Kinship in the Inuit culture is bilateral. This means that members of the father's family and members of the mother's family are both equally considered kin. The Inuit have terms that describes various categories of family members, such as anagjuk for an older sibling of the same sex and nukaq for a younger sibling of the same sex. The nuclear family is the primary household in Inuit society. Inuit households may also contain the widowed parent of one of the spouses or an unmarried sibling. Usually within the village, several households are kin to each other. The Inuit readily have mix marriages with a spouse from outside of the kin group. Inuit to Inuit marriages are still fairly common, but mixed marriages are rising.Separation and divorce rates are rising with communities.
In Inuit society, the position of women is much debated. Inuit mythology portray men as dominant, often participating in polygamy and female infanticide. Ironically, women play a major economic and political role. Women dominate in the salaried fields, such as education. Women also lead many of the major aboriginal organizations.
Bibliography:
Multicultural Canada
N.d. Kinship, Family, and Social Organization. Web document, http://www.multiculturalcanada.ca/Encyclopedia/A-Z/a5/4
Kinship and family bonds in the Inuit are fairly similar to those of the United States. Mixed marriages are common in America and in Inuit societies. Like many American households, the Inuits favor the nuclear family. A major difference I noticed is that Inuit villages contained many households that were related to each other. Kinship in the Inuit considers both sides of the family and treats them equally. This is similar to how family is seen in the United States as well.
ReplyDeleteI trust my resource because it seems to be a well established website with several partners. The data displayed on the website seems to be from a extensively researched encyclopedia of the Aboriginal groups of Canada.