Australian Aboriginal kinship
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|Anthropology of kinship|
Australian Aboriginal kinship is the system of law governing social interaction, particularly marriage, in traditional Australian Aboriginal culture. It is an integral part of the culture of every Aboriginal group across Australia.
- 1 The subsection system
- 2 Some common kinship terms used in Aboriginal English
- 3 See also
- 4 References
- 5 Further reading
- 6 External links
The subsection system
'Subsection system' is the technical term from anthropology for a social structure found in many Australian Aboriginal societies, particularly those in the centre and western half of Australia. Subsection systems divide all of society into a number of groups, each of which combines particular sets of kin. Each subsection is given a name that can be used to refer to individual members of that group. There are systems with two such groupings (these are known as 'moieties' in kinship studies), systems with four (sections), six and eight (subsection systems). Some language groups extend this by having distinct male and female forms, giving a total of sixteen skin names, for example the Pintupi (listed below) and Warlpiri. While membership in skin groups is ideally based on blood relations, Australian Aboriginal subsection systems are classificatory, meaning that even people who are not actual blood relations are assigned to a subsection. They are also universal, meaning that every member of the society is assigned a position in the system.
Subsection systems are found in Aboriginal societies across much of Central, Western and Northern Australia. On the basis of detailed analysis and comparison of the various subsection systems and their terminologies, and in particular the apparent prefix /j-/ for male and /n-/ for female, it has been identified as a social innovation originally from the Daly River region of the Northern Territory, which then spread rapidly southwards to other groups.
The subsection system is widely known in Central Australian Aboriginal English as a 'skin' system, 'skin' being a vernacular Aboriginal English term for 'subsection'.
Systems with two groupings (moieties)
The Yolngu people of north-eastern Arnhem Land divide society (and much of the natural world) into two moieties: Dhuwa and Yirritja. Each of these is represented by people of a number of different groups, each with their own lands, languages and philosophies:
Skin name Clan groups Yirritja Gumatj, Gupapuyngu, Wangurri, Ritharrngu, Mangalili,
Munyuku, Madarrpa, Warramiri, Dhalwangu, Liyalanmirri.
Dhuwa Rirratjingu, Galpu, Djambarrpuyngu, Golumala, Marrakulu,
Marrangu, Djapu, Datiwuy, Ngaymil, Djarrwark.
by the Yolŋu through their hereditary estates – so many things are either Yirritja or Dhuwa – fish, stone, river, sea etc., belongs to one or the other moiety. Things that are not either Dhuwa or Yirritja are called wakinŋu. Yolŋu also have a kinship system with eight subsections (four Dhuwa and four Yirritja which is what creates moiety).
Systems with four sections
Section name (female) Marries (male) Children Karimarra Panaka Pal.yarri Panaka Karimarra Purungu Pal.yarri Purungu Karimarra Purungu Pal.yarri Panaka
Similar systems are found across most language groups in the Pilbara, though with some variation in the forms of the names. For example, speakers of Ngarla use Milangka where Martuthunira use Pal.yarri.
Section name (female) Marries (male) Children Kngwarriya Upurla Kimarra Upurla Kngwarriya Pitjarra Pitjarra Kimarra Upurla Kimarra Pitjarra Kngwarriya
Systems with eight groups (subsection systems)
Male subsection group Totems May marry only
female skin group
Children will be Ngarrijbalangi Rainbird, shooting star,
Burrarangi Bangariny Bangariny Brown shark, turtle Yakimarr Ngarrijbalangi Buranyi Crane, salt water,
Kangal Balyarriny Balyarriny Black tiger shark,
Kamarrangi Buranyi Burrarangi Lightning, rough sea,
Ngarrijbalangi Kamarrangi Yakimarr Seagull, barramundi,
Bangariny Kangal Kangal Barramundi,
Buranyi Yakimarr Kamarrangi Rock, pelican, brolga,
Each Lardil person belongs to one of these groups. Their paternal grandfather's subsection determines their own; so a Balyarriny man or woman will have a Balyarriny grandfather. A Ngarrijbalangi man may marry only a Burrarangi woman, a Bangariny a Yakimarr, a Buranyi a Kangal and a Balyarriny a Kamarrangi, and vice versa for each.
Once a person's subsection group is known, their relationship to any other Lardil can be determined. A Ngarrijbalangi is a 'father' to a Bangariny, a 'father-in-law' to a Yakimarr and a 'son' to another Bangariny, either in a social sense or purely through linearship.
