Kinship
Galina Rolf
What is kinship? The word Kinship is defined in many different ways in many cultures. Kinship is defined as a bond or a sense of a relationship between people that share a genealogical origin, culture, and/or historical descent. Kinship is connection by blood, marriage, or adoption. Family relationships define kinship. Kinship plays a major role in society and throughout cultures; including being one of the most basic principles for individuals in social groups, roles, categories, and genealogy. Kinship is an important part of family identities, and descents, principles of descents, and the facets of adoptions and fostering. The different facets of descents are all part of the Kinship relationships of family and cultures. of the facets of Adoption and Adoption is a form of transferring a child or children from birth parents to care for someone else. Fostering is similar to adoption. Adoption or Fostering takes place in most countries. Although there are no blood ties, adoption and fostering are part of kinship.
Kinship bonds in cultures are chained with a mode of livelihood and reproductions of family ties as one towards blood relationships, adoption, and marriage. In addition to Kinship bonds in cultures, there is a system or role that different cultures provide and is defined as a Kinship system. Kinship systems are mechanisms that link conjugal families (and individuals not living in families) in ways that affect the integration of the general social structure and enhance the ability of the society to reproduce itself in an orderly fashion. Kinship performs these social functions in two ways:
1. Through relationships defined by blood ties and marriage, kinship systems make possible ready-made contemporaneous networks of social ties sustained during the lifetimes of related persons
2. Enabling the temporal continuity of identifiable family connections over generations, despite the limited lifespan of a family’s members.
The Kinship system is a form of relationships in a culture and behaviors that are complex and involved. Kinship can be shown in a kinship diagram which is a way of presenting the kinship relationships of an individual. These diagrams play an important part in society and other cultures, because it shows and demonstrates traits of family backgrounds, ancestry and historical decent. In the fact, knowing your family history can be both fascinating and interesting. A kinship diagram of family traits can also be part of how family traits can be related to bloodline.
EXAMPLE OF KINSHIP DIAGRAM
Kinship has many aspects and principles and is connected in many ways to society and throughout other cultures relating it to family backgrounds and descents of history. What is descent? Descent is the tracing of Kinship relationships through parentage or where you come from or ancestry. Descent is a historical process of a line of people from whom someone is descended throughout history. Descent can go through records of generation to generation through time and during the immigration.
Descent relates to four principles relating to descent:
1. Bilineal descent
2. Unilineal descent
3. Partrilineal descent
4. Matrilineal descent.
Bilinear descent traces ancestry through both parents. Unilineal descent is reorganizing through only one parent. These two roles of descent are different modes of livelihood corresponding to kinships of blood links of equal importance. For instance, in the article: “Unlineal and Bilineal Descent: “How Various Cultures Trace Their Heritage: states that “Bilineal Descent is practiced by approximently 33% of cultures.” And “Unilineal Descent is practiced by approximently 60% of cultures.” The different practices of Bilineal and Unilineal have a difference of level of percentage point for cultural practices for each.
Unilineal lineages can be matrilineal or patrilineal, depending on whether they are traced through mothers or fathers, respectively. Whether matrilineal or patrilineal descent is considered most significant differs from culture to culture. These two types of unilateral descent play a major role in kinship. Descent can often play a large roll on the social texture of a society. Patrilineal descent is one in which the line of descent is traced through the male kin while matrilineal is through the female line. The Masai culture is a good example of a unilineal descent system with a patrilineal grouping. In general a patrilineal descent system places more importance on males and their place in the society while a matrilineal shifts the focus of the society to the females. Another subset of unilineal descent is clans. Clans are unilineal descent groups who are descended from either a common male line or a common female line. A good example of a patriclan or clan with male focus is the ancient Chinese samurais. Two other forms of descent are Cognatic where there is no formal association between male or female and Bilateral where descent is traced equally through male and female lines. The Hawaiians are a good example of Cognatic while the United States is a good example of bilateral. Patrilineal is recorded through the male line and the matrilineal is outlined through the female line. http://www.veoh.com/watch/e149535DXpwd56f
Bilateral descent is a system of family lineage in which the relatives on the mother's side and father's side are equally important for emotional ties or for transfer of property or wealth. It is a family arrangement where descent and inheritance are passed equally through both parents. Families who use this system trace descent through both parents simultaneously and recognize multiple ancestors; it is not used to form descent groups. While bilateral descent is increasingly the norm in Western culture, traditionally it is only found among relatively few groups in West Africa, India, Australia, Melanesia and Polynesia. Anthropologists believe that a tribal structure based on bilateral descent helps members live in extreme environments because it allows individuals to rely on two sets of families dispersed over a wide area.
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