North American Indians 

ANTH 329

Crow Kinship and Social Organization

Ashammaleaxia = "As Driftwood Lodges" the Clan 

(originally 13 matrilineal clans; today 8 clans remain viable and active)

Matrilineal descent is based upon tracing affiliation along the mother-to-daughter line, i.e., all consanguineal (blood) relations (male and female) are so related (as opposed to patrilineal descent which tracing affiliation along the father-to-son line). Find structural similarity with the Navajo, Hopi and Iroquois, among other tribes.

There are many roles performed by the clan, including exogamy, communal ownership and inheritance, cooperation, and identity, all marked by tremendous intensity.

To comprehend the kinship behaviors you must grasp the principle behind the clan system. The matrilineal principle is based upon the dual concerns for cooperation among selected kinsmen and succession of authority, membership and property, all of which is accomplished by the structural creation of "cross generational equivalence," e.g., all the males within the matrilineal clan are addressed as "brothers" (i.e., older or young brother) and all the offspring of those brothers are addressed as "children," regardless of generational link with one another. The "brothers" and the "mothers-sisters" are thus the key cooperative and succession units. For a male, if all the offspring of the mother’s brother’s are called "children," then what is the reciprocal, i.e., what does that "child" call his father’s brothers? – "fathers." The logic is extended throughout the entire kinship network.

 


Key Kinsmen and their Behavioral Roles (a partial listing)

  1. Biikga = elder brother  (+ br, mo + br, mo mo br, mo mo mo br)
  2. Matsuka = younger brother (for male or female - br, mo - br, si so, si da so, for female da so, da da so)
  3. Masaka = mother (mo, mo si, mo mo)
  4. Biilapxe = father or "clan uncle" (for all fa other than biological father; fa, fa br, fa mo br, fa si so, fa si da so) reciprocal: respect and give away / praise, prayer and protections
  5. Isbaxia = aunt or "clan aunt" (fa si, fa mo, fa si da, fa si da da) reciprocal: respect and give away / praise, prayer and protections
  6. "Teasing Cousin" = (fa br ch, i.e., father’s clan members of the same generation as you)
  7. Wives of Brothers (given practice of sororate)
  8. Parent-in-law
  9. Husband and Wife

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