KINSHIP

Jo Vanne Trivilegio
Raymund Lumngyao
Ralph Angelo Misola
Francis Gil Mercurio
Jose Raphael Ong oh

KINSHIP
The web of social relationships that form an
important part of the lives of most humans in
most societies

similarity or affinity between entities on the

basis of some or all of their characteristics
that are under focus. This may be due to a
shared ontological origin, a shared historical
or cultural connection, or some other
perceived shared features that connect the
two entities.

a person studying the ontological roots of

human languages (etymology) might ask
whether there is kinship between the :
English wordseven
and
the German wordsieben

ANTHROPOLOGICALSENSE OF
THE WORDKINSHIP

to the study of the patterns of social

relationships in one or more human cultures,
or it can refer to the patterns of social
relationships themselves.

Over its history, anthropology has developed

a number of related concepts and terms,
such asdescent,descent
groups,lineages,affines,cognatesand
evenfictive kinship

kinship patterns may be considered to include

people related both by descent (one's social
relations during development), and also
relatives by marriage.

Human kinship relations through marriage are

commonly called "affinity" in contrast to the
relationships that arise in one's group of origin,
which may be called one's "descent group".

In some cultures, kinship relationships may be

considered to extend out to people an individual
has economic relationships with, or other forms
of social connections. Within a culture, the
descent groups may be considered to lead back
to gods or animal ancestors totems. This may be
conceived of on a more or less literal basis.

Kinshipcan also refer to a perceived

universal principle or category of humans, by
which we or our societies organize
individuals or groups of individuals intosocial
groups, roles, categories, andgenealogy.

Familyrelations can be represented concretely

(mother, brother, grandfather) or abstractly
after degrees of relationship. A relationship
may have relative purchase (e.g., father is one
regarding a child), or reflect an absolute (e.g.,
status difference between a mother and a
childless woman). Degrees of relationship are
not identical toheirshipor legal succession.
Many codes ofethicsconsider the bond of
kinship as creating obligations between the
related persons stronger than those between
strangers, as in Confucianfilial piety.

HISTORY OF KINSHIP STUDIES

One of the founders of the anthropological relationship

research wasLewis Henry Morgan, in his Systems of
Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family (1871). As
is the case with other social sciences, Anthropology and
kinship studies emerged at a time when the understanding
of the Human species' comparative place in the world was
somewhat different than today. Evidence that life in stable
social groups is not just a feature of humans, but also of
many other primates, was yet to emerge andsocietywas
considered to a be uniquely human affair. As a result, early
kinship theorists saw an apparent need to explain not only
the details ofhowhuman social groups are constructed,
their patterns, meanings and obligations, but
alsowhythey are constructed at all. Such explanations
typically presented the fact of life in social groups as
being largely a result of human ideas and values.


LEWIS HENRY MOR
GAN
,

Morgan's explanation was largely

based on the notion that all humans
have a 'natural valuation' of
genealogical ties, and therefore
also a naturally desire to construct
social groups around these ties. Even
so, Morgan found that members of a
society may use what he called
kinship terms

without necessarily being biologically

related, a fact already evident in his use of
the termaffinitywithin his concept of
thesystem of kinship. The most lasting of
Morgan's contributions was his discovery of
the difference between descriptive
andclassificatory kinshipterms, which
situated broad kinship classes on the basis of
imputing abstract social patterns of
relationships having little or no overall
relation to genetic closeness but instead
cognition about kinship, social distinctions as
they affect linguistic usages inkinship
terminology, and strongly relate, if only by
approximation, to patterns of marriage.

"KINSHIP SYSTEM" AS SYSTEMIC PATTERN

The concept of system of kinship tended to

dominate anthropological studies of kinship
in the early 20th century. Kinship systems as
defined in anthropological texts and
ethnographies were seen as constituted by
patterns of behaviour and attitudes in
relation to the differences in terminology,
listed above, for referring to relationships as
well as for addressing others.

Many anthropologists went so far as to see, in these

patterns of kinship, strong relations between kinship
categories and patterns of marriage, including forms
of marriage, restrictions on marriage, and cultural
concepts of the boundaries of incest. A great deal of
inference was necessarily involved in such
constructions as to systems of kinship, and
attempts to construct systemic patterns and
reconstruct kinship evolutionary histories on these
bases were largely invalidated in later work.
However, anthropologist Dwight Read later argued
that the way in which kinship categories are defined
by individual researchers are substantially
inconsistent. This occurs when working within a
systemic cultural model that can be elicited in
fieldwork, but also allowing considerable individual
variability in details, such as when they are recorded
through relative products.

