Lecture 4: Kinship

Question 1

Define:

affinal kin

Answer 1

Your ‘in-laws,’ kin by marriage.

Question 2

Define:

affinal relative or affine

Answer 2

Relationships or relatives connected to the ego by marriage.

Question 3

Define:

clans

Answer 3

Large groupings of lineages among whom precise genealogical connections are unknown or irrelevant. They are based on putative descent, or who is generally regarded as the ancestor.

Question 4

Define:

classificatory or ‘fictive’ kin

Answer 4

Those who interact with the ego as if they stood in a specific kinship relation with him or her.

Question 5

Define:

cognatic descent

Answer 5

When descent is calculated from an ancestor or ancestress through any combination of male and female links.

• These systems tend to be responsive to changes in the distribution of the population relative to land or other valued resources.
• There is often a preference for tracing descent in cognatic societies, with preference being overridden by status considerations or by the availability of needed resources.

Question 6

What’s the difference between collateral kin and collateral relatives?

Answer 6

Relative to ego, collateral kin are people like brothers and sisters, parents, cousins, nieces and nephews, great aunts and uncles, etc. Ego’s collateral relatives are not in a direct line of descent with him/her, i.e. they are not related to ego as an ancestor or descendant.

Question 7

Define:

consanguineal relative

Answer 7

‘Natural’ or ‘biological’ kin, those who share ‘common blood.’

Question 8

Define:

corporate descent group

Answer 8

A descent group whose members hold property in common.

Question 9

Define:

descent

Answer 9

The transmission of affiliation, privileges, property, etc. by devolution, succession, or inheritance. It is a way of associating with others who share relationship ties to a common ancestor.

Question 10

Define:

descent group

Answer 10

Living members of a lineage who act together or hold property in common.

Question 11

What is:

ego

Answer 11

Kin are always kin in relation to a specific person or persons. For this reason, it is necessary to specify an individual to serve as the focal point in kinship diagrams. That focal point is referred to as ego and may be represented by a square rather than the typical circle (females) or triangle (males).

Question 12

Define:

endogamy

Answer 12

Marriage that takes place within a specified group.

Question 13

What are the etic symbols used when specifying a kin relation?

Answer 13

• M: Mother
• F: Father
• Si: Sibling
• B: Brother
• Z: Sister
• D: Daughter
• S: Son
• C: Child
• W: Wife
• H: Husband
• Sp: Spouse

Question 14

Define:

exogamy

Answer 14

When marriage takes place outside of a specified group.

• e.g. In most societies, the sibling group is exogamous, meaning its members must marry outside of the group.

Question 15

Define:

genealogy

Answer 15

A pedigree, family tree, or chronicle of descent from an ancestor through intervening generations to the present.

Question 16

Define:

incest taboo

Answer 16

A cultural rule that defines kin who may not become sexual partners. The range of kin will vary from society to society, but normally includes ego’s parents, children, and siblings.

• The incest taboo is not the same thing as exogamy but, since marriage typically involves sex, a society’s incest prohibitions help to define the range of kin whom ego may not marry.

Question 17

Define:

kin

Answer 17

Those whom people recognize as their relatives.

Question 18

Define:

kin term

Answer 18

Terms used to classify different sorts of relatives and to specify their culturally significant relationship to ego.

Question 19

Define:

kindred

Answer 19

Ego’s group of personally relevant kin, or ego’s practical, interacting kin.

• Typically includes consanguines and affines, and possibly fictive kin too.
• Shifts over time, as some relatives die and others are born. It is a situational grouping.

Question 20

Define:

lineage

Answer 20

A category of kin based on common descent, i.e. made up of kin who trace descent from a common ancestor. This ancestor typically lived in the past, and is regarded as the founder of that line. It consists of members who are alive and those no longer living.

Question 21

Define:

lineal kin

Answer 21

Consanguineal kin in a direct line of descent.

Question 22

What is the difference between the mater and the genetrix?

Answer 22

The mater is the social mother, the person (usually but not necessarily biologically female) who assumes the social obligations and provides the social affiliations of a mother to a child. The gentrix is the biological mother, or birth mother.

Question 23

Define:

matriarchy

Answer 23

A system in which mothers or elder female members of a society’s constituent matrilineages govern that society. Loosely, it means a society dominated by women.

