GS 355 – Cultural Anthropology

Dr. Sumanto Al Qurtuby

KINSHIP AND DESCENT Associate Professor of Anthropology,
Global & Social Studies Dept, KFUPM
 ❑Although interested in all societies of the world,
cultural anthropologists have in actual practice
concentrated on studying small-scale societies
where kinship relations tend to be all-
encompassing.
WHY DO CULTURAL ❑In small-scale, non-Western, preliterate, and
ANTHROPOLOGISTS technologically simple societies, kinship is at the
STUDY KINSHIP? heart of social structure. Kinship relations, in such
societies, are identical to social relations.
❑In contrast, in large-scale, highly urbanized,
technological societies, social relations and
structure in general are not based on kinship.
 WHAT IS KINSHIP?
❑Kinship is a set of relationship, considered primary in any
society, which is built based on biological (blood / genetic)
and/or cultural factors, particularly marriage.
❑People to whom we are related through birth or blood are
consanguineal relatives (i.e. one’s biological and blood
relatives)
❑ People to whom we are related through marriage are affinal
relatives (i.e. kinship ties shaped through marriage / in-laws).
 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF KINSHIP
❑Each society has a well-understood system of defining
relationships between the different types of relatives.
❑Each society defines the nature of kinship interaction by
determining which kin are more socially important than others.
❑Although kinship systems vary significantly from one society
to another, one thing is certain: relationship based on blood
and marriage are culturally recognized by all societies.
 THE PRACTICE OF KINSHIP
❑Although kinship is mainly based on biological and marital links, some
societies based their kinship system on more broadly involving various
aspects nothing to do with genealogical / marital connections.
❑Kinship sometimes is related to economic transactions, political
affiliations, caste systems, or religious beliefs. In some societies,
kinship is also tied to nepotism. An example of non-blood kinship:
biradari of Pakistan, a group of “kinship” built based on neighborhood
and brotherhood, not necessarily biological / genetic.
❑Fictive kinship: a term used for people who are not related by either
blood or marriage.
 FUNCTIONS OF KINSHIP
❑Vertical function of kinship: a kinship system provides social
continuity by binding together successive different
generations.
❑Horizontal function of kinship: kinship systems tend to solidify
or tie together a society horizontally (i.e. across a single
generation) through the process of marriage. Marriage,
especially exogamy marriage, creates alliances with other
kinship groups, thereby creating solidarity within a much larger
society.
 DESCENT

Decent: a person’s kinship connection traced back through a

number of generations. It is the rules a society uses to
establish affiliations with one’s parents that provide the basis
for the shape of social groups or descent groups, namely
collections of relatives (usually descendants of a common
ancestor). In the society that have descent groups, the group
plays a central role in the lives of its members.
 TYPES OF DESCENT: UNILINEAL DESCENT GROUPS

❑First type, unilineal descent: tracing descent or ancestry

through a single line, either mother’s or father’s lines.
❑Matrilineal descent groups: a form of descent in which people
trace their ancestry and primary kin connection through the
mother’s lines.
❑ Patrilineal descent groups: a form of descent in which
people trace their ancestry or main kin relations through the
father’ s lines.
 MATRILINEAL & PATRILINEAL DESCENT GROUPS
❑Of the two types of unilineal descent groups, patrilineal descent groups are
by far more common that are found on all major societies of the world. In this
system, a person is related through the father (i.e. genitor), father’s father,
father’s father’s father etc. In other words, a man, his own children, his
brother’s children (not his sister’s children), and his son’s children (not his
daughter’s children) are all members of the same descent group.
❑In a matrilineal kinship system, a matrilineal descent group comprises a
women, her siblings, her own children, her sister’s children, and her
daughter’s children. The groups make up 15 present of the unilineal descent
groups found among contemporary societies.
 TYPES OF DESCENT: COGNATIC (MULTILINEAL DESCENT GROUPS)
❑Approximately 40 percent of the world’s societies have kinship systems that are not
based on the unilineal principle BUT cognatic / multilineal principle: tracing descent
through both females (mother’s line) and males (father’s line). These cognatic /
multilineal descent groups are classified into three basic types:
❑Double descent: a system of descent in which individuals receive some rights &
obligations from the father’s side of the family and others from the mother’s side.
❑Ambilineal descent: a form of descent in which a person choose to affiliate with a
kin group through either the male or the female line.
❑Bilateral descent: a type of kinship system individuals emphasize both their
mother’s kin and their father’s kin relatively equally.
 KINSHIP RESIDENCE PATTERNS
❑Patrilocal residence: the married couple lives with or near the relatives of the
husband’s father (69 percent of societies)
❑Matrilocal residence: the married couple lives with or near the relatives of the
wife (13 percent)
❑Avunculocal residence: the married couple lives with or near the husband’s
mother’s brother (4 percent)
❑Ambilocal (bilocal) residence: the married couple has a choice of living with
either the relatives of the wife or the relatives of the husband (9 percent)
❑Neolocal residence: the married couple establishes an independent place of
residence away from the relatives of either spouse (5 percent)
 DIFFERENT SYSTEMS OF CLASSIFICATION
❑Eskimo (Inuit) system. Characteristics: (1) associated with
bilateral descent, (2) emphasizes the nuclear family, (3) usually
the family live together, (4) lack of large descent groups such
as clan or lineage, and (5) commonly found in the United
States and food-collecting societies
❑Iroquois system: a kinship system linked to unilineal descent in
which the father and father’s brother are called by the same
term, as are the mother and mother’s sister.
 LINEAGE & CLAN
❑Lineage: a unilineal descent group whose members
can trace their line of descent back to a common
ancestor. It usually comprises of up to ten generations.
❑Clan: is a group of kin, usually comprising ten or more
generations, whose members believe or claim they are
all related to a common ancestry even though cannot
trace step by step their exact connection or genealogical
link to the ancestor.
 PATRIARCHY & MATRIARCHY
❑Patriarchy: a system of governance whereby men rule over women or
are empowered to make decisions over women. It is the dominance of
men as a class over women. It also refers to a system by which rights
and duties to persons and things descend via the father’s line.
❑Matriarchy: a system of governance whereby women rule over men or
are empowered to make decisions over men. It refers to a social
organizational form in which the mother or oldest female heads the
family. Descent and relationship are determined through the female line.
The term also refers to a family, group, or state ruled by a matriarch
(woman).
 PATRIARCHAL AND MATRIARCHAL SOCIETY
❑In the patriarchal society, men is the dominance as a class over women in which
rights and duties to persons and things descend through the father’s line. In the
matriarchal society, women is the dominance as a class over men in which rights and
duties to persons and things descend through the mother’s line.
❑In the patrilineal clan system, children belong to the clan of their father and the
inheritance passes from a father to his children. In the matrilineal clan system,
children belong to the clan of their mother and the inheritance passes from a mother
to her children
❑Examples of matriarchal societies are the people of Alor and Minangkabau
(Indonesia), the Akans of Ghana (West Africa; they are the largest ethnic group in
Ghana), the Navajos and Hopis (the United States), Karen (Burma), Bunt and Garo
(India), Mosuo/Nakhi (China), and many others.