ANTH1008 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Kinship, Human Reproduction, Mountain States
ANTH1008 Lecture Six: Kinship and Marriage
• Kinship is very important to anthropologists because it plays an important role in small
scale non-industrialised societies
• Some functions of kinship and marriage are:
-regulations of sex
-co-ordination of work
-organise childrearing
-support and protection
-defence
-share resources
• In all societies either kinship groups or political bodies fulfil these functions
• There are two kinds of family:
-extended family: a family pattern made up of three generations living together
(Schultz and Lavenda 2005:297), consists of three or more generations (Kottak
2011:449)
-nuclear family: made up of two generations, the parents and their unmarried children.
(Schultz and Lavenda 2005:295). And there are two kinds of nuclear families: families
of orientation: a nuclear family in which one is born and grows up; and family of
procreation: a nuclear family that is established when one married and has children
(Kottak 2011:447). In most societies, relations with nuclear members take precedence
over relations with other kin, but in some societies the nuclear family plays no special
role in social life (Kottak 2011:447). Not all household are organised around the nuclear
family, e.g., among the Nayars the husband does not live with the wife. The nuclear
family is temporary and last only as long as the parents and the children stay together.
Nuclear families are well suited to models of subsistence that require a high degree of
geographic mobility such as industrialised societies, and foraging (hunter gather)
societies who are nomadic or seminomadic. (see image 1)
• Kinship is a network of relatives within which individuals possess certain mutual rights
and obligations (Haviland et al 2008:228). All cultures have ways of defining kinship,
whether informal or formalised through law (Miller 2007:202). Kinship is based on but
not reducible to biology. It is a cultural interpretation of the culturally recognised 'facts'
of human reproduction (Schultz and Lavenda 2005:257). Kinship system: systems
determining who one's relatives are and what one's relationship is to them (Bonvillain
2010:182). Anthropologists are interested in the similarities and differences in culture
and how they interact with kinship.
• The Western society is possibly one of the least kin-orientated societies in history.
Kinship was the most important principal inn non-industrialised and non-state societies.
In Western societies kin-ordered forms of social life have been displaced by large-scale,
impersonal bureaucracies. Migrants are often shocked by what they perceive as weak
kinship bonds and lack of proper respect for family North America (Kottak 2011:452)
(and presumably Australia too).
• Learning how another kinship system works is as challenging ad learning another
language (Miller 2007:202). Kinship may be viewed by many student, and some
lecturers, as boring, but it is important as it is related to other aspects of culture, e.g.,
economics
• Kin type: the actual genealogical relationship
F=Father
M=Mother
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S=Son
D=Daughter
B=Brother
Z=Sister
C=Child
H=Husband
W=Wife
They can also be used in combination, e.g., FB (father's brother), MZD (mother's
sister's daughter)
• Kin term: the actual term used in a particular society for a certain kin type. A kin term
may (and usually does) lump together several kin types. The social construction of
kinship, e.g., the kin term 'uncle' lumps together the kin types father's brother and
mother's brother.
• Affines/Affinal: kinship connections through marriage, or affinity
• Consanguines/consanguineal: kinship connections based on decent
• Anthropologists use diagrams and certain symbols to label a kinship tree (see image
2&3)
• Parallel cousins: are the children of two brothers or two sisters (Kottak 2011:469), i.e.,
the children of your parents same-sex sibling, e.g., your FBD, FBS, MZD, MZS are all
parallel cousins (see image 3)
• Cross cousins: children of a brother and a sister (Kottak 2011:469), i.e., the children of
you parent's opposite-sex sibling, e.g., your FZD, FZS, MBD, MBS are all cross
cousins. (see image 3)
• Descent: is a group based in belief in shared ancestry (Kottak 2011:447). Unlike
nuclear families, descent groups are permanent and enduring. Once you are born into a
descent group you generally stay in that descent group, and the descent group continue
after individuals die
• Bilineal or Bilateral descent: is found about one third of the world's societies, most
frequently among foragers and industrialists because it fits with small family groups
that are mobile (Miller 2007:208). It is where an individual traces descent through both
the mother's and father's sides equally, both parents, all four grandparents and so forth
back through the ancestors, but not the in-laws, i.e., it includes consanguines but not
affines.
• Unilineal descent: are systems that take up about 60% of the world's societies. These
systems tend to be found in society who have a fixed resource base as it helps maintain
cohesiveness of the resource base. Therefore it is most common among pastoralists,
horticulturalists and farmers. There are two types of unilineal descent: matrilineal and
patrilineal
• Patrilineal descent: is when descent is traced through men only (Kottak 2011:427), and
is found among 45% of the world's societies (Miller 2007:205). Predominates where
male labour is considered of prime importance, as among pastoralists and
agriculturalists (Haviland et al 2008:230). In patrilineal societies paternity is very
important because they need to ensure that a child has a legitimate place in the father's
lineage (Bonvillian 2010:233) (see image 4)
• Ambilineal descent: is a flexible descent rule, neither patrilineal or matrilineal (Kottak
2011:455). A person has the option of affiliating with either the mother's or father's
descent group. People can change descent group or belong to both groups at the same
time. This flexibility can create conflicts as groups compete for members (Haviland et
al 2008:234) Practiced commonly in South-East Asian and the Pacific Polynesian
cultures, including Samoans, Maon, and Hawaiians, also indigenous North-western
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Document Summary
Anth1008 lecture six: kinship and marriage: kinship is very important to anthropologists because it plays an important role in small scale non-industrialised societies, some functions of kinship and marriage are: In all societies either kinship groups or political bodies fulfil these functions: there are two kinds of family: Extended family: a family pattern made up of three generations living together (schultz and lavenda 2005:297), consists of three or more generations (kottak. Nuclear family: made up of two generations, the parents and their unmarried children. (schultz and lavenda 2005:295). In most societies, relations with nuclear members take precedence over relations with other kin, but in some societies the nuclear family plays no special role in social life (kottak 2011:447). Not all household are organised around the nuclear family, e. g. , among the nayars the husband does not live with the wife. The nuclear family is temporary and last only as long as the parents and the children stay together.
