Omaha Terminologies

Global Distribution Patterns and How They May Have Come About

Bibliographic Data

ID24315125
AuthorsGünther Schlee (Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle (Saale), Germany)
Year2017
Volume51
Issue2
Pages117-141
Publication date2017-04-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCross-Cultural Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1069-3971 • E-ISSN: 1552-3578
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1069397117691011
OpenAlexW2587839315
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited22

Omaha kinship terminologies are distributed globally to the north and south of the belt of ancient “high cultures” which stretches from the Mediterranean Sea to East and Southeast Asia in the Old World and includes parts of Mesoamerica and the Andes in the New World. This article offers an explanation for this curious distribution of Omaha terminologies. In so doing, it reviews examples of Omaha terminologies in Central Asia and on the Horn of Africa, noting their defining characteristics and those other aspects of social organization with which they are associated. In conclusion, it is suggested that a continuum of lineage-based systems, including systems with Omaha terminologies, was split into two areas of concentration, one to the north and the other to the south, as ancient “high cultures,” based on intensive agricultural production, arose among them, reverting, in the process, to terminological systems with a cognatic bias like those of the Eskimo type that are associated with urbanization and statehood.

Central asia · cognatic kinship · Horn of Africa · intensive agriculture · kinship terms · Social organization · Australian Indigenous Culture and History · Language and cultural evolution · Language and Culture