Anthropology 3

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• Anthropology 3
• Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
• David Midyette

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Kinship

• Descent Group

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Why Family?

• Child Rearing
• Enculturation
• Inheritance
• Economics
• Politics
• Subsistence
• ?
• ?
• ?

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Kinship Terms

• Matrilineal
• Patrilineal
• Unilineal
• Ambilineal
• Double Descent

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Matrilineal

• matrilineal (mat'r?-lin'e-?l) adj.
• Relating to, based on, or tracing ancestral
  descent through the maternal line.
• mat'rilin'eally adv.

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Patrilineal

• patrilineal (pat'r?-lin'e-?l) adj.
• Relating to, based on, or tracing ancestral
  descent through the paternal line.

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Unilineal

• Unilineal descent groups come in many different
  forms and sizes. The ancient Hebrews had large
  descent groups, which included tens of thousands
  of people and were sub-divided into smaller
  constituent units on a number of levels. They
  also maintained detailed genealogical records to
  document the statuses that they held as lineage
  members. Yanomamo groups usually number under a
  hundred and frequent split up and become
  dissolved. The Dani have large groups but keep no
  track of ancestry at all and simply know that
  they belong to the same clans as their fathers.
  These variant structural features of descent
  organization are significant for understanding
  how they assume meaning and function in the
  course of social life. We shall discuss four
  types of groups that are common in both
  patrilineal and matrilineal systems.

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Ambilineal

• Ambilineal descent groups, also termed ramages,
  are similar to unilineal forms since they involve
  the formation of discrete and exclusive units.
  However, they also allow for individuals to chose
  group membership at at least one point in their
  lives. Reasons for assuming membership in one
  group or another usually depend on the
  availability of corporately owned lands, but will
  of course also be influenced by political factors
  and personal friendships among kin.
• Membership decisions are further complicated by
  additional options presented at marriage. People
  can choose to join a husband's or wife's group
  rather than one of those traced through their
  natal families, thus raising four possible
  alternative ramages ego's father's, ego's
  mother's, ego's wife's father's, and ego's wife's
  mother's. This complication is reduced in many
  instances by assigning children initially to one
  of their parents' ramages, leaving a single
  choice of whether a couple resides with the
  husband's or wife's group upon marriage.
• The structural features of ambilineal descent
  systems offer the advantages of supporting
  coherent and permanent groups with fixed assets
  and territories as well as a flexible arrangement
  for distributing populations to match land
  availabilities. Accordingly, ambilineal groups
  are very often found in island settings,
  especially in Oceania, where the arable land base
  is restricted.

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Double Descent

• double descent a system of descent in which
  individuals receive some rights and obligations
  from the father's side of the family and others
  from the mother's side

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Hawaiian System

• Within common typologies, the Hawaiian system is
  the simplest classificatory system of kinship. In
  it, differences are distinguished by generation
  and by gender. There is a parental generation and
  a generation of children. In this system, Ego
  refers to all females of his parent's generation
  as "Mother" and all of the males as "Father". In
  the generation of children, all brothers and male
  cousins are referred to as "Brother", all sisters
  and females as "Sister".
• The Hawaiian system is usually associated with
  ambilineal descent groups.

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Iroquois System

• The system has both classificatory and
  descriptive terms in addition to gender and
  generation, also distinguishes between parental
  siblings of opposite sexes. Parental siblings of
  the same sex are considered blood relatives.
  However, parental siblings of differing sex are
  labelled as "Aunt" or "Uncle as the situation
  necessitates. Thus, one's mother's sister is also
  called mother, and one's father's brother is also
  called father however, one's mother's brother is
  called father-in-law, and one's father's sister
  is called mother-in-law.
• Children of the parental generation are
  considered siblings (parallel cousins). The
  children of an Aunt or an Uncle are not siblings,
  they are instead cousins (cross cousins
  specifically).

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Crow System

• The system is somewhat similar to the Iroquois
  system, but further distinguishes between the
  mother's side and the father's side. Relatives on
  the mother's side of the family have more
  descriptive terms, and relatives on the father's
  side have more classificatory terms.
• The Crow system is distinctive because unlike
  most other kinship systems, it chooses to not
  distinguish between certain generations. The
  relatives of the subject's father's matrilineage
  are distinguished only by their sex, regardless
  of their age or generation. In contrast, within
  Ego's own matrilineage, differences of generation
  are noted. The system is associated with groups
  that have a strong tradition of matrilineal
  descent. In doing so, the system is almost a
  mirror image of the Omaha system.
• The system, like the Iroquois, uses Bifurcate
  Merging, however, only the Iroquois system uses
  BM as a secondary name.

