Anthropology 2
Cultural Anthropology

Jorge Sanchez

EXAMPLE 1

EXAMPLE 2

Project II: Kinship Network

Due Date: July 10, 2002
send answers via e-mail to jsanchez@hartnell.cc.ca.us by midnight of due date!

Objectives

This next assignment is designed to familiarize you with the kinship relationships used by anthropologists when conducting ethnography. Your job is to perform a mini ethnography of your own kin network. Label all the kinship types with their corresponding terms. Chapter 10 deals directly with the kinship systems (and is thus imperative that you read it).

Diagram

Begin by making a list of your immediate family. Then proceed by listing your cousins, and then by listing your grandparents. This should be the minimal kinship network but you may expand either horizontally (include first and second cousins) or vertically (include great grandparents and grandchildren) as far as you want.

Put the kin on your list into a diagram format so as to show their relationship to one another and to yourself ("ego"). Follow the system in the text: circle for a female; triangle for a male; square for unknown sex. If a couple is married show this by connecting the triangle and the circle with a line or an equal (=) sign. If the couple is divorced, then cross out the equal sign. All the siblings should be connected with a line. If a person died, then cross out the triangle (if male) or circle (if female).

Make a list of the terminology you used. In the following list, you will see the terms commonly used in the American culture (referred to as Alaskan kinship system), but you make your own terms if you call someone by a different term, which is usually the case with many first and second generation Americans (i.e., "m'hijo" for son among Chicanos or "p'ai" for father among Luso-Americans):
mother=mo, father=fa, husband=hu, wife=wi, sister=si, brother=br, spouse=se (or equivalent), grandparent=mo mo (mother's mother), fa mo, mo fa, fa fa (add one more for great-grandparents), son=so, daughter=da, uncle=fa br, mo si hu, etc, aunt=fa si, etc., child=ch, cousin=fa si so (father's sister's son).

Analysis

After the diagram of your kinship network is complete, answer the following questions. It is not necessary to include the names of the individuals or any other personal data. Limit yourself to 1-2 pages.

1. Circle the kin in the diagram who you (ego) consider to be "close" relatives. How do you determine closeness?; Is it geographical proximity, psychological and/or socio-economic distance between you and the relative?

2. Who in the diagram is the person that you would go in times of emotional, economic, or other forms of difficult situations? How much is this network of people involved in your daily life, and you in their daily lives?

3. What differences did you encounter in obtaining this information? In putting the diagram together? How did you determine the boundaries of your kinship system?

4. How have cultural factors affected your kinship network (consider ethnicity, religion, social class, etc.)? In what ways do you think that your kin are "typical" or not, of most American families?