Kinship Concepts PDF

AFFINITY “Relationship by marriage ties. May include the relationship between corporate gro...

AFFINITY “Relationship by marriage ties. May include the relationship between corporate groups linked by marriage between their members. A relative by marriage is an affine. AGAMY “The lack of any rule in regard to marriage within or without of a group; it denotes absence of marriage regulations on the part of a social unit.” AGNATIC An agnate, then, is a person related by patrilineal.” ALLIANCE “In kinship theory, this refers to a view of society which emphasizes marital interactions (usually repetitive) between descent groups as a basis for social integration and group definition AMBILATERAL “Ambilateral is sometimes used in kinship studies to refer to non-unilineal systems in which an individual may choose to align himself with either of his parental groups AMITACLAN “A clan with patrilineal descent in which unmarried females reside with a paternal aunt and bring their husbands to the father’s sister’s home. It parallels the avuncuclan, but is only theoretical.” AMITALOCAL RESIDENCE “The norm whereby wives take their husbands to the residence of the bride’s father’s sister. It parallels avunculocal residence, but is only theoretical.” AMITATE “In the amitate a sister is superior to her brother in that the paternal aunt can dictate the matrimonial destinies of her brother’s children.” © Antara Chakrabarty (Unacademy Plus) AVOIDANCE RELATIONSHIPS “A pattern of complete avoidance of speech and physical contact between relatives. Murdock (1949:273) suggests that such a technique is an aspect of sex regulation in societies where sexual prohibitions are not strongly internalized in enculturation.” AVUNCULATE “denotes the institutionalization of authority by the mother’s brother over the sister’s son and the latter being made the heir and companion of the former.” AVUNCULOCAL RESIDENCE “Postmarital residence of a newlywed couple with husband’s mother’s brother. Some have argued that the terms “viri-avunculocal” or “avuncu-virilocal” are more precise.” BILATERAL (KINSHIP) “Kinship traced to relatives through both father and mother. Syn. “consanguineal kinship”. BILOCAL RESIDENCE “A norm which permits a married couple to live with or near the parents of either spouse; a factor such as the relative wealth of the two families is likely to determine where the couple will reside.” ES:73. BRIDEWEALTH (OR BRIDEPRICE) “Tangible items of value transferred from the groom or groom’s group to the bride’s group, the prestation serving to validate the marriage union. CLAN A unilineal descent group or category whose members trace patrilineal descent (patriclan) or matrilineal descent (matriclan) from an apical ancestor/ess, but do not know the genealogical links that connect them to the apical ancestor/ess. In the common British anthropological sense, a descent group, usually consisting of several lineages, between which shared descent from an ancestor (or ancestress) is assumed but cannot actually be demonstrated. Many American anthropologists, following © Antara Chakrabarty (Unacademy Plus) Murdock (1949), regard a “clan” as the localized core of a dispersed unilineal descent group (i.e., a patri- or matri-sib) or non-unilineal descent group CLASSIFACTORY SYSTEM A mode of kinship classification in which collateral kin are terminologically equated with lineal kin COGNATE A bilateral (consanguineal) kinsman or kinswoman. CONSANGUINITY Relationship by blood (i.e., presumed biological) ties. A consanguine is a relative by birth (i.e., a “blood” relative), as distinguished from in-laws CROSS-COUSINS The children of opposite-sexed siblings; similarly, the offspring of one’s parents’ opposite-sexed siblings. CROSS-COUSIN MARRIAGE “In alliance theory (especially in its early versions), a rule or practice of marriage between father’s sister’s child and mother’s brother’s child (a man’s marriage with MBD is “matrilateral cross-cousin marriage”; DESCENT “A relationship defined by connection to an ancestor (or ancestress) through a culturally recognized sequence of parent-child links (from father to son to son’s son= patrilineal descent, from mother to daughter to daughter’s daughter = matrilineal descent” (RK:148). In