uhh was casually doing some naclo problems (p.s. i screwed up myclo rip) and learnt that kinships can be pretty interesting, so here are the six major kinship systems as outlined by anthropologist lewis henry morgan :D
btw i wrote this so long ago but forgot to finish + post
also in case u're wondering, these systems get their names from the tribes/cultures that they are observed from
(1) eskimo system
this is basically the one that english/western culture uses so like siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. the nuclear family (parents + kids) is emphasised. not that interesting cuz it's the basic one we're familiar with 🥱🥱
(2) hawaiian system
the hawaiian system is a lot simpler and emphasises generation levels. so for example, u'd refer to ur aunts as ur "mother" and ur uncles as ur "father." and as u might guess, ur cousins also become ur "siblings." the reason for this is bcs it reflects the collective approach to family in hawaiian/polynesian culture which actually makes a lot of sense. it's like parents and aunts and uncles have a shared sense of family responsibility to take care of their kids. or in other words, extended families are more interconnected unlike in our culture where we emphasise the nuclear family (so my cousins nuclear family is different from mine).
(3) sudanese system
also referred to as the descriptive system. is THE MOST complicated system💀💀 TAKE THE CHINESE FAMILY TREE FOR EXAMPLE (yup this is considered sudanese):
other cultures that presently still use this system are arab and swedish. basically they hv different words for like... everything?? takes generation + lineage + gender + side of family into account
(4) iroquois system
this one i found interesting and it happened to be the kinship i came across in the naclo problem which brought me to all of this HDSJADHASJ. first thing to be aware of is that this system is matrilineal, meaning that lineage/inheritance is traced thru the mother's side of the family (whereas our culture is patrilineal e.g. family name is passed from the father). and so iroquois ppl inherit their mum's clans, e.g. if ur mum is a member of the wolf clan, then u would also belong to the wolf clan and that would never change (even upon marriage).
ok now in the iroquois system, ur mum's sisters are also considered ur "mothers" and ur dad's brothers are also considered ur "fathers." meanwhile, ur mum's brothers are considered ur "uncles" and ur dad's sisters are considered ur "aunts." then as u might guess, parallel cousins (i.e. kids of mum's sisters or dad's brothers i.e. "mums" and "dads") are treated like "siblings", while cross cousins (i.e. kids of mum's brothers or dad's sisters i.e. "uncles" and "aunts") are treated like "cousins." also this is my first time learning abt parallel vs cross cousins lol.
ANYWAY, guess who are seen as ideal marriage partners? CROSS COUSINS. why? 🤔 bcs (1) to maintain family alliances, but also (2) bcs... they're from a DIFFERENT. CLAN. 🤯🤯🤯 idk why but i find that rlly cool?? i mean like, the distinction of parallel vs cross cousins felt so unnatural to me at first?? but then with the clan system thing it all works out and NOW IT MAKES SENSEEE HDSJADHASJ 🤓🤓
(5) crow system (matrilineal) and (6) omaha system (patrilineal)
putting these tgt bcs theyre like the same but mirrored, so yea i'll just talk abt the crow system and just keep in mind that the omaha system is the same but opposite (like side of the family). aight so crow is matrilineal meaning that it places emphasis on the mother's side of the family. so soo the mother's side is pretty much the same as iroquois like above. BUT on the father's side, it's simplified (throw the concept of generations out the window!! :D) - the father's sister's (i.e. "aunt's") daughters are also referred to as "aunts" and their sons are also referred to as "fathers" HDJASHDJAS PELIK LA. besides that it's the same like iroquois tho besides that one difference. rlly weird 🤔🤔
okay bye bye have fun with this pretty useless information 😇🙏🏻🙏🏻