Anthropology 152 Culture and Humanity

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Anthropology 152 Culture and Humanity

• Chapter 10
• Kinship and Descent

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Ch. 10 What to know

• 1. The difference between kindreds and lineal
  descent groups.
• 2. The various types of descent systems
• patrilineal
• matrilineal
• double descent
• ambilineal
• 3. The organization and function of descent
  groups
• lineage
• clan
• phratry
• moiety
• 4. The major systems of kinship terminology
• Eskimo (lineal)
• Hawaiian
• Iroquois

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Kinship

• Kinship - A network of relatives within which
  individuals possess certain rights and
  obligations
• Structure, support, protection beyond
  family/household
• in societies lacking government, military, banks
  kinship systems function as the organizing
  principles of society
• Descent Group - Any recognized social entity
  requiring lineal descent from a particular real
  or mythical ancestor for membership.
• Kindred - An individuals close relatives on both
  sides.
• In societies without descent groups
• Related by birth with living blood relative in
  common
• Never the same for any two people (except
  siblings)
• Does not endure past single generation (weaker)
• Food-foragers Industrial societies

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Descent System

• The descent system is closely tied to a societys
  economic base.
• patrilineal descent men do majority of primary
  productive work
• matrilineal descent women do do majority of
  primary productive work
• In all societies both mother and father are
  important elements of social structure regardless
  of decent group structure.

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Descent Groups

• Functions
• Maintain integrity of resources that can not be
  divided without being destroyed
• Providing work forces for tasks that require a
  labor pool larger than households can provide
• Allow members of one independent local group to
  claim support and protection from members of
  another
• Dynamics
• Arise from extended family organization
• With the passage of time
• Develop into localized lineages
• Then larger dispersed groups (clans)
• Kinship terminology reflects the kinds of descent
  or kinship groupings that are important in a
  society

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Draw your family tree
Uncle
Uncle
Aunt
M
F
Ego
Si
Cousins
Br
Cousins
Cousins
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Descent Groups

• Members share descent from a common ancestor
  through a series of parent-child links.
• Unilineal descent establishes kin group
  membership exclusively through the male or female
  line.
• Patrilineal
• Matrilineal
• Double descent
• Ambilineal

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Patrilineal Descent Groups

• Male members trace their descent from a common
  male ancestor.
• A female belongs to the same descent group as her
  father and his brother.
• Authority over the children lies with the father
  or his elder brother.

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Patrilineal Descent
GF
GM
FSi
FSiH
FB
FBW
F
M
Si
W
WB
Ego
Cousins
Cousins
S
D
Tension The requirement for younger men to defer
to older men. Requirement for women to defer to
men, as well as to the women of a household they
marry into.
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Matrilineal Descent Groups

• Descent is traced through the female line.
• Does not confer public authority on women, but
  women have more say in decision making than in
  patrilineal societies.
• Common in societies where women perform much of
  the productive work.

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Matrilineal Descent
GF
GM
F
MSi
MSiH
MB
MBW
M
Si
H
HS
Ego
Cousins
Cousins
S
D
Husbands authority lies not in his own household
but in that of his sister. Unsatisfactory
marriages may be ended easily, resulting in
higher divorce rates than patrilineal societies.
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Double Ambilineal Descent

• Double descent
• Descent is traced through both sides. (very
  rare)
• Generally, where double descent is reckoned, the
  matrilineal and patrilineal groups take action in
  different shares of society.
• Productive resources (land) vs consumable
  property (livestock)
• Ambilineal descent
• Descent in which the individual may affiliate
  with either mothers or fathers descent group.
• 1) the individual (ego) decides which group to
  affiliate with
• 2) the person moves freely from one group to
  another
• 3) the person affiliates with different groups
  for different purposes.

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Lineages

• Made up of consanguineal kin who can trace their
  genealogical links to a common ancestor.
• Marriage of a group member represents an alliance
  of two lineages.
• Lineage exogamy maintains open communication and
  fosters exchange of information among lineages.

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Clans

• Created when a large lineage group splits into
  new, smaller ones.
• Members claim descent from a common ancestor
  without knowing the genealogical links to that
  ancestor.
• Clan identification is often reinforced by totems.

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Phratry Moiety

• Phratry - a unilineal descent group composed of
  two or more clans that assume they share a common
  ancestry but do not know the precise genealogical
  links of that ancestry.
• If only two such groups exist, each is a moiety
• Moiety - Each group that results from a division
  of a society into two halves on the basis of
  descent.
• Feelings of kinship among members of lineages and
  clans are stronger than those of members of
  phratries and moities

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Kinship Terminologies

• The Eskimo system
• The Hawaiian system
• The Iroquois system

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Uncle
Uncle
Aunt
M
F
Ego
Si
Cousins
Br
Cousins
Cousins
Eskimo System
Somewhat rare. This is the system we have.
Emphasizes the nuclear family and merges maternal
and paternal aunts, uncles and cousins. This
system is different in that it provides unique
names for each family member in the nuclear
family. This is a bilateral system where both
sides of the family have equal importance.
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F
M
F
M
F
Ego
Si
Si
Si
Br
Br
Br
Si
Br
Hawaiian System
Less complex system. All relatives of same
generation and same sex referred to by same name.
Thus, every blood related female on Egos
fathers side of the family is referred to as
Mother and every blood-related male on Egos
fathers side of the family is referred to as
Father. The same is true with Egos mothers
blood relatives. The children of these blood
relatives are all referred to as brother or
sister.
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Fsi
MBr
F
M
F
Cousins
Ego
Si
Br
Br
Br
Cousins
Iroquois System
Common kinship system, also know as a
bifurcate-merging system. Usually found with a
unilineal descent system. The Iroquois system
has no differentiation between father and
fathers brothers they are both referred to as
father. The same is true of mother and
mothers sisters. However, fathers sisters are
referred to by a separate term that identifies
them as fathers sisters. Mothers brothers
are also referred to by a separate term meaning
mothers brother. This creates two sets of
cousins 1) those who are the children of
mothers sisters and fathers brothers who are
referred to as brother and sister and called
by Anthropologists Parallel Cousins(parallel
cousins cannot marry) and 2) those who are the
children of mothers brothers and fathers
sisters who are referred to as cousins and
called by Anthropologist Cross Cousins (cross
cousins generally can marry).
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Fsi
MBr
F
M
M
F
Ego
Si
Br
Br
Br
Si
Si
M
MBr
Nephew
Niece
Omaha System
Quite complex to us. Differentiates between the
relations of the fathers side of the family and
on the mothers side of the family. Cross cousins
on the maternal side are merged with the parental
generation (thus mother or mothers brother),
while those on the other side are merged with
Egos generation (brother and sister for fathers
brother and niece and nephew for fathers sister.

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Masai Women (52 min) 5296

• The Masai are cattle herders in the Rift Valley
  of East Africa. Cattle are the focus of wealth
  for tribe. The Masai are patrilineal, patriarchal
  and patrilocal.
• The video follows the lives of women in this male
  dominated society. The roles of girls as
  companions of the warriors, a newly married woman
  moving to her husband's compound, and elder women
  at the coming of age ceremony for their sons are
  featured.
• Women do not own cattle, but control cattle for
  their sons who are not yet adults. Women's
  mythology supports the position of women. The
  anthropologist for the video is Melissa
  Llewellyn-Davies.