Moiety (kinship)

Part of a series on the

Anthropology of kinship

Basic concepts

Descent

Linealities
Cognatic / Bilateral Matrilateral House society Avunculate
Ambilineality Unilineality Matrilineality Patrilineality

Household forms and residence

Terminology

By group
Kinship terminology Classificatory terminologies
Iroquois Crow Omaha Eskimo Hawaiian Sudanese Dravidian

Case studies

Feminist
Australian Aboriginal Burmese Chinese Philippine Polyandry in Tibet / in India
Chambri Mosuo
Sexuality
Coming of Age in Samoa

Major theorists

Social anthropology
Cultural anthropology

In the anthropological study of kinship, a moiety (/ˈmɔɪəti/) is a descent group that coexists with only one other descent group within a society. In such cases the community usually has unilineal descent, either patri- or matrilineal so that any individual belongs to one of the two moiety groups by birth, and all marriages take place between members of different moieties. In the case of a patrilineal descent system this can be interpreted as a system in which women are exchanged between the two moieties. Moiety societies are found particularly among the indigenous cultures of North America and Australia.^[1]^[2]^[3]

References

↑ Tooker, E. (1971). Clans and moieties in North America. Current Anthropology, 357-376.
↑ Parsons, E. C. (1924). Tewa kin, clan, and moiety. American Anthropologist, 26(3), 333-339.
↑ White, I. (1981). Generation moieties in Australia: structural, social and ritual implications. Oceania, 6-27.

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