The algebra of marriage: an episode in applied group theory

Abstract

In 1949, André Weil contributed a mathematical appendix to Claude Lévi-Strauss's landmark book, The elementary structures of kinship. In this appendix, Weil (one of the Bourbaki mathematicians) used group-theoretic techniques to model Australian marriage systems. Weil's paper marked the beginning of mathematical anthropology. This essay describes Weil's analysis of marriage systems and traces the uneasy history of the application of group theory to kinship studies.