Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T08:05:19.790Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Consanguineous marriages among Andalusian Gitanos/Calé: a genealogical analysis (1925–2006)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 December 2019

Juan F. Gamella Open the ORCID record for Juan F. Gamella [Opens in a new window]
Juan F. Gamella*
Affiliation:
Departamento de Antropología Social, Universidad de Granada, Spain
*
Corresponding author: Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Using data from the family and genealogical reconstitutions of the Gitano population of 22 contiguous localities in eastern Andalusia, Spain, this study analysed the intensity, structure and historical evolution of consanguinity in 3056 couples formed from 1925 to 2006. Of these unions, 54.8% were consanguineous, and 28.7% involved relatives up to and including second cousins, resulting in a mean coefficient of inbreeding up to the third degree α3 = 12.4 × 10−3. The rest of the consanguineous unions (26.1% of all) involved more-distant relatives, such as third cousins, fourth cousins and so forth. When all consanguinity degrees found in the genealogical reconstitution were considered, the total mean coefficient of inbreeding was αt = 14.8 × 10−3. The merging of families and pedigrees generated a complex genealogical network with many inbreeding loops and important founder effects. This network revealed a high rate (62%) of Multiple Consanguineous Marriages (MCMs) in which second and subsequent consanguineous ties increased inbreeding levels by a fifth (20.5%). The accumulation of multiple degrees of distant relatedness, many of which had little social or biological importance, has contributed to a significant increase in inbreeding rates. Among Gitano people, intra-family marriages have remained common in the last decades, in sharp contrast to other Spanish populations. Hence the highest rates of close consanguinity (34%) and inbreeding (α3 = 14.6 × 10−3) were found in the 1960s, the decade that saw the onset of Spain’s socioeconomic modernization, internationalization and massive migration. These are among the highest rates of inbreeding found in any European population, including the most endogamous Spanish isolates. They reveal marriage strategies not constrained primarily by geographical barriers, but by ethnocultural separation. Interestingly, in recent decades mixed marriages have been increasing rapidly in this minority, although they are compatible with high rates of consanguinity. Gitano secular endogamy is breaking up, but not uniformly.

Keywords

Consanguineous marriageSpainRoma/Gypsies
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 52 , Issue 6 , November 2020 , pp. 809 - 831
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agarwala, R, Schaffer, AA and Tomlin, JF (2001) Towards a complete North American Anabaptist Genealogy II: analysis of inbreeding. Human Biology 73(4), 533–545.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Alba, RD and Nee, V (2003) Remaking the American Mainstream: Assimilation and Contemporary Immigration. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alfonso-Sánchez, MA, Aresti, U, Peña, JA and Calderón, R (2005) Inbreeding levels and consanguinity structure in the Basque province of Guipúzcoa (1862–1980). American Journal of Physical Anthropology 127(2), 240–252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Al-Gazali, LI, Bener, A, Abdulrazzaq, YM, Micallef, R, Al-Khayat, AI and Gaber, T (1997) Consanguineous marriages in the United Arab Emirates. Journal of Biosocial Science 29(4), 491–497.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barth, F (1986) Father’s brother’s daughter marriage in Kurdistan. Journal of Anthropological Research 42(3), 389–396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bideau, A and Poulain, M (1984) De la genealogie a la demographie historique: Genealogie ascendante et analyse demographique. Annales de demographie historique 1984, 55–69 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bittles, AH (2012) Consanguinity in Context. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blanco Villegas, MJ, Boattini, A, Rodríguez Otero, H and Pettener, D (2004) Inbreeding patterns in La Cabrera, Spain: dispensations, multiple consanguinity analysis, and isonymy. Human Biology 76(2), 191–210 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boattini, A, Blanco Villegas, MJ and Pettener, D (2007) Genetic structure of La Cabrera, Spain, from surnames and migration matrices. Human Biology 79(6), 649–666.Google ScholarPubMed
