KINSHIP ORGANIZATIONS

Kinship Organizations



Kinship Organizations

Introduction

All humans are classified, at birth, within a system of kin relations. This system of relations organizes a society in a systematic way, such that it provides for the continuity of those relationships, and for the continuation of the society, through time. Ideally, the kinship system is perpetual and classifies all children at birth and maintains those classifications even after death; people continue to be sons, daughters, fathers, and mothers, and so on. Kinship systems are structured by a variety of marriage practices but can also make allowances for the dissolution of structures through divorce. Kinship relations continue to persist even after the death of members of a society. Additionally, systems of bride wealth, bride service, and dowry are an integral part of kinship systems, as are post marital residence patterns. Most kinship systems are also malleable enough to allow the creations of “fictive” relations, that is, to allow for the incorporation of nonfamily members into the family (Nowak & Laird, 2010).

The Kinship System of Yanomamo

Yanomamo people are from Central Brazil and they are the oldest example of the pre-Columbian forest footmen. They live in the Amazon rain forest and they are considering the last to have come in contact with the modern world. (Chagnon, 1997)

They have a chiefs are men who are responsible for the general knowledge and safety of the group's women. The Yanomamos practice polygamy. Yanomamo live in constant warfare with other tribes and even within their own group (Chagnon, 1997). Their marriages are arranged according to performances of one's relatives in battle. The marriage is arrange by older family member such as brother, uncle or father. They have a shortage of women in their culture but men have more than one wife oddly. It is such a shortage that they ...