Q&A Hero

Q: What does kinship terminology reveal about human relations?

Q: Several different kinship systems are used cross-culturally. Discuss the adaptive advantages of having distinct ways of reckoning kinship

Q: Fictive kin play a significant role in many societies. Discuss the importance of this kinship group and the adaptive advantages for those societies that practice it.

Q: What are both the kinship and wider social significances of "new reproductive techniques" (NRTs)?

Q: Explain the difference between a lineage and a clan, and how fission comes into play in the development of the two kinship structures.

Q: Explain the concept of totemism, including its form and function. Use specific examples.

Q: The culture's descent system is closely tied to a society's economic base. Explain this.

Q: Reconfigure your own kinship along both a matrilineal and patrilineal line. How would your daily life be different? What new opportunities and challenges would emerge in your own family?

Q: The elders on the Association of Aroostook Indians (AAI) Board hired Harald Prins to help their tribe gain federal recognition as a tribal community. What roles might anthropologists increasingly play in determining kinship in our globalized world? Discuss this from the perspective of each subfield, citing different field techniques that could be used to ascertain these types of connections.

Q: Descent groups are convenient devices for solving a number of problems human societies commonly confront. Identify the problems, and describe how a descent group solves them.

Q: What is the role of descent within the larger cultural system?

Q: Describe a typical Turkish immigrant's life in the Netherlands, paying particular attention to the concept of "honor killings" and the reasons for their existence culturally. What challenges does the nation-state face as diasporic communities develop worldwide?

Q: Describe, in words that someone who knows nothing about anthropological kinship terminology can understand, each of the three major kinship terminological systems. Why does kinship terminology matter?

Q: Many modern feminists are interested in the concept of matriarchy, sometimes confusing it with or linking it to the matrilineal descent system. Does the matrilineal descent system imply matriarchy? Use concrete examples to illustrate your points.

Q: Explain how new reproductive technologies challenge our understandings of kinship.

Q: How do different societies create fictive kin? Discuss two examples.

Q: What is the kindred, and where do we find this?

Q: Compare and contrast the Hawaiian and Iroquois kinship systems.

Q: What is the significance of kinship terminology, focusing in particular on structuring of societies?

Q: Use the example of your own family or that of your friend to explain the meaning of North American kindreds.

Q: What is the organizational hierarchy of descent groups? List each from the smallest to the largest and briefly describe.

Q: What is a totem, and how is it related to kinship and descent?

Q: What is the primary purpose of a moiety?

Q: What is a tsu, and what is its role in Han society?

Q: How is bilateral descent different from ambilineal descent?

Q: Briefly explain the concept of bilateral descent.

Q: Explain lineage exogamy, particularly focusing on the advantages of exogamy's use in lineages.

Q: Explain how kinship organization was important to the research conducted by anthropologist Harald Prins in Maine among the Aroostook Band of Indians.

Q: What is an honor killing?

Q: In what ways are Hopi lineages similar to corporations?

Q: Define and contrast a clan and lineage.

Q: What is the importance of a descent group?

Q: Compare and contrast the kin organization of the Hopi and the Chinese.

Q: In which kinds of societies is patrilineal descent likely to be found?

Q: Alternative means of reproduction are forms of new reproductive technologies.

Q: Compadrazgo is a form of ritualized adoption.

Q: The Eskimo kinship system produces a designation of parallel and cross cousins.

Q: Anglo-American culture uses Eskimo kinship terminology.

Q: The Hawaiian form of kinship is the least complex.

Q: Another name for kindred is "the relatives."

Q: Kindred and bilateral descent can be used interchangeably since they mean the same thing.

Q: A moiety is a larger group than a phratry.

Q: Totemism is associated with clan organizations.

Q: Lineages use endogamy as a way of creating new social alliances.

Q: The Micmacs are a tribe in Massachusetts.

Q: The Dutch people allow honor killings in order to respect minority cultures.

Q: Whatever descent system is used, the kin of both mother and father are important to the social structure of every society.

Q: In ambilineal descent, the individual may be affiliated with either the mother's or father's lines.

Q: Hopi men spend their lives laboring for their wives' lineages, and in return, they are given food and shelter.

Q: Matrilineal societies are matriarchalthat is, women have the primary authority.

Q: The Han in China have a patrilineal descent system that is very much a "man's world."

Q: Unilineal descent means that relatives are traced on either the male or female side only.

Q: The more individuals become enmeshed into larger social networks, as happens in political states, the more they rely on kinship.

Q: DNA studies prove that the Maori origin myths about migration routes from northern Africa are correct.

Q: New reproductive technologies are a. dangerous, as they involve cloning. b. the preferred form of reproduction in the United States. c. not accepted in the United States. d. less important today than 20 years ago. e. changing the traditional understandings of kinship.

Q: In _____ kinship terminology, the term "brother" is given to ego's brother, father's brother's son, and mother's sister's song; a different term is used for the sons of father's sister and mother's brother. "Mother" refers to ego's mother and mother's sister; "father" refers to ego's father and father's brother. Separate terms are used for mother's brother and father's sister. a. Eskimo b. Hawaiian c. Iroquois d. unilineal descent e. kindred

Q: The Hawaiian system of kinship terminology is usually associated with what type of descent? a. Patrilineal b. Matrilineal c. Unilineal d. Avunculineal e. Ambilineal

Q: In which kinship terminology are ego's "brother" and "sister" distinguished from "cousins" and both father's brother and mother's brother are given the same kinship term, "uncle"? a. Eskimo b. Iroquois c. Hawaiian d. Crow e. Omaha

Q: If two people are given the same kinship term, this means that a. they have the same genes. b. no one can tell the difference between them. c. they occupy a similar family status. d. they are identical twins. e. they are members of an adopted family.

