Ambilineality
Ambilineality is a cognatic descent system in which individuals may be affiliated either to their father's or mother's group. This type of descent results in descent groups which are non-unilineal in the sense that descent passes either through women or men, contrary to unilineal systems, whether patrilineal or matrilineal. Affiliation to a descent group will be determined either by choice or by residence. In the latter case, children will belong to the descent group with whom their parents are living.
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Societies practicing ambilineal descent are especially common in Southeast Asia[1] and the Pacific Islands. Polynesian cultures and Micronesian cultures are often ambilineal, including, for example, Samoans, Māori,[2] Hawaiians and people of the Gilbert Islands.[3] The indigenous peoples of Northwestern North America are also followers of ambilineality; and it is also found among the Southern Yoruba people residing in West Africa.[4]
References
- Ramirez, 2014, p.88-98
- Firth,1929, p.98
- Lambert, 1966
- Llyod, 1966
Bibliography
- Firth [first=Raymond. (1957). "A Note on Descent Groups in Polynesia". Man. 57: 4–8.
- Firth, Raymond. (1963) “Bilateral Descent Groups: An Operational Viewpoint.” In Studies in Kinship and Marriage. Dedicated to Brenda Z. Seligman on Her 80th Birthday., edited by Isaac Schapera, 22–37. London: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain & Ireland.
- Firth, Raymond. (1929) Primitive Economics of the New Zealand Maori. New York: E.P. Dutton.
- Goodenough, Ward H. (1970) Description and Comparison in Cultural Anthropology. Chicago: Aldine :55-58.
- Lambert, B. (1966) “Ambilineal Descent Groups in the Northern Gilbert Islands1.” American Anthropologist 68 (3): 641–664.
- Lloyd, P.C. (1966) “Agnatic and Cognatic Descent Among the Yoruba.” Man 1 (4): 484–500.
- Ramirez, Philippe. (2014) People of the Margins: Across Ethnic Boundaries in North-East India. Guwahati: Spectrum:88-98.