demonstrated his bravery and prowess on the warpath. The younger brother usually stayed with his older brother's family for a few years until he married a wife of his own, thus it was common for polyandrous marriages among the Pawnee to be impermanent.

His primary role in his older brother's household was to provide protection for the wife when his brother was absent for any length of time. He was also to guard her sexuality to ensure that she was not having extramarital affairs. Such an offense could result in the woman being killed .

There was definite stratification among the brothers within the union; the older brother possessed more power and control than the younger brother, however, the status of the wife in the union was lower than that of either brother. Fairly high instances of warfare as well as necessity for long hunting trips, both requiring the primary husband to be away from the house for long periods of time, were factors that contributed to the occurrence of polyandry among the Pawnee.