The mechanics of the Lardil skin system means that generations of males cycle back and forth between two subsections. Ngarrijbalangi is father to Bangariny and Bangariny is father to Ngarrijbalangi and similarly for the three other pairs of subsections. Generations of women, however, cycle through four subsections before arriving back at the starting point. This means that a woman has the same subsection name as her (matrilineal) great-great-grandmother.
The Pintupi of the Western Desert also have an eight subsection system, made more complex by distinct forms for male and female subsection names; male forms begin with "Tj", the female forms with "N". The Warlpiri system is almost the same:
Gender Subsection name First marriage
Children will be Male Tjapaltjarri Nakamarra Tjungurrayi, Nungurrayi Female Napaltjarri Tjakamarra Tjupurrula, Napurrula Male Tjapangati Nampitjinpa Tjapanangka, Napanangka Female Napangati Tjampitjinpa Tjangala, Nangala Male Tjakamarra Napaltjarri Tjupurrula, Napurrula Female Nakamarra Tjapaltjarri Tjungurrayi, Nungurrayi Male Tjampitjinpa Napangati Tjangala, Nangala Female Nampitjinpa Tjapangati Tjapanangka, Napanangka Male Tjapanangka Napurrula Tjapangati, Napangati Female Napanangka Tjupurrula Tjakamarra, Nakamarra Male Tjungurrayi Nangala Tjapaltjarri, Napaltjarri Female Nungurrayi Tjangala Tjampitjinpa, Nampitjinpa Male Tjupurrula Napanangka Tjakamarra, Nakamarra Female Napurrula Tjapanangka Tjapangati, Napangati Male Tjangala Nungurrayi Tjampitjinpa, Nampitjinpa Female Nangala Tjungarayi Tjapaltjarri, Napaltjarri
Extension of the system to non-relatives
Outsiders who have significant interaction with such groups may be given a 'skin name', commonly based on the people they have interacted with and the types of interaction.
Some common kinship terms used in Aboriginal English
The variety of English used by many Australian Aboriginal people employs kinship terms in ways that are based on their equivalents in Australian Aboriginal languages.
- Aunty and uncle are terms of address for older people, to whom the speaker may not be related.
- Brother and sister—as well as siblings this term is used to refer to children of ones mother's sister and of father's brother (Cousin), just as in many indigenous languages.
- Cousin-brother and cousin-sister are often used to refer to children of ones mother's sister and father's brother.
- Cousin refers to children of ones father's sister and mother's brother, but may be extended to any relative of one's own generation, such as one who might share the same great grandparent as their own great grandparent, which is a second-cousin in Aboriginal terms.
- In south-east Queensland, daughter is used to refer to any woman of one's great-grandparents' generation. This is due to the cyclical nature of traditional kinship systems and mirrors usage in many Australian languages.
- Father and mother include any relative of one's parents' generation, such as uncles, aunts, their own cousins and in-laws.
- Grandfather and grandmother can refer to anyone of one's grandparents' generation. Grandfather can also refer to any respected elderly man, to whom the speaker may not be related.
- Poison refers to a relation one is obligated to avoid. See Mother-in-law language.
- The term second, or little bit in northern Australia, is used with a distant relative who is described using a close kinship term. For example, one's second father or little bit father is a man of one's father's generation not closely related to the speaker. Usually having a "second mother", is having a woman of your own mother's generation who seems to act like a mother and would most likely care for you if anything were to happen to your own parents. It is contrasted with close, near or true.
- A skin or skin group are sections which are determined by the skin of a person's parents, and determine who a person is eligible to marry.
- Son can refer to any male of the next generation, such as nephews just as "daughter" can refer to any female of the next generation including nieces.
- McConvell, Patrick (1996). "Backtracking to Babel: the chronology of Pama–Nyungan expansion in Australia". Archaeology in Oceania 31: 125–144.
- Sharp, Janet; Nicholas Thieberger (1992). Bilybara: Aboriginal languages of the Pilbara region. Port Hedland, Western Australia: Wangka Maya, The Pilbara Aboriginal Language Centre. ISBN 0-646-10711-9.
- Wafer, Jim (1982). A Simple Introduction to Central Australian Kinship Systems. Institute for Aboriginal Development, Alice Springs, Northern Territory.
- Binnion, Joan (1979) The Lardil People of Mornington Island (Student Handbook), Aboriginal Community College, Port Adelaide.
- Dousset, Laurent, 2011, Australian Aboriginal Kinship: An introductory handbook with particular emphasis on the Western Desert, Marseille, Pacific-credo Publications.
- Hansen, Kenneth C. and Lesley E. Hansen, 1979, Pintupi/Luritja kinship, Alice Springs, NT, Institute for Aboriginal Development.
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