other words, descent is the tracing of relationships inter-generationally through real, putative, or fictive parent-child links. Various typologies of descent have been proposed © Antara Chakrabarty (Unacademy Plus) Keesing’s Typology of Descent PATRILINEAL DESCENT(OR AGNATIC) descent from an ancestor down through a series of male links (i.e., through the ancestor’s son, his son’s sons, his son’s sons’ sons, etc.) MATRILINEAL DESCENT (OR UTERINE) descent from an ancestress down through a series of female links (through daughter, daughter’s daughter, etc.) COGNATIC DESCENT descent from an ancestor or ancestress through a series of links that can be male or female or any combination of the two. DOUBLE DESCENT a system whereby two sets of social groups or categories exist (for different purposes) in the same society, one based on patrilineal descent and the other on matrilineal descent (so a person belongs to his/her father’s patrilineal group and his/her mother’s matrilineal group). Tuzin’s Typology of Descent UNILINEAL DESCENT The principle whereby descent is traced either through the male line (“patrilineal”) or the female line (“matrilineal”), but not both DOUBLE DESCENT The principle whereby descent is traced through the male line for certain prescribed purposes, and through the female line for other prescribed purposes; also called Double Unilineal Descent NON-UNILINEAL DESCENT The principle whereby descent is reckoned by means other than exclusively through the father and his male ancestors or the mother and her female ancestors © Antara Chakrabarty (Unacademy Plus) AMBILINEAL DESCENT The principle whereby descent is reckoned through male or female links without set order BILATERAL DESCENT The principle whereby descent is traced equally through males (i.e., father) and females (i.e., mother). Also called Cognatic. English kinship embodies such a descent principle Note: Principles of descent often govern recruitment to social groups (e.g., Ego is admitted to membership in a patrilineage according to the principle of patrilineal descent), but these correspondences must be verified empirically. DESCENT GROUP “A kin group whose membership is based on a rule of descent. Appropriate descent status (patrilineal, matrilineal, or cognatic, depending on the society) entitles a person to be a member of the group.” (RK:148). A socially recognized group of persons, all of whom trace real or putative descent from a common ancestor (or ancestress) with parent-child links between every generation. In-marrying persons (“affines”) may or may not be assimilated to this group as formal members DESCENT RULE “A descent principle culturally used to define eligibility for membership in a kin group” DESCRIPTIVE KINSHIP TERM “A term that combines two or more elementary terms to denote a specific relative DESCRIPTIVE TERMINOLOGY “Sets off the direct line of a person’s descent and the immediate relatives of his own generation from all other individuals. Lineal relatives are all differentiated from collateral relatives.” ES:75. DOW RY Tangible items of value transferred from the bride’s group to the groom or groom’s group to validate the marriage union. Often this is more properly seen as the early © Antara Chakrabarty (Unacademy Plus) bestowal of the girl’s inheritance, over which she may retain considerable control. Contra. “bridewealth” DRAVIDIAN TERMINOLOGY “A mode of kinship reckoning whereby parallel and cross relatives (or “kin” and “affines”) are systematically distinguished; characteristically, but apparently not always, associated with a rule of symmetrical alliance (direct exchange), i.e., a two-section system.” RK:149. EGO The point of view taken in describing a relationship ELEMENTARY FAMILY Same as “Nuclear Family”. Note that a childless family would not constitute an elementary family. ES:75. ELEMENTARY KINSHIP TERM “A term that cannot be reduced into component elements. “Father” and “niece” are elementary terms in English.” ES:75. ENDOGAMY “A requirement for marriage within a defined category or range or group or community (“in-marriage”). All societies are minimally endogamous in that they limit marriage to members of the same species; most limit marriage to members of the opposite sex.” RK:149. Contra. “Exogamy”. EXOGAMY Marriage to person(s) outside the group, however defined (e.g., descent, locality, castes, etc.). Contra. “Endogamy” EXTENDED FAMILY “A domestic group or composite of domestic groups consisting of two or more nuclear families linked together through parent and child (patrilineal extended family, matrilineal extended family) or through siblings (fraternal or sororal extended family).” (RK:149). The social unit, usually co-residing, consisting of two or more nuclear families affiliated © Antara Chakrabarty (Unacademy Plus) through an extension of parent-child relationships; i.e., the nuclear family of a married adult joined to that of his/her parents (NG-359). FAMILY: GP MURDOCK (1949) 1 “…a social group characterized by common residence, economic cooperation, and reproduction.” Others argue that the family should be considered as a kinship group and should not be confused with other social groups based on common residence (household) or function (domestic unit) FAMILY OF PROCREATION The nuclear family which Ego establishes by marriage, consisting of his/her “wife/husband”, sons and daughter FAMILY OF ORIENTATION The nuclear family into which Ego was born and reared, consisting of his father, mother, brothers and sisters Levinson and Malone Typology of Families MATRIFOCAL FAMILY consists of a mother and her children. NUCLEAR FAMILY consists of a wife/mother, husband/father, and their children. POLYGYNOUS FAMILY consists of a husband/father, two or more co-wives/mothers and their children. POLYANDROUS FAMILY consists of one wife/mother, her children and two or more husband/fathers. EXTENDED FAMILY © Antara Chakrabarty (Unacademy Plus) consists of individuals who are recognized as both husband/father and son/brother or wife/mother and sister/daughter at the same time. Extended families combine at least one individual’s family of orientation with his or her family of procreation. Murdock (1949) views the extended family as composite nuclear families. Linton views them as multi-generational consanguineal families to which spouses are added. Murdock (1949) provides us with a typology of extended families based on post-nuptial residence. Nimkoff (1965:19) has produced a typology based on structural differences. Murdock’s Typology of Extended Families “An extended family consists of two or more nuclear families affiliated through an extension of the parent-child relationship rather than of the husband-wife relationship, i.e., by joining the nuclear family of a married adult to that of his parents.” Murdock 1949:2 “The several types of extended family depend primarily upon the prevailing rule of residence.” Murdock 1949: 33. PATRILOCAL the families of procreation of a man, his married sons and his sons’. GPM:34 MATRILOCAL the families of procreation of a woman, her daughters and her daughters’ daughters. BILOCAL either the son or the daughter, depending upon circumstances of the particular case, may remain at home and thereby attach his family of procreation to his/her family of orientation. Thus the nuclear family of a married couple is united with those of some but not all of their sons, of some but not all of their daughters, and of some but not all of their grandchildren of either sex. Nuclear families of adjacent generations, in short, may be linked by any type of parent-child relationship. AVUNCULOCAL a man, his wife or wives, his young sons and unmarried daughters, several of his sister’s adolescent but unmarried sons, a sister’s son who is married to his daughter, the young children of the latter couple, possibly other married nephews or daughters with their families, and occasionally even a grand nephew or two. In this instance the associated nuclear families are linked through two relationships, that between parent and daughter and that between maternal uncle and nephew. In some societies with this type of extended family, however, the nephew does not marry the daughter, so that the © Antara Chakrabarty (Unacademy Plus) uncle-nephew link alone connects the associated nuclear families of adjacent generations. Nimkoff’s Typology of Extended Families: STEM FAMILY two nuclear families in adjacent generations with one son/husband or daughter/wife who is a member of both families. LINEAL FAMILY One