clan

 

social group based on actual or alleged unilineal descent from a common ancestor. Such groups have been known in all parts of the world and include some that claim the parentage or special protection of an animal, plant, or other object (see totem). They also include such familiar groups as the Highland clans of Scotland (the English word clan comes from Gaelic). Most clans stress mutual obligations and duties. Clan descent is traced in one line only, male or female. The word clan has by some been restricted to those descended through the mother (matrilineal) in contrast to the gens, descended through the father (patrilineal). The word sib has been much used to cover both types. A clan includes several family groups. Most clans are exogamous and regard marriages among their members as incest. A clan is distinguished from a lineage in that a clan merely claims common ancestry; a lineage can be traced to a common progenitor. A clan may have several lineages. Several clans may be combined into a larger social group called a phratry. If a tribe includes two clans or phratries, each clan or phratry is called a moiety.

Bibliography

See Sir Iain Moncreiffe, The Highland Clans (1967); R. Fox, Kinship and Marriage (1984); E. Gellner, The Concept of Kinship (1987).

A clan is a group of people united by kinship and descent, which is defined by perceived descent from a common ancestor. Even if actual lineage patterns are unknown, clan members nonetheless recognize a founding member or apical ancestor. As kinship based bonds can be merely symbolical in nature some clans share a "stipulated" common ancestor, which is a symbol of the clan's unity. When this ancestor is not human, this is referred to as animallian totem. Generally speaking, kinship differs from biological relation, as it also involves adoption, marriage, and fictive genealogical ties. Clans can be most easily described as sub-groups of tribes and usually constitute groups of 7,000 to 10,000 people.

Etymology

Clan is the English spelling of clann^[1], a Gaelic word meaning children or family. An Chlann Aoidh, the Scottish Gaelic name for the Clan Mackay, literally means "The Children of Fire"—"fire" being the literal meaning of the Gaelic name "Aodh", genitive and vocative case, "hAoidh"—which translates to Scots and English, variously and as phonetically as possible, as Eth, Y, Hy, Heth, Huey, and Hugh.

Organization of clans

Some clans are patrilineal, meaning its members are related through the male line; for example, the clans of Armenia. Others are matrilineal; its members are related through the female line. Still other clans are bilateral, consisting of all the descendants of the apical ancestor through both the male and female lines; the clans of Scotland are one example. Whether a clan is patrilineal, matrilineal, or bilateral depends on the kinship rules and norms of their society.

In different cultures and situations a clan may mean the same thing as other kin-based groups such as tribes and bands. Often, the distinguishing factor is that a clan is a smaller part of a larger society such as a tribe, a chiefdom, or a state. Examples include Irish, Scottish, Chinese, and Japanese clans, which exist as kin groups within their respective nations. Note, however, that tribes and bands can also be components of larger societies. Arab tribes are small groups within Arab society, and Ojibwa bands are smaller parts of the Ojibwa tribe. In some cases multiple tribes recognized the same clans, such as the bear and fox clans of the Chickasaw and Choctaw tribes.

Apart from these different traditions of kinship, further conceptual confusion arises from colloquial usages of the term. In post-Soviet countries for example it is quite common to speak of clans referring to informal networks within the economic and political sphere. This usage reflects the assumption that their members act towards each other in a particularly close and mutually supportive way approximating the solidarity among kinsmen. However, the Norse clans, the ätter, can not be translated with tribe or band, and consequently they are often translated with house or line.

Polish clans differ from most others in being a collection of families bearing the same coat of arms, as opposed to actually claiming a common descent. This is discussed under the topic of Polish Heraldry.

Most clans are exogamous, meaning that its members cannot marry one another. Most clans have an official leader such as a chieftain or patriarch.

Clans by country

• Albanian Fis clans of the country's northern highlands.
• Armenian Tohm clans of Armenian nobility.
• Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
• Chechen Teip and Tukkhum tribal organization
• Chinese clan, family name and consort clans
• Chinese (Hong Kong) five Great Han Chinese Punti clans: Tang, Hau, Pang, Man, Liu
• German clann or Sippe
• Iranian clans
• Irish clanns and septs (also: Chiefs of the Name)^[2]
• Indian/Pakistani/Nepalese Rajput clans
• Indian - Maratha, Dhangar
• Indian/Pakistani Jat clans
• Japanese clans
• Korean clans and names
• Manchu clans and names
• Polish clans

• Scandinavian Norse clans
• Scottish clans
• Serbian clans
• Somali clans
• Ugandan ganda clans], [soga clans],[acholi clans]
• Grey clan
• Indian clan Rolan
• Kenyan Kalenjin clans], [Kipsigis clans],[Nandi clans],[Tugen],[Keiyo]

See also

• Tribe
• Clan (computer gaming)
• Clan warfare
• Blood feuds

References

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