Introduction
Kinship systems are social institutions that categorize and arrange ties among family members in various cultures. These systems differ among cultures and can provide insight into a society’s social structure, cultural values, and beliefs. This essay will examine and compare the Eskimo and Hawaiian kinship systems. The Eskimo system is bilateral, whereas the Hawaiian system is unilineal, representing two different sorts of kinship systems.
Differences Between Kinship Systems
The Eskimo and Hawaiian kinship systems fall within the broader category of familial terminology. Although they are used by various cultures throughout continents, Lewis Henry Morgan, an American anthropologist, named them after the first people he saw using them (Peoples & Bailey, 2017). The vocabulary used by the Eskimo people is simple and known to most English speakers. In this approach, the Ego’s biological father and mother are referred to as father and mother, respectively.
The Hawaiian kinship system, on the other hand, is more straightforward in its classification. Ego’s first ascending generational kin are referred to in this system as either mother or father. For example, the definition of mother is expanded to include the sister of Ego’s mother and the sister of Ego’s father.
The Hawaiian and Eskimo kinship systems serve as examples of various kinship structures. The Eskimo system is bilateral or cognatic, whereas the Hawaiian system is unilineal (Peoples & Bailey, 2017). In the Eskimo system, no distinction is made between the Ego’s mother’s and father’s relatives, and no other relatives are combined with nuclear family members. When descent is tracked through the father’s and mother’s sides of the family, it is known as cognatic or bilateral kinship.
On the other hand, the Hawaiian system shows that people who use this system do not distinguish between the father’s and mother’s sides of the family in terms of importance or social patterns. As such, in unilineal or patrilineal kinship, descent is only tracked through the father’s side of the family.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Hawaiian and Eskimo kinship systems are two instances of how these societies classify and organize familial relationships. The Eskimo system, which is bilateral or cognatic, uses distinct terminology to differentiate between paternal and maternal relationships. In contrast, the Hawaiian system is unilineal. Kinship systems, like the Hawaiian and Eskimo systems, provide valuable information about groups’ social structures, cultural norms, and belief systems.
References
Peoples, J., & Bailey, G. (2017). Humanity: An introduction to cultural anthropology. Cengage Learning.