Calderón, R (1983) Inbreeding migration and age at marriage in rural Toledo Spain. Journal of Biosocial Science 15(1), 47–57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Calderón, R, Aresti, U, Ambrosio, B and González-Martín, A (2009) Inbreeding coefficients for X‐linked and autosomal genes in consanguineous marriages in Spanish populations: the case of Guipúzcoa (Basque Country). Annals of Human Genetics 73(2), 184–195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calderón, R, Hernández, CL, García-Varela, G et al. (2018) Inbreeding in Southeastern Spain. Human Nature 29(1), 45–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Calderón, R, Peña, JA, Delgado, J and Morales, B (1998) Multiple kinship in two Spanish regions. New model relating multiple and simple consanguinity. Human Biology 70(3), 535–561.Google ScholarPubMed
Cavalli-Sforza, LL, Moroni, A and Zei, G (2004) Consanguinity, Inbreeding, and Genetic Drift in Italy. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.Google Scholar
Cohn, W (1973) The Gypsies. Addison Wesley Publishing Company, Reading, MA.Google Scholar
Dupâquier, J (1993). Généalogie et démographie historique. Annales de démographie historique 1993, 391–395 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferák, V, Sivakova, D and Sieglova, Z (1987) The Slovak gypsies (Romany) – a population with the highest coefficient of inbreeding in Europe. Bratislavské lekárske listy 87(2), 168–175.Google ScholarPubMed
Fraser, A M (1992) The Gypsies. Blackwell, Oxford.Google Scholar
Fundación Secretariado Gitano (2016) Estudio-Mapa sobre vivienda y población gitana 2015. Ministerio de Sanidad Servicios Sociales e Igualdad, Madrid.Google Scholar
Fuster, V (2003) Inbreeding pattern and reproductive success in a rural community from Galicia (Spain). Journal of Biosocial Science 35(1), 83–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fuster, V and Colantonio, SE (2003) Inbreeding coefficients and degree of consanguineous marriages in Spain: a review. American Journal of Human Biology 15(5), 709–716.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fuster, V and Colantonio, SE (2004) Socioeconomic, demographic and geographic variables affecting the diverse degrees of consanguineous marriages in Spain. Human Biology 76(1), 1–14.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fuster, V, Morales, B, Mesa, MS and Martin, J (1996) Inbreeding patterns in the Gredos mountain range (Spain). Human Biology 68(1), 75–93.Google Scholar
Gamella, JF (1996) La población gitana en Andalucía. Un estudio exploratorio de sus condiciones de vida. Consejería de Trabajo y Asuntos Sociales Junta de Andalucía, Seville.Google Scholar
Gamella, JF (2000) Mujeres gitanas Matrimonio y género en la cultura gitana de Andalucía. Junta de Andalucía, Seville.Google Scholar
Gamella, JF (2011) Historias de éxito Modelos para reducir el abandono escolar de la adolescencia gitana. Ministerio de Educación, Madrid.Google Scholar
Gamella, JF, Gómez Alfaro, A and Pérez, J (2014) Nominal assimilation. The national and ethnic identity of the Gitanos of Spain in the 1783–85 census. Names 62(3), 147–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gamella, JF and Martín, E (2007) ‘Vien avec moi cousine’. Le mariage entre cousins germains chez le Gitans Andalous. Etudes Tsiganes 30, 110–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gamella, JF and Martín, E (2017) The decline of infant and child mortality among Spanish Gitanos or Calé (1871–2005): A microdemographic study in Andalusia. Demographic Research 36, 945–988.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gamella, JF and Núñez-Negrillo, AM (2018) The evolution of consanguineous marriages in the Archbishopric of Granada, Spain (1900–1979). Human Biology 90(2), 97–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gómez Alfaro, A (1993) The Great Gypsy Round-up Spain: The General Imprisonment of Gypsies in 1749. Presencia Gitana, Madrid.Google Scholar
Gómez Alfaro, A (1999) Tipologías, Matrimonios mixtos y mestizajes Gitanos en los censos históricos andaluces. Demófilo 30, 30–52.Google Scholar
Hartl, DL and Clark, AG (1997) Principles of Population Genetics. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA.Google Scholar
Hollingsworth, TH (1976) Genealogy and historical demography. Annales de démographie historique, 1976, 167–170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jette, R and Charbonneau, H (1984) Généalogies descendantes et analyse demographique. Annales de demographie historique 1984, 45–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kalaydjieva, L, Gresham, D and Calafell, F (2001) Genetic studies of the Roma (Gypsies): a review. BMC Medical Genetics 2(1), 5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kalaydjieva, L, Morar, B, Chaix, R and Tang, H (2005) A newly discovered founder population: the Roma/Gypsies. Bioessays 27(10), 1084–1094.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ladányi, J and Szelényi, I (2006) Patterns of Exclusion: Constructing Gypsy Ethnicity and the Making of an Underclass in Transitional Societies of Europe. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Lagunas, D (2005) Los tres cromosomas: modernidad identidad y parentesco entre los Gitanos catalanes. Editorial Comares, Granada.Google Scholar
