Cultural Anthropology: Kinship And Decent

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Kinship

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A Network of relatives within which individuals possess certain mutual rights and obligations

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Descent Group

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Any kin-ordered social group with a membership in the direct line of descent from a real (historical) or fictional common ancestor

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Unilineal Descent

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Descent that establishes group membership exclusively through either the male or female line

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Matrilineal Descent

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Descent traces exclusively through the female line to establish group membership

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Patrilinear Descent

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Descent traced exclusively through the male line to establish group membership

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Lineage

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A unilineal kinship group descended from a common ancestor or founder who lived four to six generations ago, and in which relationships among members can be exactly stated in genealogical terms

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Clan

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An extended unilineal kinship group, often consisting of several lineages, whose members claim common descent from a remote ancestor, usually legendary or mythological

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Fission

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The splitting of the descent group into two or more new descent groups

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Totemism

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

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Phratry

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A unilineal descent group composed of at least two clans that supposedly share a common ancestory, whether or not they really do

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Moiety

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Each group that results from a division of a society into two halves on the basis of descent

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Kindred

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An individual's close blood relatives on the maternal and paternal sides of his or her family

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EGO

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The central person from whom the degree of each relationship is traced

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Eskimo System

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Kinship reckoning in which the nuclear family is emphasized by specifically indentifying the mother, father, brother, and sister, while lumping together all other relatives into broad categories such as uncle, aunt, and cousin. Also referred to as lineal system

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Hawaiian System

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

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Iroquois System

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Kinship reckoning in which a father and father's brother are referred to by a single term, as are a mother and mother's sister, but a father's sister and moher's brother are given seperate terms. Parallel cousins are classified with brothers and sisters, while cross cousins are classified with brothers and sisters, while cross cousins are classified separtley but not equated with relatives of some other generations.