In general, the choice of a spouse was governed by centuries-old norms that prescribed consanguinity and endogamy and the eligibility of an individual member  
of every ta'ife (community) to marry within her or his own kin and social group, while members of other communities were necessarily deemed ineligible. Combined with intermarriage traditions, this led to the development of visibly 'African' communities during the slave trade era, most often in village settlements. It is important to note that this kind of endogamous culture was characteristic of power structures, status and wealth - as could be seen in the ranking and hierarchy of other Baluch ta'ifes - and was not determined by race. Moreover, such prescriptive marriage customs existed elsewhere in Iran but their rigidity, standards and measures varied from one region to another over time. Based on customary oral traditions, these rules were independent of national and state laws and were promulgated by local leaders (shaykhs and khans) and chiefs of every village.  
A close examination of local social structures reveals the historical processes that affected the status of enslaved Africans in Sistan va Baluchistan. These include a predominant pattern of 'assimilation' in cities and 'integration' in more remote areas and rural districts. In cities, freed slaves consciously or unconsciously lost their distinctive identities as they were assimilated into the host society while, in remote and rural areas, they consciously or unconsciously maintained some aspects of their ethnic identities as they were integrated into society. Again, it may be seen that this paradigm was the result of pre-existing local customs and rigid social hierarchies that defined relationships based on wealth, power, status, lineage and kinship in the ta'ifes (communities). The status of enslaved Africans was therefore based on their rank as 'slaves' and 'outsiders' rather than on racial characteristics or skin colour.