Leach, ER (1951) The structural implications of matrilateral cross-cousin marriage. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 81(1/2), 23–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leblon, B (1985) Les Gitans d’Espagne: le prix de la différence. Presses Universitaires de France, Paris.Google Scholar
Leblon, B (2003) Gypsies and Flamenco: The Emergence of the Art of Flamenco in Andalusia. Second Edition. University of Hertfordshire Press, Hatfield.Google Scholar
Lévi-Strauss, C (1947 ) Les structures élémentaires de la parenté. Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, Paris.Google Scholar
Luna Gómez, F (1984) Demografía de la Alpujarra (Estructura y biodinámica Granada). Universidad de Granada, Granada.Google Scholar
Martín, E and Gamella, JF (2005) Marriage practices and ethnic differentiation: the case of Spanish Gypsies (1870–2000). History of the Family 10(1), 45–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martínez-Frías, ML and Bermejo, E (1992) Prevalence of congenital anomaly syndromes in a Spanish Gypsy population. Journal of Medical Genetics 29(7), 483–486.Google Scholar
Matras, Y (2015) The Romani Gypsies. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mendizabal, I, Lao, O, Marigorta, UM, Wollstein, A et al. (2012) Reconstructing the population history of European Romani from genome-wide data. Current Biology 22(24), 2342–2349.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morar, B, Gresham, D, Angelicheva, D, Tournev, I et al. (2004) Mutation history of the Roma/Gypsies. American Journal of Human Genetics 75(4), 596–609.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Newman, DL, Abney, M, McPeek, MS, Ober, C and Cox, NJ (2001) The importance of genealogy in determining genetic associations with complex traits. American Journal of Human Genetics 69(5), 1146–1148.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nuñez-Negrillo, AM (2015) Un siglo de matrimonios consanguíneos en la archidiócesis de Granada (1900-1999). Un análisis antropológico. PhD Thesis, Universidad de Granada, Granada.Google Scholar
Post, W, Van Poppel, F, Van Imhoff, E and Kruse, E (1997) Reconstructing the extended kin-network in the Netherlands with genealogical data: methods problems and results. Population Studies 51(3), 263–278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pym, RJ (2007) The Gypsies of Early Modern Spain, 1425–1783. Palgrave Macmillan, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramirez, CT, Morales, EF, Gómez, AZ, Alcaraz, LG and Samper, SDR (1984) An epidemiological study of renal lithiasis in Gypsies and others in Spain. Journal of Urology 131(5), 853–856.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saadat, M, Ansari-Lari, M and Farhud, DD (2004) Short report consanguineous marriage in Iran. Annals of Human Biology 31(2), 263–269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
San Roman, T (1997) La diferencia inquietante: viejas y nuevas estrategias culturales de los Gitanos. Siglo XXI, Madrid.Google Scholar
Scheffler, HW (2018) Filiation and Affiliation. Routledge, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shubert, A (2003) A Social History of Modern Spain. Routledge, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Solana, JL and Lorenzo, S (2010) La población gitana de Linares: Situación actual y evolución durante las dos últimas décadas (1989–2009). Comares, Granada.Google Scholar
Thomas, JD, Doucette, MM, Thomas, DC and Stoeckle, J (1987) Disease lifestyle and consanguinity in 58 American Gypsies. The Lancet 330(8555), 377–379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, EM and Harper, PR (1977) Genetic study of Welsh gypsies. Journal of Medical Genetics 14(3), 172–176.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wrigley, EA (1966) Family reconstitution. In Wrigley, EA (ed.) An Introduction to English Historical Demography: From the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Century. Basic Books, New York, pp. 96–159.Google Scholar
Wrigley, EA (1994) The effect of migration on the estimation of marriage age in family reconstitution studies. Population Studies 48(1), 81–97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zhao, Z (2001) Chinese genealogies as a source for demographic research: a further assessment of their reliability and biases. Population Studies 55(2), 181–193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar