FBD Marriage and Demography among Tripolitanian Jews in Israel

Abstract

This paper has attempted to assess the importance of FBD [father''s brother''s daughter] marriage in a community of North African immigrants to Israel. The central problem has been to compare the observed rate of FBD marriage to that which might be expected by chance alone. More specifically, the expected rate of FBD marriage was determined by considering a number of the particular demographic features of the community. The probability assessed by this method was compared with the probability computed from 2 more general models proposed by Gilbert and Hammel (1966). There was close agreement between the different methods of determining the expected probability of FBD marriage. In comparing the expected rate of FBD marriage with the observed rate, it was found that there was a statistically significant difference between the two despite the fact that only 4 males in the community married their FBD. This figure assumes greater significance in view of the fact that only 12 males had an FBD within an age range that included 86% of all the married couples in the sample. It was suggested that, in Even Yosef, there is a preference for "marrying a close relative", whether matrilateral or patrilateral. This preference, however, is only one element in a system of preferences or rules that influence mate selection. A model of the cultural marriage rules of Even Yosef, or other Middle Eastern communities, should take into account both kinship factors and nonkinship factors.