Ines Valdera
Ines writes about kinship terminologies and marriage systems. She studied social anthropology, reads ethnographies in Spanish and Portuguese, and believes most arguments about kinship end once someone draws a clear diagram.
Explainers by Ines
The best anthropology books, from a first read to the field's classics
Anthropology books for beginners and beyond: three to start with, then kinship, evolution, methods and the fieldwork classics courses still assign.
The Iroquois kinship system, with a chart of who is called what
The Iroquois kinship system explained: a chart of bifurcate merging terms, parallel and cross cousins, the generation below, and how Dravidian systems differ.
Descent rules on one family tree, from patrilineal to bilateral
Patrilineal, matrilineal, double, bilateral and ambilineal descent worked on one family tree, with lineages, clans and kindreds defined and residence rules.
The Eskimo kinship system explained with a diagram and examples
The Eskimo or lineal kinship system explained: a diagram of who is called what, examples from English and Europe, and how it differs from the other five types.
Section systems, and how the Kariera and Aranda rules work
How four-section (Kariera) and eight-subsection (Aranda) systems work: marriage and descent rules worked by hand, abstract labels, and what the model leaves out.
Cross and parallel cousins, and why the difference matters
Cross and parallel cousins explained: the linking-sibling test, why Iroquois and Dravidian terms split them, and what cross-cousin marriage does to alliances.
The six classic kinship systems on one family tree
Inuit, Hawaiian, Sudanese, Iroquois, Crow and Omaha terms on one family tree: who gets called what, what each merges, and where the labels came from.