Sudanese kinship

Sudanese kinship (also referred to as the Descriptive system) is a kinship system used to define family. Identified by Lewis Henry Morgan in his 1871 work Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family, the Sudanese system is one of the six major kinship systems (Eskimo, Hawaiian, Iroquois, Crow, Omaha and Sudanese).^{[citation needed]}

The Sudanese kinship system is the most complicated of all kinship systems. It maintains a separate designation for almost each one of Ego's kin, based on their distance from Ego, their relation, and their gender. Ego's Father is distinguished from Ego's father's brother and from Ego's mother's brother. Ego's Mother is similarly distinguished from Ego's sister and from Ego's father's sister. For cousins, there are eight possible terms.

Usage [edit]

The system is named for the peoples of South Sudan, Africa. The Sudanese kinship system also existed in ancient Latin-speaking ^[1] and Anglo-Saxon ^[2] cultures. It exists today among present day-Arab, Bulgarian, Turkish ^[3] and Chinese cultures. It tends to co-occur with patrilineal descent, and it is often said to be common in complex and stratified cultures.^[4]

See also [edit]

• Family
• Kinship and descent
• Chinese kinship
• Anthropology
• List of anthropologists

References [edit]

• William Haviland, Cultural Anthropology, Wadsworth Publishing, 2002. ISBN 0-534-27479-X
• The nature of kinship
• Sudanese kin terms, University of Manitoba

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ [2]
3. ^ "Turkish Kinship Terms", University of Manitoba
4. ^ "Nature of Kinship", University of Palomar

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