1/ The Inuit - Alaska
For the Inuits, every newborn child is the reincarnation of one of its ancestors. The child is given the name of this ancestor, regardless of his or her sex. These boys and girls are brought up, educated and dressed not according to their biological sex but according to the sex of their name. Around the age of fifteen, this process ends. Only then do children take on the behaviour and role of their biological sex and subsequently marry someone of the opposite sex.

2/ Ladakh Indian - Himalayas
When there are several sons in one family, the parents will often look for a Nama: a wife to be shared between all the sons. The eldest son is the legal husband but his brothers have the right to an equal share of the Nama's love and attention. All children are attributed to the eldest brother. This type of marriage assures that the land, which is poor, need not be divided into too many plots and that there is sufficient food to nourish all the family for the generations to come.

3/ Rangiroa - Archipelago of the Tuamotu
The rate of infertility is very high in Polynesia. As a result, adoption has become the traditional way of maintaining an equilibrium of children within families and within the whole social system. A family wishing to adopt a child can make its request before the birth, sometimes even before the conception. The biological parents are not entitled to refuse such a request. If they do, they will be punished by the spirits or, in reality, will face rejection by their community.

4/ The Murias - India
At the age of twelve, boys and girls leave their home to live in a dormitory, where their parents are forbidden entry. From generation to generation, the older adolescents educate the younger ones. In the dormitory there are no sexual taboos and the adolescents are totally free to live out the transitory period between childhood and adulthood. They leave the dormitory on the day they marry the person to whom they have been promised since birth.

5/ The Fon - Benin
The Fon have a unique matrimonial tradition: women may marry other women. When a woman is rich, she may marry one or several other women using her husband or other men to fertilise them. The children born out of these unions are hers. In this way, she can secure her lineage. Her "wives" must work for her and they have no rights to their biological offspring. The children bear the name of their legal mother and become her heirs.

6/ The Mossi
For the Mossi, it is the oldest man who is chief of the family. In this polygamous patriarchal society, the whole family lives together in a walled compound. From the as yet unmarried brothers and sisters of the chief to his wives and children, everybody works for him. This dependant and submissive situation is delicate for the younger males and sons, for they cannot acquire any economic or social independence until their elders die.

7/ The Gypsies - Czech Republic
The Gypsies' attachment to the family is such that when they build a house, they prefer a large communal living area to several private rooms. Children are brought up by the whole community and are rarely punished. They learn what is permitted or what is forbidden by observing their elders. When they do well, they are praised by the group but if they transgress repeatedly they are derided.

8/ The Makuwa - Mozambique
A young Makuwa man leaves home between the age of 16 and 20 to live with his future mother-in-law. His first duty is to impregnate one of her daughters. If this does not happen quickly he is told to leave. In any case the man will never be recognised as father of the child. His second duty is to work for his mother-in-law. If his work is unsatisfactory he is thrown out. He must continue to work for her until he has a daughter of marriageable age. Then a new son-in-law will replace him and in his turn work for the matriarch.

9/ Tanna
In Tanna, women are precious because they insure the continuation of their husband's tribe. They are not bought but exchanged. Ideally a man will exchange his sister for a wife, but if he doesn't have a sister, he must give his first daughter to the tribe that provided him with his wife. In Tanna, the adoption of children is common and provides a balance of population so as to ensure the survival of the local tribes.