article
Ambilinial descent groups in the northern Gilbert Islands
American anthropologist • 68 (3) • Published In 1966 • Pages: 641-664
By: Lambert, Bernd.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Traditional Kiribati and culturally-related Polynesian societies were organized into ambilineal descent groups comprised of all persons who could trace descent, alternatively through male or female links, to the group’s founder and who inherited rights to part of that ancestor’s land. In principle, this system allowed individuals to claim membership in several kinship-based groups (ramages). In practice, however, a person's rights and obligations were largely limited to the group where they maintained residence. The author discusses the centrality of this distinction between structural principles and actual methods of limiting group membership for understanding the dynamics of Kiribati descent groups.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Community structure
- Kin relationships
- Rule of descent
- Lineages
- Kindreds and ramages
- Bilineal kin groups
- Real property
- Community heads
- Community councils
- Inheritance
- Settlement patterns
- Inter-community relations
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Kiribati
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2018
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Oceania
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Micronesia
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Anthropologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Teferi Abate Adem ; 2016
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1959-1961
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1922-1961
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Makin and Butaritari, Northern Kiribati Islands, Republic of Kiribati
- NotesAdditional notes
- Bernd Lambert
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 663-664)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 17015424
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Kiribati