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Eskimo kinship is a category of kinship used to define family organization in anthropology. Identified by Lewis Henry Morgan in his 1871 work Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family, the Eskimo system was one of six major kinship systems (Eskimo, Hawaiian, Iroquois, Crow, Omaha, and Sudanese).
The joint family system places no distinction between patrilineal and matrilineal relatives, instead, it focuses on differences in kinship distance (the closer the relative is, the more distinctions are made). The system emphasizes the nuclear family, identifying directly only the mother, father, brother, and sister. All other relatives are grouped together into categories. It uses both classificatory and descriptive terms, differentiating between gender, generation, lineal relatives (relatives in the direct line of descent), and collateral relatives (blood relatives not in the direct line of descent). The Eskimo system is defined by its "cognatic" or "bilateral" emphasis - no distinction is made between patrilineal and matrilineal relatives.
Parental siblings are distinguished only by their sex (Aunt, Uncle). All children of these individuals are lumped together regardless of sex (Cousins). Unlike the Hawaiian system, Ego's parents are clearly distinguished from their siblings.
The Eskimo system is relatively common among the world's kinship systems, at about 10% of the world's societies. It is common among most Western societies (such as those of modern-day Europe or North America.) In addition, it is found among a small number of food-foraging peoples (such as the !Kung tribe of Africa and the eponymous Eskimos/Inuit).
The system is widely used in non-unilineal societies, where the dominant relatives are the immediate family. In most Western societies, the nuclear family represents an independent social and economic group, which has caused the emphasis on the immediate kinship. The tendency of families in Western societies to live apart also reinforces this.
Eskimo is the accepted term used by Alaska Natives today. Iñupiaq speakers (Iñupiat) are in the Arctic region of northern and northwestern Alaska. Yup'ik speakers (Yup'iit) are in the western and southwestern, sub-Arctic portion of Alaska.
- Iroquois kinship
- Kinship and descent
- Kinship terminology
- List of anthropologists