Patterns of Descent

Descent In many regions of the world one encounters people who are organized into groups based on a belief in common descent from shared ancestors reckoned back multiple generations. If the ancestor was a human being, the people so related are said to constitute a lineage.

Relevant Terminology People related by blood are agnates or consanguineal relatives. People related by marriage are affines.

Totems and Totemic descent The ancestor may not have been a human being. People who have an animistic world view may believe themselves to be descended from a spirit shared with an animal, plant, mineral, or heavenly body. This spiritual ancestor is a totem. People linked together in this manner constitute a totemic clan.

Totemic beliefs regulate marriage and rituals. For instance a person born into one clan at Kewa pueblo in New Mexico can’t marry a person of the same clan. The clans are therefore exogamous. Since there are only Two clans at Kewa, anthropologists call these moieties.

Patrilineal Descent = = male 1 2 = female = = 3 4 5 6 = = = = = = 3 4 5 6 = = = = 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Who is in the patrilineage? A: 1, 4, 5, 8, 10

Matrilineal Descent Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico

Who is in the matrilineage? Who is the heir of no. 12? A: 2, 5, 12, 14, 21, 22 A: 21 = = male 1 2 = female = = 3 4 5 6 = = = = 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

Kinship, Lineages and marriage Western European cultures, and those cultures derived from them, use descriptive kinship terminology. This systems distinguishes between related individuals of the same sex of the same generation. Hence, father’s brother is called uncle, and mother’s sister is called aunt. Many other cultures use classificatory terminology which does not distinguish between same sex relatives of a generation.

Cross-Cousin Marriage = = male 1 2 = female = = 3 4 5 6 = = = 7 8 9 10 11 12 Why is this marriage considered to be acceptable?

Cross-cousin marriage amounts to lineage exogamy. Over time it results in the formation of long-standing alliances between lineages.

Parallel Cousin Marriage = = male 1 2 = female = = 3 4 5 6 = = 10 7 8 9 10 Parallel cousin marriage amounts to lineage endogamy.

Segmentary Social Structure Lineages are often the building blocks of higher-order groupings that anthropologists describe by a variety of terms: “major lineage,” “clan,” phratry,” and “tribe.” The lower-order segments may control access to resources, in which case they are said to be corporate groups. The higher-order groups inhabit and defend a territory. However, there are no upper-level leaders – so such societies are acephalous.

Example: The Nuer of South Sudan

Studied by E.E. Evans-Pritchard

Example: Waziris of Pakistan

Founding ancestor of Pukhtuns Clan ancestors

Genealogical relationships between ancestors are remembered when they suite a political purpose. Genealogical relationships are forgotten for the same reason. Without an external enemy to unify them, lineages and clans tend to have relationships of rivalry. E. Evans Pritchard called this complementary opposition.