Q: Jane Leek, born and raised in the U.S., decides to hold a family reunion. She invites her siblings, parents, both sets of grandparents, her great-aunts and great-uncles, their children, her aunts, uncles, and their children. This group brought together for a temporary time, with such vague boundaries, is called a(n) a. clan. b. kindred. c. moiety. d. lineage. e. phratry.

Q: North Americans assume that they are related equally to the relatives on both the mother's and father's side. The group composed of such people to whom these individuals feel that they belong is called what kind of descent group? a. Ambilineal b. Double c. Bilateral d. Patrilineal e. Matrilineal

Q: Members of a moiety a. belong to one of two major descent groups in a society. b. are those who are divorced (they lack their "better half"). c. are usually able to trace their exact genealogical links to their common ancestor. d. feel a much stronger feeling of kinship than is felt by members of a lineage or clan. e. belong to a group that is smaller than a lineage.

Q: A phratry is a unilineal descent group composed of two or more _____ that believe they are related to each other. a. moieties b. totems c. kindred d. lineages e. clans

Q: Clans, because they may have members living in many different villages, depend on _____ to provide symbolic identification and promote solidarity. a. totems b. signs c. promises d. treaties e. feasts

Q: A totem is all of the following except: a. a word that comes from the Ojibwa American Indian word which means "he is a relative of mine." b. a symbol of animals, plants, natural forces, and objects. c. usually associated with a clan's concept of its mythical origins. d. found in our own society in the names we give to baseball and football teams. e. found in all societies that have lineages.

Q: The splitting of a descent group into two or more entities is called a. fusion. b. fraction. c. fission. d. code switching. e. delineation.

Q: Through what practice do lineages develop new alliances within the larger social system? a. Exogamy b. Endogamy c. Ancestor worship d. Totemism e. Fusion

Q: Which anthropologist worked with the Aroostook band of Micmacs in Maine? a. Alan Kolata b. Clementine van Eck c. Fred Plog d. Weston LaBarre e. Harald Prins

Q: What was the primary purpose of advocacy anthropology among the Micmac? a. To help the Micmac find jobs and get off welfare b. To help with community relations after a series of honor killings c. To help improve health conditions among the people d. To help them expand their land-holdings for resource exploitation e. To help them obtain official tribal recognition

Q: Approximately how many Micmacs are members of the Aroostook band today, according to official criteria? a. 100 b. 850 c. 1,500 d. 3,700 e. 7,000

Q: Namus is another name for a. Russian lineages. b. French clans. c. Turkish honor. d. Hispanic migratory patterns. e. Polish social networks based on totems.

Q: The Turkish honor killings that van Eck studied were occurring in which country? a. Denmark b. Sweden c. France d. Netherlands e. Canada

Q: What are honor killings? a. Murder condoned by the genealogical group in order to retaliate for shame of unapproved sexual activity b. Murder against the genealogical group by those who wish to take its women and other possessions c. Public shaming of individuals who have engaged in adulterous activities; this usually consists of verbal insults and flogging d. Also called namus, this is the process of adapting to foreign cultures and giving up one's connection to ancestor worship e. Historical feuds between lineages that last for more than four generations

Q: Bilateral descent is commonly found among all of the following except: a. postindustrial societies. b. agricultural societies. c. tribal societies. d. industrial societies. e. foraging societies.

Q: A young man of Jewish affiliation moves to New York City to find a job. Seeing no reason to "go it alone," he calls everyone he knows from both his mother's and father's side of the family, and attends various meetings to which he is invited. He is invited to multiple events and gatherings by virtue of his being related to various ancestors on both parents' side. These groups support him when he runs out of money and help him find an apartment and a job. We can say that he is a member of either a bilateral descent group or which of the following? a. Patrilineal b. Matrilineal c. Unilineal d. Cognatic e. Ambilineal

Q: Among the Yako of Nigeria, an individual might inherit grazing lands from his father's patrilineal group, and livestock and ritual knowledge from his mother's matrilineal group. This is an example of which kind of descent? a. Ambilineal b. Bilocal c. Patrilateral d. Matrilineal e. Double

Q: Among the Hopi, which of the following functions as a landholding corporation, allocating land for the support of member households? a. Lineages b. Phratries c. Moieties d. Extended families e. Clans

Q: A boy is born into a society that practices matrilineal descent. The person who exercises authority over him is a. his sister. b. his father. c. his mother. d. his mother's brother. e. his father's brother.

Q: Matrilineal descent groups are associated with farming societies in which _____ performs most of the labor in the house and gardens. a. men b. women c. women's brothers d. children e. hired workers

Q: A clan is similar to a lineage except: a. a clan has fewer people. b. clan members are unable to trace exact genealogical links to their common ancestor. c. clans are more likely to hold tangible property corporately. d. clans are exogamous whereas lineages are endogamous. e. clans are patrilocal whereas lineages are matrilocal.