The influence of ancestors: kinship and cooperation in Iban ancestor worship
This work explores, extends, and tests a novel evolutionary theory put forth and refined by Lyle Steadman, Craig Palmer, and Kathryn Coe. The approach is the descendant-leaving strategy theory, which outlines how ancestors influence their descendants through the traditions they begin and transmit to future generations. In order for this theory to be valid, traditions must be sustained over long periods of time so that ancestors' influence descendants in generations long after the ancestors' lifetimes. Here I test whether four ritual behaviors are traditional, using data from the Iban of West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Traditional behaviors may include forms of ancestor worship that reinforces ancestor authority while also creating recognition systems for large numbers of kin. I describe the evolutionary implications of ancestor worship with examples from the Iban. Finally, I empirically evaluate a model of altruism based on the descendant-leaving strategy literature. I find that many Iban ritual behaviors are traditional, and argue that Iban ancestor worship extends kinship networks. However, the evidence that Iban individuals will favor closer kin over distant kin is mixed, so the statistical tests find little support for the prediction. Generally, Iban ancestors appear to influence their descendants' behavior, especially in a ritualistic sense, even if there is little current evidence supporting their influence on cooperation outside of rituals.
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