Kinship and Descent

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Chapter 10

• Kinship and Descent

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What We Will Learn

• Why have cultural anthropologists spent so much
  time studying kinship?
• What are the various functions of descent groups?
• What are the different ways in which cultures
  categorize kin?
• Why is it important to know something about the
  kinship systems in other cultures?

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Kinship Defined

• Kinship refers to the relationshipsfound in all
  societiesthat are based on blood or marriage.
• Those to whom we are related through birth or
  blood, are our consanguineal relatives.
• Those to whom we are related through marriage are
  our affinal relatives.
• Relationships based on blood and marriage are
  culturally recognized by all societies.

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Functions of Kinship Systems

• Vertical function - provides social continuity by
  binding together a number of successive
  generations.
• Horizontal function - solidify or tie together a
  society across a single generation through
  marriage.

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Kinship Diagram Symbols
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Generic Kinship Diagram
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Principles of Kinship Classification

• Generation
• Gender
• Lineality Versus Collaterality
• Consanguineal Versus Affinal Kin
• Relative Age
• Sex of the Connecting Relative
• Social Condition
• Side of the Family

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Descent Groups

• Relatives who live their lives in close proximity
  to one another.
• Characteristics
• Have a strong sense of identity.
• Often share communally held property.
• Provide economic assistance to one another.
• Engage in mutual civic and religious ceremonies.

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Functions of Descent Groups

• Mechanism for inheriting property and political
  office.
• Control behavior.
• Regulate marriages.
• Structure primary political units.

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Rules of Descent Two Types

• Unilateral
• Trace their ancestry through mothers line or
  fathers line, but not both (60).
• Cognatic descent
• Includes double descent, ambilineal descent, and
  bilateral descent.

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Patrilineal Descent
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Patrilineal Descent

• Most common unilineal descent group.
• A man, his children, his brothers children, and
  his sons children are all members of the same
  descent group.
• Females must marry outside their patrilineages.
• A womans children belong to the husbands
  lineage rather than her own.

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Matrilineal Descent Groups

• A woman, her siblings, her children, her sisters
  children, and her daughters children.
• 15 of the unilineal descent groups found among
  contemporary societies including
• Native Americans (such as Navajo, Cherokee, and
  Iroquois)
• Truk and Trobrianders of the Pacific
• Bemba, Ashanti, and Yao of Africa

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Matrilineal Descent
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Types of Unilineal Descent Groups

• Lineages
• Clans
• Phratries
• Moieties

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Lineage Segmentation
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Corporate Nature ofUnilineal Descent Groups

• Lineage members see themselves as members of the
  group rather than individuals.
• Large numbers of family must approve of
  marriages.

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Corporate Nature ofUnilineal Descent Groups

• Property is regulated by the group, rather than
  by the individual.
• If a member of a lineage assaults a member of
  another lineage, the assaulter and the group are
  held accountable.
• The kinship group provides security and
  protection for individual members.

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Cognatic Descent Groups

• Approximately 40 of the worlds societies.
• Three types
• Double descent
• Ambilineal descent
• Bilateral descent

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Kinship Classification Systems

• Eskimo
• Hawaiian
• Iroquois
• Omaha
• Crow
• Sudanese

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World Distribution of Kinship Systems
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Eskimo System

• 1/10th of the worlds societies
• Associated with bilateral descent.
• Emphasizes the nuclear family by using separate
  terms (mother, father, sister, brother) that are
  not used outside the nuclear family.

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Eskimo Kinship System
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Hawaiian System

• Found in 1/3 of the societies in the world.
• Uses a single term for all relatives of the same
  sex and generation
• A persons father, fathers brother, and mothers
  brother are all referred to as father.
• In EGOs generation, the only distinction is
  based on sex - male cousins are as brothers,
  female cousins as sisters.
• Nuclear family members are roughly equivalent to
  more distant kin.

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Hawaiian System
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Iroquois System

• EGOs father and fathers brother are called by
  the same term, mothers brother is called by a
  different term.
• EGOs mother and mothers sister are called by
  one term, a different term is used for EGOs
  fathers sister.
• EGOs siblings are given the same term as
  parallel cousins.

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Iroquois System
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Omaha System

• Emphasizes patrilineal descent.
• EGOs father and fathers brother are called by
  the same term, and EGOs mother and mothers
  sister are called by the same term.
• On the mothers side of the family, there is a
  merging of generations.
• That merging of generations does not occur on
  EGOs fathers side of the family.

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Omaha System
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Crow System

• Concentrates on matrilineal rather than
  patrilineal descent.
• Mirror image of the Omaha system.
• The fathers side of the family merges
  generations.
• On EGOs mothers side of the family, which is
  the important descent group, generational
  distinctions are recognized.

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Crow System
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Sudanese System

• Named after region in Africa where it is found.
• Most descriptive system, makes the largest number
  of terminological distinctions.
• Separate terms are used for mothers brother,
  mothers sister, fathers brother, and fathers
  sister as well as their male and female children.
  
• Found in societies that have differences in
  wealth, occupation, and social status.

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Sudanese System
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Quick Quiz
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• 1. ________ refers to relationships found in all
  societies.
• Relatedness
• Matrilineality
• Patrilineality
• Kinship

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Answer d

• Kinship refers to relationships found in all
  societies.

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• 2. Those who are related to us by blood are
  referred to as
• affinal kin.
• descendants.
• ancestors.
• consanguineal kin.

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Answer d

• Those who are related to us by blood are referred
  to as consanguineal kin.

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• 3. Because it makes the largest number of
  terminological distinctions, the ________ system
  is the most descriptive.
• Sudanese
• Crow
• Inuit
• Aleut

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Answer a

• Because it makes the largest number of
  terminological distinctions, the Sudanese system
  is the most descriptive.

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• 4. While matrilineal descent systems occur, it is
  important not to confuse them with
  _________________ , a situation whereby women
  have greater authority and decision-making
  prerogatives than men.

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Answer matriarchy

• While matrilineal descent systems occur, it is
  important not to confuse them with matriarchy, a
  situation whereby women have greater authority
  and decision-making prerogatives than men.