ANTH 1003 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Wodaabe, Tibetan People, Stepfamily
Document Summary
A social network of relatives within which individuals have rights and obligations. Kinship status determines these rights and obligations. Esp. important in societies where institutions such as a centralized government, professional military, or financial banking are ineffective or absent. Cultures make many decisions about who we are related to. Most societies consider marriages to result in the construction of a new set of relatives, including any children that might result. Among langkawi in malaysia, kinship is created by sharing meals cooked in the family hearth and living in the same home. If someone wants to meet their biological father and considers them a father, then that"s what he is. If someone meets a long- lost half sibling and considers her a sister, then that is what she is. Consanguineal kin: relatives by birth ( blood relatives) Fictive kin: people you are not actually related to that you may refer to as a relative (like a close family friend)
