Date of Award
2020
Document Type
Dissertation/Thesis
Submission Date
October 2026
Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]
Corr, Rachel
Abstract
Incest is known in Anthropology as a social construct that is defined as the prohibition of sex or marriage between certain genetic or affinal relatives. It was once believed that incest was an instinctually avoided behavior in humans, but that hypothesis is no longer supported. Because incest is a culturally constructed idea, the specific nature of its defining boundaries changes across cultures. To build upon the idea that incest is a cultural construction, I investigated the notion that not only do laws defining incest vary between cultures, but they also show variance within the same society. I showed this by tracing the origins of Anglo-American incest laws from the colonial period to the present, as well as the differences between US state incest laws and how they changed over time.
Recommended Citation
May, Elizabeth, "DEFINING RELATEDNESS WHILE CROSSING STATE LINES: CHANGES IN THE AMERICAN CULTURAL CONSTRUCTION OF INCEST" (2020). Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2010 - 2019. 464.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_honors_2/464
Extent
45 p.
Identifier
FA00013661
Comments
Includes bibliography.