Sudanese kinship (also referred to as the Descriptive system) is a kinship system used to define family. Identified by Louis 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).
The Sudanese kinship system is the most complicated of all kinship systems. It maintains a separate designation for almost every one of Ego's kin based on their distance from Ego, their relation, and their gender. Ego's Father is distinguished from his brother and from Ego's mother's brother. Ego's Mother is similarly distinguished from her sister and from Ego's father's sister. For cousins alone there are eight possible terms.
Usage
The system is named for the peoples of southern Sudan in Africa. The Sudanese kinship system was used in ancient Latin [1] and Anglo-Saxon [2] societies as well as present day Arab, Bulgarian, Turkish [3] and Chinese societies. It tends to co-occur with patrilineal descent and is often said to be common in complex and stratified societies.[1]
See also
Sources and external links
- William Haviland, Cultural Anthropology, Wadsworth Publishing, 2002. ISBN 0-534-27479-X
- The nature of kinship
- Sudanese kin terms
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