Iroquois kinship terminology, also called bifurcate-merging kinship, is one of the six major kinship-terminology systems Lewis Henry Morgan classified in 1871, named for the Haudenosaunee, Iroquois, peoples whose system was the first described of this type. It merges a parent's same-sex sibling into the parent's own kin category, so a father's brother is called 'Father' and a mother's sister is called 'Mother,' while bifurcating, or splitting off, a parent's opposite-sex sibling into a separate 'aunt' or 'uncle' category. The same logic sorts cousins: the children of a parent's same-sex sibling are 'parallel cousins,' folded into the sibling category, while the children of a parent's opposite-sex sibling are 'cross-cousins,' terminologically distinct kin. In many societies using this system, Ego was encouraged to marry a cross-cousin and discouraged or prohibited from marrying a parallel cousin, reinforcing kin-group continuity across generations through that recurring alliance.
Facts
Descent RuleSourced to the subject's own accountCorrelates with unilineal descent generally, either matrilineal or patrilineal; documented among the historically matrilineal Haudenosaunee, for whom the system is named, but found in both matrilineal and patrilineal unilineal societies elsewhere. 1 Typical RegionSourced to the subject's own accountThe Haudenosaunee, Iroquois, of northeastern North America; also documented among Anishinaabe peoples, Algonquin, Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and related groups, most Bantu-speaking cultures of eastern and southern sub-Saharan Africa, many Melanesian societies, parts of South India and Sri Lanka, and Vanuatu. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
In many societies using Iroquois terminology, Ego was encouraged to marry a cross-cousin and discouraged or prohibited from marrying a parallel cousin.
Named for and first described among the historically matrilineal Haudenosaunee, though the terminology pattern also occurs in patrilineal unilineal societies.
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