Cultural Anthropology/Social Institutions/Kinship

Key Terms & Concepts

 * Consanguine
 * Affine
 * Corporate descent: Bilateral, Ambiline
 * Cognitive descent: Patriline, Matriline
 * Unilineal descent groups: Lineages, Clans, Phraties, Moieties
 * Non-unilineal descent groups: Kindred
 * Kinship terminology systems: Hawaiian, Eskimo, Omaha, Crow, Iroquois, Sudanese

= Kinship = In this section, we will look at kinship patterns. These patterns determine how we connect with others through descent and marriage. It is a basic system of social organization. Kin that are related to us through descent (parent to child) are called consanguine or blood relatives. Anthropologists oftentimes discuss how many links there are between individuals. For instance, between a father and a daughter there is one link in the chain of familial connections. Between that daughter and her sibling there are two links, one to the parent and one to the sibling. If that sibling had a child then there would be three links between the daughter mentioned in the first example: one to the parent, one to the sibling and one to the niece or nephew. Kin that are related through marriage are called affine. In the United States, we refer to affine as in-laws.

= Kinship Diagrams = Anthropologists draw kinship diagrams to illustrate relationships. Kinship diagrams allow cultural anthropologists to quickly sketch out relationships between people during the interview process. It also provides a means to visually present a culture’s kinship pattern without resorting to names, which can be confusing, and allows for anonymity for the people.

There are some basic symbols that are used in kinship diagrams. One set of symbols is used to represent people. The other set is used to represent relationships or connections between people.

In the diagram below, a circle represents a female, a triangle a male, and a square represents a person self-identified as neither sex or both sexes.

(click on any diagram to enlarge)

(matrilineal descent)

= Descent Groups =

In all societies there are social groups whose membership is based on descent; members share a common ancestor or living relative. Descent groups help to define the pool of potential mates, the group of people who are obligated to help in economic and political issues, and may even dictate which religion is followed, particularly in unilineal descent groups.

Unilineal Descent Groups
Lineages trace lines of descent to the same ancestor. A matriline is traced through the mother's family line and partrilines are traced through the father's. Ambilines are traced through either the mother's or father's line; the choice, which might be made based on friendship or availability of resources, is left open.

Clans are groups who acknowledge a common ancestor but the exact genealogy might not be remembered. Oftentimes, the ancestor may be so far back in time that history becomes distorted so that the ancestor takes on heroic proportions. For instance, Native American groups have clans, an ancient lineage that is often just referred to as an animal (wolf, raven). Clans can be quite big, with a large number of people.

Phratries are groups of clans (at least three clans) who are believed to be related by kinship. There are not usually economic ties between the clans.

Moieties are also linked clans; however, in this case, there are only two clans involved. There may be economic ties between moieties.

Non-Unilineal Descent Groups
There is only one type of non-unilineal descent group, the kindred. Kindreds count all individuals from each parent as relatives. This kind of descent group is usually seen where small family groups are more adaptive than large ones and individual mobility is high, e.g., industrial societies. Often, kindreds fall apart when the unifying individual dies.

Kinship Terminology
"Cross-cultural comparisons of categories of kin terms (words used to identify relatives) can sometimes reveal basic similarities and differences in worldview and experience" (Bonvillain 2010: 201). Terminology systems take a myriad of things into account (although they may not take all of these things into account):


 * paternal vs. maternal kin
 * generation
 * differences in relative age
 * sex
 * consanguine vs. affinal ties
 * person's descent line vs. linked
 * descent line
 * sex of linking relative

Terminology Systems
While the actual form of the words vary from culture to culture, anthropologists have identified only six terminology systems.

The Hawaiian System. This system is the simplest in that it has the fewest terms. The key distinctions are generation and gender. For example, all the males of the biological father's generation are called father, while all the females are called mother. The Hawaiian system is common where nuclear families are dependent on other kin; the system emphasizes cohesion of the extended family. It is common among Pacific Island peoples.

Some anthropologists recognize fictive kin (Bonvillain 2010), or people who are not relatives by descent or marriage. This type of kin may include adopted relatives, ceremonial relatives such as godparents and occupational brotherhoods and sisterhoods.