Matrilocal residence, also called uxorilocal residence, is the postmarital residence pattern in which a married couple resides with or near the wife's parents, so that children of the marriage are raised within the mother's extended matrilineal clan. It is found most often in horticultural societies and is documented among the Minangkabau of Sumatra, the Mosuo of China, the Khasi of India, and various Puebloan peoples of North America. It contrasts with patrilocal residence, with or near the husband's family, and avunculocal residence, with the husband's mother's brother, both already on this atlas, and research finds it correlated with an increased female contribution to subsistence, though a rise in non-sororal polygyny driven by the same economic shift can in turn erode matrilocality. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Descent RuleSourced to the subject's own accountA married couple resides with or near the wife's parents, and children are raised by the mother's extended matrilineal clan; the pattern is most often found alongside matrilineal descent and horticultural subsistence economies. 1 Typical RegionSourced to the subject's own accountDocumented among the Minangkabau of Sumatra, the Mosuo of China, the Khasi of India, and various Puebloan peoples of North America; found most often in horticultural societies. 1 Descent Rule
Descent Rule (category)Sourced to the subject's own account Connections
Held Differently
Both residence patterns are found chiefly in matrilineal societies but differ in whose household a couple joins: the wife's parents here versus the husband's maternal uncle there.
Source Wikipedia: Matrilocal Residence
The direct structural counterpart of patrilocal residence, substituting the wife's kin group for the husband's.
Source Wikipedia: Matrilocal Residence
Associated With
An increase in female subsistence contribution tends to produce both matrilocal residence and matrilineal descent together, though not by logical necessity.
Source Wikipedia: Matrilocal Residence
In Rule Category
Entity-backed identity for the descent-rule category this kinship system already carries as an enum fact, resolved to a kinship-system entity by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The enum fact itself stays on the entity unchanged.
Rule Category Of
Entity-backed identity for the descent-rule category this kinship system already carries as an enum fact, resolved to a kinship-system entity by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The enum fact itself stays on the entity unchanged.
Entity-backed identity for the descent-rule category this kinship system already carries as an enum fact, resolved to a kinship-system entity by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The enum fact itself stays on the entity unchanged.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Matrilocal Residence
WikipediaIntroduction section
the societal system in which a married couple resides with or near the wife's parents
Description section
Matrilocal residence is found most often in horticultural societies
Lead section
matrilocal residence or matrilocality (also uxorilocal residence or uxorilocality) is the societal system in which a married couple resides with or near the wife's parents.
- In Category: Kinship and Family Systems
- Associated With: Avunculocal Residence
- Associated With: Patrilocal Residence
- Associated With: Matrilineal Descent
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