Descent and Kinship:
Four Examples
Associated with matrilineal descent, i.e., affiliation to one's mother's clan. Kinship terms are based upon the bifurcate merging principle.
Commonly used throughout the world, including the Crow, Hopi and Navajo Indians of North America. It is similar to the Iroquois system, which is used throughout India and rural China.
Associated with patrilineal descent, i.e., affiliation to one's father's clan, an almost mirror image of the Crow system. Kinship terms are based upon the bifurcate merging principle.
Used by such peoples as the Omaha Indians of North America, the Dani of Papua New Guinea, and the Igbo of Nigeria.
The simplest yet flexible kinship system, differentiating kinsmen only by generation and gender. An ambilineal descent system, within which ego selects affiliation with either the mother's or father's descent group.
Common among Malaysian and Polynesian societies, as well as Indian groups of the Plateau, such as the Coeur d'Alene and Nez Perce.
A non-lineal descent system, emphasizing the nuclear family.
Used by gatherer-hunters, such as the !Kung Bushmen of South African, and by most European and Euro-American communities.