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CONSANGUINITY, GENETICS AND DEFINITIONS OF KINSHIP IN THE UK PAKISTANI POPULATION

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 December 2015

A. H. Bittles  and
N. A. Small
A. H. Bittles
Affiliation:
Centre for Comparative Genomics, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia School of Medical Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia
N. A. Small*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Health Studies, University of Bradford, UK
*
1 Corresponding author. Email: N.A.Small@bradford.ac.uk
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Summary

Consanguineous marriage is a controversial topic in many Western societies, with attention mainly focused on the health of immigrant communities from Asia and Africa. In the UK consanguinity is especially prevalent in the Pakistani community, which now numbers over 1.1 million. Less attention has been paid to the influence of hereditary population stratification within Pakistani communities, in particular biraderi (literally brotherhood) membership, which denotes male lineages that largely govern marriage partner choice and hence the transmission of disease genes. The various roles played by biraderi and their relationship to other socio-occupational and kinship terms, such as caste, quom and zat, are often overlooked in health-based studies. The interchangeable use of these different kinship terms without rigorous definition can create identity uncertainty and hinders inter-study comparisons. Where feasible, standardization of terminology would be both desirable and beneficial, with biraderi the preferred default term to identify specific social and genetic relationships within the Pakistani diaspora.

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Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 48 , Issue 6 , November 2016 , pp. 844 - 854
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press, 2015 

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