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Eskimo System

• The Eskimo system places no distinction between
  patrilineal and matrilineal relatives, instead
  focusing on differences in kinship distance (the
  closer the relative is, the more distinguished).
  The system also emphasizes the nuclear family,
  identifying directly only the mother, father,
  brother, and sister (lineal relatives). All other
  relatives are grouped together into categories.
  It uses both classificatory and descriptive
  terms, differentiating between gender,
  generation, lineal relatives (realtives in the
  direct line of descent), and collateral relatives
  (blood relatives not in the direct line of
  descent).
• Parental siblings are distinguished only by their
  sex (Aunt, Uncle). All children of these
  individuals are lumped together regardless of sex
  (Cousins). Unlike the Hawaiian system, Ego's
  parents are clearly distinguished from their
  siblings.

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Sudanese System

• The Sudanese kinship system is the most
  complicated of all kinship systems. It maintains
  a separate designation for almost every one of
  Ego's kin based on their distance from Ego, their
  relation, and their gender. Ego's Father is
  distinguished from his brother and from Ego's
  mother's brother. Ego's Mother is similarly
  distinguished from her sister and from Ego's
  father's sister. For cousins alone there are
  eight possible terms.

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More Terms . . .

• Lineage
• Fission
• Fusion
• Clan
• Totemism
• Phratry
• Moiety
• Kindred
• Sanguine

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Lineage

• lineage (lin'e-ij) n.
• Direct descent from a particular ancestor
  ancestry.
• Derivation.
• The descendants of a common ancestor considered
  to be the founder of the line.
• Middle English linage, lineage, from Old French
  lignage, from ligne, line. See line1.

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Fission

• fission (fish'?n) n.
• The act or process of splitting into parts.
• A nuclear reaction in which an atomic nucleus,
  especially a heavy nucleus such as an isotope of
  uranium, splits into fragments, usually two
  fragments of comparable mass, releasing from 100
  million to several hundred million electron volts
  of energy.
• Biology. An asexual reproductive process in
  which a unicellular organism divides into two or
  more independently maturing daughter cells.
• v., -sioned, -sioning, -sions.
• v.tr. To cause (an atom) to undergo fission.
• v.intr. To undergo fission.
• Latin fissio, fission-, a cleaving, from
  fissus, split. See fissi.

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Fusion

• fusion (fyu'zh?n) n.
• The act or procedure of liquefying or melting by
  the application of heat.
• The liquid or melted state induced by heat.
• The merging of different elements into a union
  the fusion of copper and zinc to form brass the
  difficult fusion of conflicting political
  factions.
• A union resulting from fusing A fusion of
  religion and politics emerged.
• Physics. A nuclear reaction in which nuclei
  combine to form more massive nuclei with the
  simultaneous release of energy.
• Music that blends jazz elements and the heavy
  repetitive rhythms of rock. Also called
  jazz-fusion, jazz-rock.
• A style of cooking that combines ingredients and
  techniques from very different cultures or
  countries.
• Latin fusio, fusion-, from fusus, past
  participle of fundere, to melt.

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Clan

• clan (klan) n.
• A traditional social unit in the Scottish
  Highlands, consisting of a number of families
  claiming a common ancestor and following the same
  hereditary chieftain.
• A division of a tribe tracing descent from a
  common ancestor.
• A large group of relatives, friends, or
  associates.
• Middle English, from Scottish Gaelic clann,
  family, from Old Irish cland, offspring, from
  Latin planta, plant, sprout.
• As with many technical anthropological terms,
  "clan" is loosely used in common speech to
  designate many different kinds of fundamental
  social units. The anthropological definition
  narrows the meaning to a unilineal descent group
  whose members do not trace genealogical links to
  a supposedly historical founding ancestor. Rights
  in the group are simple derived from a father or
  mother. Clans are usually large groups that are
  associated with mythical ancestors, who are very
  often identified as animal species that are
  considered sacred to the group. They may occur
  within a complex structure in which they are
  either nested into larger groups or subdivided
  into smaller ones in the same fashion as
  segmentary lineages. Where they are subdivided,
  the component units are often formal lineages, as
  in the case of the Akan which we will investigate
  in detail. Where clans are grouped together, the
  more inclusive unit is called a phratry, which is
  in fact a type of clan. The groups designated as
  "sibs" among the Dani are actually clans.

