KEIM AND KINSHIP: CONSIDERATIONS ON A CULTURAL CA¬TEGORY OF GERMAN- BRAZILIAN SETTLERS

Abstract

In this study the author analyses the cultural category Keim, which can be translated as "germinative principle". The category classifies, people, through families, defining them as marriageable or non- marriageable, according to they being carriers of a good or a bad Keim. In the conceptions of the study group - peasants of German origin in Rio Grande do Sul - Keim corresponds to the "sap" of the genealogical tree through which the families are organized in stern households. The category is fundamental for the understanding of marriage exchanges, that is, the possibilities of aliances as well as the endogamy of the group. By the opposing principles, strong and weak Keim, the peasants, explain their present decadence as well as the general decline in the number of children.