Matrilocality is a term used in social anthropology. It describes a societal system in which the offspring of a mother remain living in the mother's house, thereby forming large "clan-families", typically consisting of three or four generations living under the same roof.

Frequently, visiting marriage is being practiced, meaning that husband and wife are living apart in their separate families, seeing each other in their spare time. The children of such marriages are raised by the mother's extended matrilineal clan. The father does not have a significant role in the upbringing of his own children; he does, however, in that of his sisters' children.

In direct consequence, property is inherited from generation to generation, and over all, remains largely undivided.

Examples of matrilocal societies include the Ancient Pueblo Peoples of Chaco Canyon, the Mosuo of Southwestern China, and the Minangkabau of Western Sumatra.

The term matrilocality is also used in the same sense in sociobiology, to describe animal societies in which a pair bond is formed between animals born or hatched in different areas or different social groups, and the pair become resident in the female's home area or group.

References

• Peregrine, Peter N. (2001). Matrilocality, Corporate Strategy, and the Organization of Production in the Chacoan World. American Antiquity. Jan. v66. i1. p36.

See also

• Matriarchy
• Matrilineality