DESCENT
In many societies where kinship
connections are important, there are
rules, though they may be expressed or
be taken for granted. There are four
main heading Anthropologists categorize
rules of descent. They are bilateral,
unilineal,
ambilineal
and
double
descent.

BILATERAL

Bilateral descent or two sided descent

affiliates an individual more or less equally
with relatives on his father's and mother's
sides. A good example is theYakoof the
Crossriver state of Nigeria.

UNILINEAL

Unilinealrules affiliates an individual

through the descent of one sex only, that is,
either males or through females. They are
subdivided into two:patrilineal(male) and
matrilineal(female). Most societies are often
patrilineal. Example of a matrilineal system
of descency are theNyakyusaof Tanzania
and the Nayar ofKerala, India. Albeit many
societies that practices matrilineal system
often have a patrilocal residence. Men still
exercise a lot of authority.

AMBILINEAL

Ambilineal (or Cognatic) rule affiliates an

individual withkinsmenthrough the father's
or mother's line. Some people in societies
practice this system affiliate with a group of
relatives through their fathers and others
through their mothers. The individual has the
option as to which side he wants to affiliate.
TheSamoansof the South Pacific are an
excellent example of an ambilineal society.
The core members of the Samoan descent
group can live together in the same
compound.

DOUBLE DESCENT

Double Descent are societies in which both

the patrilineal and matrilineal descent group
are recognized. In these societies an
individual affiliates for some purpose with a
group of patrilineal kinsmen and for other
purposes with a group of matrilineal
kinsmen. The most widely known case of
double descent is theAfikpoof Imo state in
Nigeria. Although patrilineage is considered
an important method of organization, the
Afikpo considers matrilineal ties to be more
important.

DESCENT AND THE FAMILY

Descent, like family systems, is one of the

major concepts ofanthropology. Cultures
worldwide possess a wide range of systems of
tracing kinship and descent. Anthropologists
break these down into simple concepts about
what is thought to be common among many
different cultures.

DESCENT GROUPS

A descent group is asocial groupwhose members

talk about common ancestry. Aunilinealsociety is
one in which the descent of an individual is reckoned
either from the mother's or the father's line of
descent. Withmatrilineal descentindividuals belong
to their mother's descent group. Matrilineal descent
includes the mother's brother, who in some societies
may pass along inheritance to the sister's children or
succession to a sister's son. Withpatrilineal descent,
individuals belong to their father's descent group.
Societies with theIroquois kinshipsystem, are
typically uniliineal, while the Iroquois proper are
specifically matrilineal.

In a society which reckons descent bilaterally

(bilineal), descent is reckoned through both father
and mother, without unilineal descent groups.
Societies with theEskimo kinshipsystem, like the
Eskimo proper, are typically bilateral. The
egocentridkindredgroup is also typical of bilateral
societies.
Some societies reckon descent patrilineally for
some purposes, and matrilineally for others. This
arrangement is sometimes called double descent.
For instance, certain property and titles may be
inherited through the male line, and others through
the female line.
Societies can also consider descent to beambilineal
(such asHawaiian kinship) where offspring
determine their lineage through thematrilineal line
or thepatrilineal line.

LINEAGES, CLANS,
PHRATRIES, MOIETIES,
AND MATRIMONIAL
SIDES

LINEAGE

A lineage is aunilineal descentgroup that

can demonstrate their common descent from
a knownapical ancestor. Unilineal lineages
can be matrilineal or patrilineal, depending
on whether they are traced through mothers
or fathers, respectively. Whether matrilineal
or patrilineal descent is considered most
significant differs from culture to culture.

CLAN

Aclanis generally a descent group claiming

common descent from an apical ancestor.
Often, the details of parentage are not
important elements of the clan tradition.
Non-human apical ancestors are called
totems. Examples of clans are found in
Chechen,Chinese,Irish,Japanese,Polish,
Scottish,Tlingit, andSomalisocieties.

PHRATRY

Aphratryis a descent group composed of

two or more clans each of whose apical
ancestors are descended from a further
common ancestor.

NUCLEAR FAMILY

The Western model of anuclear family

consists of a couple and its children. The
nuclear family is ego-centered and
impermanent, while descent groups are
permanent (lasting beyond the lifespans of
individual constituents) and reckoned
according to a single ancestor.