A Patrilineal Descent Group Traces Kinships Through Which Side of the Family?

Descent Principles: Part 1

Kinship is reckoned in a number of unlike ways around the globe, resulting in a variety of types of descent patterns and kin groups.  Anthropologists frequently use diagrams to illustrate kinship relationships to make them more understandable.  The symbols shown here are commonly employed.  They may be combined, as in the example beneath on the right, to represent a family consisting of a married couple and their children.

In kinship diagrams, one private is usually labeled as ego .  This is the person to whom all kinship relationships are referred.   In the case below on the right, ego has a brother (Br), sister (Si), father (Fa), and female parent (Mo).  Note also that ego is shown as being gender nonspecific--that is, either male person or female.

Unilineal Descent

Nearly cultures severely limit the range of people through whom descent is traced by using a unilineal descent principle.  This traces descent only through a unmarried line of ancestors, male or female.  Both males and females are members of a unilineal family, merely descent links are only recognized through relatives of ane gender.  The ii basic forms of unilineal descent are referred to as patrilineal and matrilineal .

With patrilineal descent , both males and females belong to their father's kin group but non their mother's.  All the same, only males laissez passer on their family identity to their children.  A woman'southward children are members of her married man's patrilineal line.  The cherry-red people in the diagram below are related to each other patrilineally.

The course of unilineal descent that follows a female person line is known as matrilineal .  When using this pattern, individuals are relatives if they can trace descent through females to the same female person ancestor.  While both male and female children are members of their mother'south matrilineal descent group, only daughters tin can pass on the family unit line to their offspring.  The dark-green people below are related to each other matrilineally.

In societies using matrilineal descent, the social relationship between children and their biological father tends to be dissimilar than most people would expect due to the fact that he is not a fellow member of their matrilineal family.  In the instance of ego below, the homo who would have the formal responsibilities that European cultures assign to a father would be his female parent's brother (MoBr), since he is the closest elderberry male kinsmen.  Ego's father would have the aforementioned kind of responsibilities for his sister'due south children.

Inheritance patterns for men in matrilineal societies likewise often reflect the importance of the mother's blood brother.  For example, in the Ashanti Kingdom of Central Republic of ghana, a king traditionally passes his title and condition on to his sister's son.  A rex'south own biological son does not inherit the kingship considering he is non a member of the ruling matrilineal family grouping.  Women usually inherit status and property straight from their mothers in matrilineal societies.

Unilineal descent has been establish nigh commonly, but not exclusively, amongst materially rich foragers, pocket-sized-scale farmers, and nomadic pastoralists .  The mutual factors for these types of societies are small populations that usually have more than adequate nutrient supplies.   Until the early on 20th century, approximately threescore% of all societies traced descent unilineally.  Since then, many of these societies have disappeared or have been absorbed by larger societies that follow other rules of descent.

Cognatic Descent

At least 40% of the societies effectually the world today trace descent through both the mother'due south and the begetter's ancestors to some degree.  They follow one of several nonunilineal or cognatic descent principles.  The outcome is commonly more varied and circuitous family systems than are found in societies with patrilineal or matrilineal descent patterns.  Cognatic descent is known to occur in four variations: bilineal, ambilineal, parallel, and bilateral descent.  By far the about common pattern is bilateral descent, which is normally used in European cultures.  Information technology is described in the next section of this tutorial.

When both patrilineal and matrilineal descent principles are combined, the result is the bilineal , or double, descent pattern shown below.  With this rare hybrid system, every individual is a fellow member of his or her mother's matrilineage and father'south patrilineage .

As a outcome, everyone, except siblings , potentially have a unique combination of ii unilineal family lines, as shown in the diagram below.  Note that parents only share either their children's matrilineal line or patrilineal line of descent.

The Y�ko of southeastern Nigeria are an case of a guild with bilineal descent.  Their of import portable property, including livestock and money, are inherited matrilineally.  Stock-still property, such as farm plots, pass down through the patrilinal line as do rights to trees and other forest products.   It is not surprising that they accept patrilineally inherited obligations to cooperate in cultivating their fields.  Obligations to perform funerals and pay helpmate toll for sons are inherited through the matrilineal line.

The Toda of southern India also follow bilineal descent.  Their property is inherited patrilineally and ritualistic privileges related to funerals are inherited matrilineally.

A similarly rare combination of unilineal descent patterns is known as parallel descent .  With this system, men trace their beginnings through male person lines and women trace theirs through female lines.  Unlike bilineal descent, each individual is a fellow member of only one descent grouping.

Ambilineal descent   is still some other unusual descent system that, in a sense, combines unilineal patterns.  Descent from either males or females is recognized, merely individuals may select simply one line to trace descent.  Since each generation tin choose which parent to trace descent through, a family unit line may be patrilineal in one generation and matrilineal in the next.

The reason for choosing one side over the other frequently has to do with the relative importance of each family unit.  In other words, ambilineal descent is flexible in that it allows people to adjust to changing family situations.   For example, when a homo marries a woman from a politically or economically more important family, he may agree to permit his children identify with their mother'south family line to heighten their prospects and standing within the gild.

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This page was last updated on Tuesday, June 27, 2006 .
Copyright � 1997-200half-dozen by Dennis O'Neil. All rights reserved.
Illustration credits

burrowsgragairehe1972.blogspot.com

Source: https://www2.palomar.edu/anthro/kinship/kinship_2.htm