In the conclusion of his monograph on Tonga, Gifford remarked that “the parallels in the social organization of Tonga and the remainder of Polynesia and Micronesia are obvious” (1929:350). Unfortunately he did not elaborate, choosing instead to discuss parallels and possible genetic connections between Oceania and Japan. It is clear, however, that the sexually dual, matrilineal variant of the conical clan is found in the Marshall Islands in eastern Micronesia. It also appears that the Micronesian and Polynesian variants are genetically related, having a common origin in Proto-Oceanic society. Like its Tongan counterpart, the Marshallese conical clan was a socially encompassing, politically expansive structure, associated with asymmetric marriage alliance and implicated in the formation of island empires. Linguistic evidence suggests that the Marshallese variant represents the ancestral form of all the differently permuted forms of social organization in Nuclear Micronesia.

The Marshallese conical clan

Descent

The Marshallese clan, called jowi in the Ralik chain and jou in the Ratak chain, consisted of a group of lineages called bwij, which traced descent through females from a common ancestress (Krämer 1906; Krämer and Nevermann 1938; Erdland 1914; Mason 1947, 1954; Spoehr 1949a, b; Kiste 1974).