Automatic rule discovery for field work in anthropology

Two older computer programs are first described which can receive data, possibly incomplete and redundant, representing kinship relations among named individuals, and establish a knowledge base in the form of a directed graph, which the user can query in a variety of ways.

Abstract

This paper deals with the problem of discovering rules that govern social interactions and relations in preliteral societies. Two older computer programs are first described which can receive data, possibly incomplete and redundant, representing kinship relations among named individuals. The programs then establish a knowledge base in the form of a directed graph, which the user can query in a variety of ways. Another program, written on the “top” of these (rewritten in LISP), can form concepts of various properties, including kinship relations, of and between the individuals. The concepts are derived from the examples and non-examples of a certain social pattern, such as inheritance, succession, marriage, class (tribe, moiety, clan, etc.) membership, domination-subordination, incest and exogamy. The concepts become hypotheses about the rules, which are corroborated, modified or rejected by further examples and non-examples.