Question 24

Define:

matrilineage

(or uterine descent)

Answer 24

When descent is traced from an ancestress through her daughters, their daughters, and so on.

Question 25

Define:

minimal lineage

(or minimal descent group)

Answer 25

A smaller group of descendants who may reside in the same village and number fewer than a hundred people. In this case, we can think of ego has belonging to minimal lineage X which is a segment (a part) of maximal lineage Y.

Question 26

Define:

monogamy

(or serial monogamy)

Answer 26

When a person must have only one spouse at a time.

Question 27

Define:

natal lineage

Answer 27

One’s lineage of birth.

• In many patrilineal societies, a female member of a patrilineage remains a member of her natal lineage after she marries.
• Likewise, in most matrilineal societies a male remains a member of his natal matrilineage after marriage.

Question 28

Define:

natolocal

Answer 28

When a newlywed couple do not form a domestic household at marriage, but remain apart, each living with their respective natal families.

Question 29

Define:

neolocal

Answer 29

When a newlywed couple sets up a new household together, often in a home other than in which either set of parents resides.

Question 30

Define:

parallel cousins and cross cousins

Answer 30

Parallel cousins are the children of same sex siblings. The children of sisters are parallel cousins, as are the children of brothers. In patrilineal systems, patrilateral parallel cousins belong to the same patrilineage; in matrilineal systems, matrilateral parallel cousins belong to the same matrilineage.

Cross cousins are children of opposite sex siblings. Patrilateral cross cousins are ego’s father’s sister’s children; matrilateral cross cousins are ego’s mother’s brother’s children.

Question 31

What is the difference between the pater and the genitor?

Answer 31

The pater is the social father, the person (usually but not necessarily biologically male) who assumes the social obligations and provides the social affiliations of a father to a child. The genitor is the biological father, or sire.

Question 32

Define:

patriarchy

Answer 32

A system in which fathers or elder male members of a society’s constituent patrilineages govern that society. Loosely, it is used to mean a society dominated by men.

Question 33

Define:

patrilineage

(or agnatic descent)

Answer 33

When descent is traced from an ancestor through his sons, their sons, and so on.

Question 34

Define:

patrilocal

Answer 34

Post-marital residence with the father (of either spouse, as this term does not specify).

Question 35

Define:

polygamy

Answer 35

Having multiple spouses.

Question 36

What is the difference between polygyny and polyandry?

Answer 36

Polygyny is when a man is permitted more than one wife. The complementary but much rarer condition is polyandry, where a woman has more than one husband.

Question 37

Define:

prescriptive marriage rule

Answer 37

A positive rule, a “thou shall.” It counsels, advises, or recommends marriage between certain types of kin, typically cousins of specific types.

Question 38

Define:

proscriptive marriage rule

Answer 38

A negative rule, a “thou shall not.” It prohibits a range of kin from becoming spouses.

Question 39

Define:

segmentary lineage organization

Answer 39

A society in which shallow descent groups are organized or nested into increasingly deeper and more comprehensive segments of a maximal lineage.

• Typically, this organization has political functions: it allows for alliances of kin to be relatively more or less comprehensive depending on the context for which they are mustered.
• e.g. In some Arab societies there is a saying that captures the nature of segmentary lineage alliance well: “I against my brother; I and my borther against my cousins; I and my brothers and my cousins against the world.”

Question 40

What’s the difference between a social category and a social group?

Answer 40

A social category is simply a classification (e.g. Class of 2019), while a social group consist of people you actively engage with (e.g. a temporary social group would be ANT207).

Question 41

Define:

terms of address

Answer 41

A kin term that is used when speaking to a particular relative (e.g. ‘Hello Aunt Margaret’).

Question 42

Define:

terms of reference

Answer 42

A kin term that is used when speaking about a particular relationship (e.g. ‘Margaret is my aunt’).

Question 43

Define:

unilineal descent

Answer 43

Descent traced through one sex exclusively.

Question 44

Define:

viri-patrilocal and viri-matrilocal

Answer 44

Viri-patrilocal refers to post-marital residence with the husband’s father, and viri-matrilocal being residence with the wife’s mother’s kin.