The Inuit Kinship System

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Running Head: INUIT KINSHIP 1 The Inuit Kinship System Jesse Merriman Introduction to Cultural Anthropology Instructor Pamela Creasy 6/24/2012 INUIT KINSHIP 2 The Inuit Kinship System Kinship, as defined by our text, is a system of culturally defined social relationships based on marriage and birth (Nowak and Laird, 2010). Kinship is defined in part by the relationships between family members and their interactions or interdependence throughout life. The Inuit have a very interesting and almost extreme variation of kinship. Compared to an average American family, the Inuit share similar views toward family and relationships. However, they do have their own system and definitions to define “kin.” In America, kinship can vary depending on the situation, however, both the American and Inuit systems are based on a Nuclear family model. The nuclear family is composed of a mother and father and any offspring that they may have (Nowak and Laird, 2010). In both the American and Inuit societies, kinship connections between the father's side of the family as well as the mother's side are equally important. This is defined as a bilateral descent pattern. The structure of some kinship groups within this band show a bias toward relationships between men. However, the organization of this structure would not quite be patrilineal, due to the inclusion of the extended family that reaches also to the matrilineal side (Kemp, W., 2012) The Inuit have some very interesting kinship patterns. There are some strong traditions or definitions involved with this band regarding marriage, relationships and practices that are performed in order to ensure the highest possibility of survival. Inuit families cannot necessarily be grouped into small families that include parents, brothers and sisters as the typical American family can. This difference should not be over-dramaticized,
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