Kinship Flashcards
What is Kinship?
It is a system of rights and obligations based on categories of relatedness through blood and marriage.
What is Fictive kin?
It is giving a kin category to someone who is not related by blood or marriage.
What is Descent?
It is kinship relationships based on parent-child tier.
It determines properties and marriage.
What is Descent group?
It is a kinship grouping based on descent that have a corporate function.
What is Lineage?
It is a descent group where the members can trace the links of descent to a known common ancestor.
About 100 people in size.
It is a reaction to warfare.
What is Clan?
It is a descent group where the members believe thay are descended from a common ancestor but cannot trace the link of descent.
About 2000 people in size.
Organized warfare.
What is Totem?
It is an animal, plant or natural feature specially associated with a group of people, ususally the ancestor of a clan.
To dampen warfare.
How many types of descent are there?
5
What is Patrilineality?
It is a descent through the father’s line only.
The primary relationship is between father and son.
What is Matrilineality?
It is a descent through the mother’s line only.
The primary relationship is between brother and sister.
What is Double Descent?
It is a descent through the mother’s line and the father’s line but for different reasons.
What is Ambilineality?
A person chooses to affiliate with either the mother’s or the father’s line.
To equalize resources and population.
What is Bilateral Descent?
It is a descent through both sides of the family.
To maximize flexibility.
How many Kinship System are there?
6
Describe Eskimo kinship system
Divide the basic kin on the bases of sex, generation and nuclear family.
Eg: English speaking countries.
Describe Hawaiian kinship system
Divide the basic kin on the bases of sex and generation only.
Eg: Samoa
Describe Iroguois kinship system
Divide the basic kin on the bases of sex, generation and bifurcation.
Eg: Yanomamo
Describe Crow kinship system
Divide the basic kin on the bases of sex, generation, bifrucation and matrilineality.
We find it where marriage is de facto warfare alliance.
Describe Omaha kinship system
Divide the basic kin on the bases of sex, generation, bifurcation and patrilineality.
Describe Sudanese kinship system
Has a different term for each relationship.
