Kinship and DescentKinship and DescentChapter 10

What Is Kinship?What Is Kinship?

Kinship is a social network of relatives within which individuals have rights and obligations.

Kinship is especially important in societies where institutions such as a centralized government, a

professional military, or financial banks are absent or ineffective.

Descent groups are a major type of Kinship category…

What Is a Descent Group?What Is a Descent Group?

A descent group is a kind of kinship group in which being in the direct line of descent from a real or mythical ancestor is a criterion of membership.

Provides aid and security to members. Stores religious

tradition. Keeps group members together by worship of

a common ancestor.

Descent GroupsDescent Groups

Unilineal descent◦ Descent that establishes group membership

through either the mother’s or the father’s line, but not through both!!!

Matrilineal descent◦ Descent traced exclusively through the

female line to establish group membership.Patrilineal descent

◦ Descent traced exclusively through the male line to establish group membership.

Unilineal Descent GroupsUnilineal Descent Groups

Lineage◦ Descended from a common ancestor who

lived four to six generations ago, and in which relationships among members can be stated genealogically.

Clan ◦ Often consisting of several lineages, whose

members claim common descent from a remote ancestor, usually legendary or mythological.

Descent Integrated in the Descent Integrated in the Cultural SystemCultural SystemProblems with changing societal valuesProblems with changing societal values

When traditional cultural systems meet new politically-introduced societal ideas of right and wrong, conflicts of morality occur:◦Ex: Honor Killings in Northern Albania

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/places/regions-places/europe-eastern/albania_bloodfeud.html

Patrilineal Descent GroupsPatrilineal 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.◦…but her offspring do not

Authority over the children lies with the father or his elder brother.

Patrilineal Descent Patrilineal Descent DiagramDiagram

Matrilineal Descent GroupsMatrilineal Descent Groups

Descent is traced through the female line. A male belongs to the same descent

group as his mother and her sister.…but his offspring do not.

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.

Tracing Matrilineal DescentTracing Matrilineal Descent

Related TermsRelated Terms

Fission: The splitting of a descent group into two or more new descent groups.

Totemism: The belief that people are related to particular animals, plants, or natural objects by virtue of descent from common ancestral spirits.

KindredKindred

Membership is determined not by descent from a common ancestor (as in descent groups) but by the fact that they share a living relative (EGO).

A small circle of paternal and maternal relatives.

A kindred is never the same for any two persons except siblings.

The KindredThe Kindred

QuestionQuestion

When the membership of a descent group grows too large, ___________ may occur, creating two new, smaller lineages.

A. fusionB. lineal decreaseC. fissionD. exogamyE. moietization

Answer: CAnswer: C

When the membership of a descent group grows too large, fission may occur, creating two new, smaller lineages.

Kinship TerminologiesKinship Terminologies

The Hawaiian systemThe Eskimo systemThe Iroquois systemOmaha systemCrow systemSudanese or descriptive system

Eskimo SystemEskimo System

System of kinship terminology, also called lineal system, that emphasizes the nuclear family by specifically identifying the mother, father, brother, and sister, while lumping together all other relatives into broad categories such as uncle, aunt, and cousin.

Eskimo SystemEskimo System

Hawaiian SystemHawaiian System

Kinship reckoning in which all relatives of the same sex and generation are referred to by the same term.

Hawaiian Hawaiian SystemSystem

Iroquois SystemIroquois SystemIt’s complicated…It’s complicated…

• Kinship terminology wherein a father and father’s brother are given a single term, as are a mother and mother’s sister, but a father’s sister and mother’s brother are given separate terms.

• Parallel cousins are classified with brothers and sisters, while cross cousins are classified separately, but (unlike Crow and Omaha kinship) not equated with relatives of some other generation.

Iroquois Iroquois SystemSystem