nuclear family in the senior generation and two or more nuclear families in the junior generation. FULLY EXTENDED FAMILY the families of at least two siblings or cousins in each of at least two adjacent generations. JOINT FAMILY two or more nuclear families who form a corporate economic unit. FICTIVE KINSHIP “A relationship, such as godparenthood, modeled on relations of kinship, but created by customary convention rather than the circumstances of birth.” FRATERNAL POLYANDRY “A family consisting of several brothers with one wife in common.” ES:76. See “Adelphic Polyandry” GENERALIZED EXCHANGE A system of marriage exchange in which women are viewed as circulating within groups. Wife-givers cannot be wife-takers. RF:219. © Antara Chakrabarty (Unacademy Plus) GENITOR Biological father (genitrix = biological mother). Contra. “pater.” GENITRIX Biological mother (genitor = biological father). Contra. “mater”. GENS An antiquated term for a patrilineal descent group now more commonly known as a clan. See “clan”. GROUP MARRIAGE A marital union involving several women and several men at once (GPM: 24). It does not appear to ever have existed as the cultural norm or the prevailing type of union in any known society. HYPERGAMY Denotes a marriage rule prescribing union of a female with a male of higher status. Contra. “Hypogamy” HYPOGAMY Denotes a marriage rule prescribing union of a female to a male to a male of lower status. Contra. “Hypergamy” INCEST “Sexual intercourse between two persons who are related by a real, assumed, or artificial bond of kinship that is regarded as a bar to sex relations. Where sex relations are forbidden, but not because of kinship, they may be called mismating. Where either party occupies a status forbidding sex relations, e.g., a nun, sexual intercourse may be termed status unchastity.(Murdock 1949:261).” ES:76. INCEST TABOO “A rule prohibiting sexual relations between immediate kin (father and daughter, mother and son, brother and sister) and others culturally defined as in an equivalent relationship. Differs from “exogamy”, which prohibits marriage but not necessarily sexual relations.” RK:149. © Antara Chakrabarty (Unacademy Plus) JOKING RELATIONSHIP “Patterned behavior between kin that calls for mild to taunting or ribald joking.” ES:76. LEVIRATE “A system where a dead man’s brother (or equivalent close male relative) succeeds to his status as husband, by marrying his widow.” LINEAGE “A unilineal descent group based on patrilineal descent (patrilineage) or matrilineal descent (matrilineage) whose members trace descent from an apical ancestor/ancestress by known genealogical links.” MATER Sociological mother (pater = sociological father), not necessarily biological mother. Contra. “genitrix”. See genitor. MATRIARCHY “Rule of the family (and society) by the mother; no strictly matriarchal societies are known. “Maripotestal” is a synonym for matriarchal.” MATRIDEME “An exogamous, nonunilinear group with matrilocal residence. MATRILATERAL RELATIONS Those kinship relationships one acquires through mother. One’s kinsmen and kinswomen on “mother’s side”. MATRILINEAGE A unilineal descent group based on matrilineal descent. MATRILINEAL DESCENT © Antara Chakrabarty (Unacademy Plus) “A principle of descent from an ancestress through her daughter, her daughter’s daughter, and so on (in the female line)”. MATRILOCAL RESIDENCE A post-nuptial residence pattern in which the newly wed couple establishes residence with wife’s group. Some would restrict this usage to those societies which have unilineal descent groups. MATRI-PATRILOCAL RESIDENCE “A pattern of initial matrilocal residence followed by permanent patrilocal residence.” MOIETIES “A division of a society into two social categories or groups, characteristically by a rule of patrilineal descent (patri-moiety) or matrilineal descent (matri-moiety).” MONOGAMY “A form of marriage which limits a person to only one spouse at a time. Lowie (1948:114) estimates that few people in history practiced monogamy on principle but that the majority, in fact, led monogamous lives.”