Table of Contents

1. Consanguineous marriage, past and present; 2. Religious attitudes and rulings on consanguineous marriage; 3. Civil legislation on consanguineous and affinal marriage; 4. Consanguinity: the scientific and medical debates of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; 5. Demographic and socioeconomic aspects of consanguineous marriage; 6. A population genetics perspective on consanguinity; 7. Consanguinity and reproductive behaviour; 8. Consanguinity and metrical traits at birth and in childhood; 9. Consanguinity and pre-reproductive mortality; 10. Consanguinity and morbidity in early life; 11. Consanguinity and disorders of adulthood; 12. Incest; 13. Genetic screening, education and counselling in consanguineous marriage; 14. Whither consanguineous marriage?; 15. Consanguinity in context; References; Index.

Promotional Information

An essential guide to the sensitive topic of cousin marriage, examining its social, medical, political and legal connotations.

About the Author

Alan H. Bittles is Research Leader at the Centre for Comparative Genomics, Murdoch University and Adjunct Professor of Community Genetics at Edith Cowan University, Australia.

Reviews

'… packed with carefully collated information, covering all aspects of consanguineous marriage … The compilation is exhaustive, fascinating and rigorously discussed … There is so much information here, but it is all relevant, well-validated, significant and stimulating … amazingly comprehensive, and yet readable … this book is exactly what is needed to clarify discussions and debates about consanguinity. It deserves to be influential in scientific, political and religious thinking.' BioNews (bionews.org.uk)

'… a comprehensive, balanced overview of consanguinity … this book treats consanguinity like a prism - turning the subject this way and that to capture different reflections, both positive and negative … Packed with fascinating facts on the history of consanguinity, and statistics comparing practices and resources between countries, Consanguinity in Context makes for 'must read' material on a complex, often controversial, issue.' OrphaNews Europe

'I found Alan Bittles' book to be extremely fascinating. Bittles provides an eye-opening and exhaustive review of the political, religious, economic, social, and biological factors impinging on consanguineous unions. His goal for this work is well summarized at the end of chapter one: '… to provide an appropriately extensive framework of information within which the subject [of consanguineous unions] can be rationally and dispassionately evaluated'. Consanguinity in Context admirably fulfils this objective.' Jamie Schwendinger-Schreck, Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine

'This book is a treasure trove of information and anecdotes on consanguineous unions.' Elof Axel Carlson, The Quarterly Review of Biology

'Consanguinity in Context is a rich, well-structured, well-written, convincing, and in many details astonishing book recommendable for students as well as for scholarly work.' Anthropos