anthropology chapter 10

unilineal descent

descent traced exclusively through either the male or the female line of ancestry

bilateral descent

descent traced equally through father and mother’s ancestors

matrilineal descent

descent traced exclusively through the female line of ancestry

patrilineal descent

descent traced exclusively through the male line of ancestry

kinship

network of relatives into which individuals are born and married and with whom they cooperate

descent group

kin-group whose members share a direct line of descent from a common ancestors

lineage

kin-group descended from a common ancestor or founder who lived four to six generations ago

clan

kin-group, often consisting of several lineages, whose members claim common descent from a remote ancestor

fission

splitting of a descent group into two or more new descent groups

totemism

belief that people are related to particular animals, plants, or natural objects

moiety

each group that results from division of a society into two halves based on descent

kindred

grouping of blood relatives based on bilateral descent

EGO

central person from whom the degree of each kinship relationship is traced

Eskimo system

reckoning in which nuclear family emphasizes mother, father, brother, sister, and lumps together all others

Hawaiian system

reckoning in which all relatives of same sex and generation are called the same term

Iroquois system

reckoning in which a father and father’s brother are referred to by a single term