Crafting Prehispanic Maya Kinship

Notes on Terminology

notes on Terminology Maya/Mayan non-Maya specialists will observe nonstandard grammatical use of the terms Maya or Mayan. This book follows the traditional usage within Maya scholarship , which does not distinguish between noun and adjective when referring to the people, their cultural associations, and their language family. “The term Maya is used . . . as both a noun and an adjective in reference to the Maya people, as in ‘the Maya,’ ‘Maya books,’ ‘Maya writing,’ etc., or to the Maya language proper of yucatan.When referring specifically to the language family,however,it is customary to use the term Mayan,as both a noun and an adjective, as in ‘the Mayan languages,’ ‘Proto-Mayan,’ etc.” (Morley and Brainerd 1983:xvii). I occasionally use the term Mayanist to refer to any scholars on the Maya, who may or may not be Maya. descent Groups expert kinship analysts will undoubtedly note that this book dispenses with some nuanced categorizations,particularly in reference to descent groups.For example, traditional earlier 20th-century discussions will make much ado about the differences among lineage (whereby unilineal descent relationships to an identifiable common ancestor must be known), sibs (whereby multiple lineages must share a relationship to a mythical ancestor),clans (whereby membership must include coresiding unilineally related people and their affines), local groups (defined by residence locations),and descent groups (defined only by xii / notes on Terminology descent relationships, regardless of residence), etc. The result of such seemingly endless distinctions is massive confusion among nonexperts who would otherwise find that kinship is interesting and relevant to their work.To simplify and make the basic principles meaningful to that targeted broader audience , I follow Fox’s lead (1967:50) and refer to lineages and clans as lower- and higher-order unilineal descent groups whether the members’ relationships to ancestors are known or mythical, whether the members collectively own resources or not,and whether the members live together or not.affines,therefore , are not viewed as belonging to their spouses’ descent groups, but rather to their own whether they live with those kin or not.When discussing lineages and clans, I attempt to make explicit the potential range of features and functions when generalizing or refer to their specific characteristics and importance in particular cases. Kinship Terminology This is a book on kinship without a single traditional kinship diagram.rather than focusing on relationship nomenclature, the book emphasizes the social organizational, political economic, and socially dynamic aspects of kinship. nevertheless, kinship terminology systems are discussed but only insofar as to make points about the relationship between social organization,marriage, and kin nomenclature. Furthermore, the discussion of kin terminology is restricted to few categories of relationships (laterally and generationally), which I believe is all that is necessary to make those essential points.Terminology diagrams for most of the systems described herein can be referenced in any introductory text on the subject, indeed in practically any introductory text on cultural anthropology. The following is a guide to the standard term abbreviations used in the text. M for mother F for father Z for sister B for brother d for daughter s for son By combining these, kinship analysts can describe a wider range of etic relationships (from the perspective of the observer). For example: notes on Terminology / xiii MB for mother’s brother MBs for mother’s brother’s son MBd for mother’s brother’s daughter MZ for mother’s sister MZs for mother’s sister’s son MZd for mother’s sister’s daughter FB for father’s brother FBs for father’s brother’s son FBd for father’s brother’s daughter FZ for father’s sister FZs for father’s sister’s son FZd for father’s sister’s daughter The same codes may be used to describe the emic relationship categories (from the perspective of a cultural participant). For example, in some systems , ego (the person of reference) will refer to both mother and her sisters as “mother” (M) or to both father and his brothers as “father” (F). To etically describe the emic classifications, these two examples can be expressed as Mother = M + MZ and Father = F + FB. Crafting Prehispanic Maya Kinship ...