1. KINSHIP • The Study of Kinship and Kinship Terms • Descent Groups • Kinship Charts • Why does Kinship Matter?

2. Distinction #1: Genealogical relationship vs. Kinship term Social category Uncle Pater • Biologically-based kin type • Mother’s brother • Genitor Kinship calculation: the system by which people reckon kin in any given society

3. Kinship Systems • Divide people into categories of kin and define marriageability in terms of these categories • Respond to biological, psychological, social, and legal pressures • Resistant to change

4. Distinction #2 Consanguinity Affinity Relation by marriage • Relation by “blood”

5. Distinction #3 Bilateral (cognatic) nuclear family Descent Group Comprised of people claiming common ancestry Ascribed at birth and often life-long Permanent • Traced through mother’s and father’s lines • Temporary

6. Unilineal Descent System • Matrilineal = membership in a group, and all the rights and obligations that come with it, is gained through one’s mother • Patrilineal =membership in a group, and all the rights and obligations that come with it, is gained through one’s father

7. Distinction #4 Matrilineal Matriarchal

8. Distinction #5 • Parallel cousin = child of parent’s same-sex sibling VS. • Cross-cousin = child of parent’s opposite-sex sibling

10. Aspects of Descent Groups • Consist of the descendants of a common ancestor • Exist “in perpetuity” • Usually “corporate” • Commonly (but not always) exogamous