. NEOLOCAL RESIDENCE “Residence of a couple after marriage in a new household not linked spatially to that of the groom’s or the bride’s kin PARALLEL-COUSINS “The children of same-sexed siblings; similarly, the offspring of one’s parents’ same- sexed siblings. E.g., MZC (RF-185).” DT “Ego’s father’s brother’s child or mother’s sister’s child, or more distant cousin classed terminologically with these first cousins.” RK:150. Contra “Cross-cousins”. PATER Sociological father (mater = sociological mother), not necessarily biological father. Contra. “genitor”. See “genitrix”. © Antara Chakrabarty (Unacademy Plus) PATRILATERAL RELATIONS Those kinship relations one acquires through father. One’s kinsmen and kinswomen on “father’s side.” PATRILINEAGE A unilineal descent group based on patrilineal descent. PATRILINEAL DESCENT “Descent traced through a line of ancestors in the male line. Syn. “Agnatic Descent”” RK:150. PATRILOCAL RESIDENCE Residence of a married couple with the husband’s group. Some would restrict this usage to those societies with unilineal descent groups. See virilocal residence. PHRATRY “A grouping of clans related by traditions of common descent or historical alliance based on kinship.” RK 150 “Recognized, often named social group consisting of two or more clans recognizing relationship to one another, the implication being that there are two or more such clan-sets (“phratries”) in a given society (NG-35; RF-92).” DT. (NOTE: If there are only two phratries then they are called moieties. Therefore, there must be at least THREE such groupings of clans before we can speak of phratries.) POLYGAMY “Plural marriage, of which there are two major types: polygyny and polyandry (RF- 58,87)” DT. POLYGYNY Marriage of a male to two or more females. SORORAL POLYGYNY where the plural wives are sisters (to one another) SERIAL POLYGYNY © Antara Chakrabarty (Unacademy Plus) where the marriages occur seriatum (NOTE: this is a misnomer, if the marriages are not simultaneous, they cannot be considered as polygamous) POLYANDRY Marriage of a female to two or more males. FRATERNAL POLYANDRY where the husbands are brothers (to one another) (NG-365ff.) POSITIVE MARRIAGE RULES Rules which stipulate “not only whom one may not marry , they specify also whom one should marry. RF:199. NEGATIVE MARRIAGE RULES Rules which stipulate only “whom one should not marry but have no rule about the actual choice of partner. RF:199. PREFERENTIAL MARRIAGE “A marriage pattern (e.g., marriage with a cross-cousin, a brother’s widow, etc.) that is socially valued and desirable, but not enjoined.” RK:151. PRESCRIPTIVE MARRIAGE “In alliance theory, a requirement that marriage be with a partner in a particular kinship category. Even where “incorrect” marriages occur, they are likely to be classed as if they were correct, and kinship relations readjusted accordingly.” RK:151. 1A. PATRILOCAL Normal Residence is with or near the husband’s patrilineal kinsmen. 1B. VIRILOCAL Equivalent to patrilocal but patrilineal kin groups are absent. Residence is with husband’s group. 2A. MATRILOCAL © Antara Chakrabarty (Unacademy Plus) Normal Residence is with or near the wife’s matrilineal kinsmen. 2B. UXORILOCAL Equivalent to matrilocal but matrilineal kin groups are absent. Residence is with wife’s group. 3. AVUNCULOCAL Normal residence is with or near the maternal uncle (mother’s brother) or other male matrilineal kinsmen of the husband. 4A. BILOCAL Residence is established optionally with or near the parents of either spouse. 4B. AMBILOCAL Murdock identifies with bilocal, but can also be used to identify systems in which the married couple shifts periodically from residence with husband’s groups to residence with wife’s group (e.g., Dobuans who shift periodically from matrilocality to avunculocality). 5. MATRILOCAL/AVUNCULOCAL OPTION Like bilocal, except that the option is limited to either matrilocal or avunculocal residence. 6. AVUNCULOCAL/VIRILOCAL OPTION Like bilocal, except that the option is limited to either avunculocal or virilocal residence. 7. NEOLOCAL Normal residence is apart from the relatives of both spouses. 8. DUOLOCAL There is no common household. Spouses remain in their natal groups. 