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Resumo

This article examines Lewis Henry Morgan's Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family (1871) as a pioneering work of kinship study. It argues that Morgan's key concepts, such as the classificatory system of kinship, were not simply flawed ethnographic observations, but rather theoretical constructs that reflected his broader evolutionary framework. The article explores how Morgan's ideas about kinship were shaped by his intellectual context, including his legal training and his involvement in Iroquois land claims. It also analyzes the reception of Morgan's work by other anthropologists, both in his own time and later. The article concludes that Morgan's contribution to kinship studies lies not in the accuracy of his data, but in his innovative attempt to develop a general theory of kinship evolution.

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