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Totemism

• totemism (to't?-miz'?m) n.
• A belief in totems or in kinship through common
  affiliation to a totem.
• The practice of establishing affiliation through
  totems.
• to'temist n.to'temis'tic adj.
• The belief that people are descended from
  animals, plants, and other natural objects.
  Symbols of these natural ancestors, known as
  totems, are often associated with clans (groups
  of families tracing common descent). By
  representing desirable individual qualities (such
  as the swiftness of a deer) and helping to
  explain the mythical origin of the clan, totems
  reinforce clan identity and solidarity.

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Phratry

• phratry (fra'tre) n., pl. -tries.
• A kinship group constituting an intermediate
  division in the primitive structure of the
  Hellenic tribe or phyle, consisting of several
  patrilinear clans, and surviving in classical
  times as a territorial subdivision in the
  political and military organization of the
  Athenian state.
• Anthropology. An exogamous subdivision of the
  tribe, constituting two or more related clans.
• Greek phratria, from phrater, phratr-, fellow
  member of a clan.
• phra'tric adj.A phratry is an anthropological
  term for a kinship division consisting of two or
  more distinct clans which are considered as
  single unit, but which retain separate
  indentities with the phratry.
• In pre-Classical Greece, each tribe (phyle) was
  divided into phratries. In the Classical era, the
  phratries evolved into formal territorial
  divisions of the Athenian state.
• Among native Americans, a phratry was often
  identified by an animal sign. In some cultures,
  such as the Tlingit, intermarriage between
  phratries was mandated.

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Moiety

• moiety (moi'i-te) n., pl. -ties.
• A half.
• A part, portion, or share.
• Anthropology. Either of two kinship groups based
  on unilateral descent that together make up a
  tribe or society.
• Middle English moite, from Old French meitiet,
  moitie, from Late Latin medietas, from Latin,
  middle, from medius, middle.
• The moiety system is a more unusual form of
  unilineal descent and involves the occurrence of
  descent groups in linked pairs which assume
  complementary positions and functions. Each
  moiety (or half) of a pair will almost always be
  exogamous and take its husbands and wives
  exclusively from the matched group. Thus the Dani
  clans are grouped into larger patrimoieties, Wida
  and Waija that run through the whole of Dani
  society. Wida men are forbidden to marry women
  from their moiety and must take wives from Waija
  and visa versa. The Yanomamo also have a moiety
  system. In their case, the participating units
  are small localized patrilineages which settle in
  small villages along with members of a matched
  moiety. Marriages are usually arranged with
  members of the opposite moiety within the
  settlement.

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Kindred

• kindred (kin'drid) n.
• A group of related persons, as a clan or tribe.
• (used with a pl. verb) A person's relatives
  kinfolk.
• adj.
• Of the same ancestry or family kindred clans.
• Having a similar or related origin, nature, or
  character kindred emotions.
• Middle English kinrede, kindrede, from Late Old
  English cynrede cyn, kin -rede, condition
  (from Old English ræden, -ræden, condition).
• kin'dredness n.

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Sanguine

• sanguine (sang'gwin) adj.
• Of the color of blood red.
• Of a healthy reddish color ruddy a sanguine
  complexion.
• Archaic.
• Having blood as the dominant humor in terms of
  medieval physiology.
• Having the temperament and ruddy complexion
  formerly thought to be characteristic of a person
  dominated by this humor passionate.
• Cheerfully confident optimistic.
• Middle English, from Old French sanguin, from
  Latin sanguineus, from sanguis, sanguin-, blood.
• san'guinely adv.san'guineness or
  sanguin'ity n.

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Household

• Patrilocal
• Matrilocal
• Uxorilocal
• Avunculocal
• Ambilocal
• Neolocal
• Commune
• Kibbutz

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Marriage

• Polygamy
• Polyandry
• Polygyny
• Monogamy
• Serial Monogamy
• Polyamory

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Next Week . . .

• Ethnicity
• Race
• Inherent Conflicts?