9. MATRI-PATRILOCAL © Antara Chakrabarty (Unacademy Plus) First the newly wed couple lives with the bride’s group for a time (usually for a year or until the birth of the first child), then residence is shifted definitely to the groom’s group. GPM: 17. RESPECT RELATIONSHIPS “Behavior patterns between kin that involve standardized ways of showing respect.” ES:79. RESTRICTED EXCHANGE “Marriage exchange is restricted where it has to involve two groups who exchange directly. Such a system can only ‘grow’ by splitting into four, eight, sixteen etc. groups and by continuing to exchange directly.” RF:219. A system of marriage exchange in which wife-givers are also wife-takers. SECONDARY RELATIVES The primary relatives of Ego’s primary relatives (who are not, of course, also primary relatives of Ego). E.g., father’s father, mother’s sister, wife’s mother, brother’s son, etc. GPM: 14 SECTION SYSTEM “In alliance theory and Australian kinship studies, division of a society into two, four, or eight social categories through rules of descent and alliance. Symmetrical rules of marital alliance, enjoining marriage with a member of one of the sections, are a normal accompaniment of such systems.” RK:151. SEGMENTARY SYSTEMS “In descent systems, defining descent categories with reference to more and more remote apical ancestors so that the descent categories form a tree-like structure (including successively wider ranges of descendants).” RK:151. SEGMENTATION The process whereby segments of a lineage split apart and become established as separate “sub-lineages.” This is usually associated with political processes and/or demographic growth (RF-123); NG-200). SEPT © Antara Chakrabarty (Unacademy Plus) A non-unilineal descent group (NG-204). See “clan”. See “kindred”. SIB “A dispersed, as opposed to localized, unilineal descent group (i.e., a patri- or matri-sib). Rarely used in the British anthropological literature.” DT. ” Two or more lineages related by a common, mythical ancestor.” ES:79. See “clan” SISTER-EXCHANGE “Exchange of sisters in marriage by a pair of men.” RK:151. SORORAL POLYGYNY The marriage of a man to two or more sisters simultaneously. Distinguish between this and the sororate. SORORATE “Rule whereby a man is entitled to marry the sister of his deceased wife. Also, Sororal Polygyny: simultaneous marriage to a man to two or more women who are sisters (to one another).” DT. “This perpetuates the marital contract between groups.” RK:151. Contra. “Levirate”. SYMMETRICAL ALLIANCE “In alliance theory, a marriage system involving direct exchange. See “Direct Exchange”.” RK:151. Symmetrical Cross-Cousin Marriage Marriage with a MBD or a FZD. TEKNONYMY “A practice whereby a child does not take his name from its parents but rather parents derive a name from their child. For example, an adult is known as “the father of so-and- so.” ES:79. © Antara Chakrabarty (Unacademy Plus) TERTIARY RELATIVES The primary relatives of Ego’s secondary relatives. E.g., father’s sister’s husband, wife’s sister’s daughter. GPM: 14. TOTEMISM “Symbolic association between a social group (e.g., a lineage or clan) and a kind of (animal,) bird, plant, or natural phenomenon. In “classic” forms, a member of the social group has some special religious relationship (e.g., a food taboo) toward members of the natural species.” RK:151. UTERINE Pertaining to the reckoning of relationship by female link(s) exclusively, regardless of sex of Ego and/or Alter. Contra. “agnate”. UTERINE NEPHEW “Ego’s sister’s son.” ES:79. UXORI- Pertaining to the “wife.” Contra. “Viri-” UXORILOCAL RESIDENCE “Residence of a married couple with the wife’s kin.” RK:151. Same as “matrilocal residence” except that matrilineal descent groups are not present. VIRI- Pertaining to the “husband”. Contra. “Uxori-” VIRILOCAL RESIDENCE “Residence of a married couple with the husband’s kin. Residence rules can be further distinguished as “viri-patrilocal” (with the husband’s father), “viri-avunculocal” (residence with husband’s maternal uncle.” RK:151. Same as patrilocal residence except that patrilineal descent groups are not present. WIFE-CAPTURE © Antara Chakrabarty (Unacademy Plus) The abduction of a woman who is taken as a wife. “Wife-capture is exceedingly rare as a normal mode of marriage, not appearing as such in any of the societies of our sample, and elopements are usually later legitimized by the performance of the customary ceremonies and property transactions.” GPM:20. © Antara Chakrabarty (Unacademy Plus)