Omaha kinship is a kinship system used to define
familyFamily denotes a group of people or animals affiliated by a consanguinity, affinity or co-residence...
. Identified by Louis Henry Morgan in his 1871 work
Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family, the Omaha system is one of the six major kinship systems (
EskimoEskimo kinship is a concept of kinship used to define family 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 .-Kinship system:The Eskimo system places no...
,
HawaiianHawaiian kinship is a kinship system used to define family. Identified by Louis Henry Morgan in his 1871 work Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family, the Hawaiian system is one of the six major kinship systems .-Kinship system:Within common typologies, the...
,
IroquoisIroquois kinship is a kinship system used to define family. Identified by Louis Henry Morgan in his 1871 work Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family, the Iroquois system is one of the six major kinship systems .-Kinship system:The system has both classificatory and...
,
CrowCrow kinship is a kinship system used to define family. Identified by Louis Henry Morgan in his 1871 work Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family, the Crow system is one of the six major kinship systems .-Kinship system:The system is somewhat similar to the Iroquois system, but...
, Omaha, and
SudaneseSudanese kinship is a kinship system used to define family. Identified by Louis Henry Morgan in his 1871 work Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family, the Sudanese system is one of the six major kinship systems .The Sudanese kinship system is the most complicated...
).
In function, the system is extremely similar to the
Crow systemCrow kinship is a kinship system used to define family. Identified by Louis Henry Morgan in his 1871 work Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family, the Crow system is one of the six major kinship systems .-Kinship system:The system is somewhat similar to the Iroquois system, but...
. However, whereas Crow groups are
matrilinealMatrilineality is a system in which lineage is traced through the mother and maternal ancestors. In this article matrilineality also is a societal system in which one belongs to one's matriline or mother's lineage, which can involve the matrilineal inheritance of property and/or titles.A...
, Omaha descent groups are characteristically
patrilinealPatrilineality is a system in which one belongs to one's father's lineage; it generally involves the inheritance of property, names or titles through the male line as well....
.
Discussion
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Omaha kinship is a kinship system used to define
familyFamily denotes a group of people or animals affiliated by a consanguinity, affinity or co-residence...
. Identified by Louis Henry Morgan in his 1871 work
Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family, the Omaha system is one of the six major kinship systems (
EskimoEskimo kinship is a concept of kinship used to define family 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 .-Kinship system:The Eskimo system places no...
,
HawaiianHawaiian kinship is a kinship system used to define family. Identified by Louis Henry Morgan in his 1871 work Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family, the Hawaiian system is one of the six major kinship systems .-Kinship system:Within common typologies, the...
,
IroquoisIroquois kinship is a kinship system used to define family. Identified by Louis Henry Morgan in his 1871 work Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family, the Iroquois system is one of the six major kinship systems .-Kinship system:The system has both classificatory and...
,
CrowCrow kinship is a kinship system used to define family. Identified by Louis Henry Morgan in his 1871 work Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family, the Crow system is one of the six major kinship systems .-Kinship system:The system is somewhat similar to the Iroquois system, but...
, Omaha, and
SudaneseSudanese kinship is a kinship system used to define family. Identified by Louis Henry Morgan in his 1871 work Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family, the Sudanese system is one of the six major kinship systems .The Sudanese kinship system is the most complicated...
).
Kinship system
In function, the system is extremely similar to the
Crow systemCrow kinship is a kinship system used to define family. Identified by Louis Henry Morgan in his 1871 work Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family, the Crow system is one of the six major kinship systems .-Kinship system:The system is somewhat similar to the Iroquois system, but...
. However, whereas Crow groups are
matrilinealMatrilineality is a system in which lineage is traced through the mother and maternal ancestors. In this article matrilineality also is a societal system in which one belongs to one's matriline or mother's lineage, which can involve the matrilineal inheritance of property and/or titles.A...
, Omaha descent groups are characteristically
patrilinealPatrilineality is a system in which one belongs to one's father's lineage; it generally involves the inheritance of property, names or titles through the male line as well....
. In this system relatives are sorted according to their descent and their gender. Ego's father and his brothers are merged together under a single term and a similar pattern is seen for Ego's mother and her sisters. Like most other kinship systems, Omaha kinship distinguishes between Parallel and Cross cousins. While
Parallel cousinParallel cousin, also called ortho-cousin, is an anthropological term denoting consanguinial kin who are in the same descent group as the subject and are from the parent's same-sexed sibling. A cross cousin is from the parent's opposite-sexed sibling...
s are merged with siblings, Cross cousins are differentiated by generational divisions. On the maternal side Cross cousins are raised a generation (making them Ego's Mother's Brother and Ego's Mother) while those on the paternal side are lowered a generation (making them the generational equivalent of Ego's Children's).
The system is similar to
Iroquois kinshipIroquois kinship is a kinship system used to define family. Identified by Louis Henry Morgan in his 1871 work Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family, the Iroquois system is one of the six major kinship systems .-Kinship system:The system has both classificatory and...
and uses
Bifurcate merging, however, only the Iroquois system uses BM as a label.
Usage
The system is named for the
OmahaThe Omaha tribe is a Native American tribe that currently resides on the Omaha Reservation in northeastern Nebraska and western Iowa, United States...
, a
Native AmericanNative Americans in the United States is the phrase that describes indigenous peoples from North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of...
tribe from
NebraskaNebraska is a state located on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha....
. Currently the Omaha system is in use by the
DaniThings known as Dani include:* A unisex name [more commonly used by women than by men.]* Dani is a common surname in the Maratha clan system and among the Savji people of India.* Dani Dimitrovska, a Macedonian pop & rock singer...
tribe of
PapuaPapua is the largest province of Indonesia, comprising a majority part of the western half of the island of New Guinea and nearby islands...
and the
IgboIgbo people, also referred to as the Ibo, Ebo, Eboans or Heebo are an ethnic group living chiefly in southeastern and south Nigeria. They speak Igbo, which includes various Igboid languages and dialects; today, a majority of them speak English alongside Igbo as a result of British colonialism...
of
NigeriaNigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising thirty-six states and one Federal Capital Territory. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger...
.
Sources & External links