PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Petrivelli, Patricia J.
TI  - Unangam Aleut Social System
AID  - 10.1353/arc.2011.0040
DP  - 2004 Sep 19
TA  - Arctic Anthropology
PG  - 126--139
VI  - 41
IP  - 2
4099  - http://aa.uwpress.org/content/41/2/126.short
4100  - http://aa.uwpress.org/content/41/2/126.full
SO  - Arctic Anthropol2004 Sep 19; 41
AB  - An analysis of the kinship terminology used in pre-contact Aleut society reveals a balanced system without indications of matrilineal or patrilineal descent. The social system of the Aleut, especially the nature of the pre-contact descent reckoning, has been a subject of scholarly debate for several decades. The early researchers studying the kinship and social organization of the pre-contact and early contact Unangam Aleut society characterized the descent system as matrilineal, stressing the importance of the avunculate relationship as the basis for this conclusion. A review of marriage patterns and post-marital residence indicates patrilineal tendencies that would overshadow implications from the avunculate relationship.↵Patricia J. Petrivelli, Office of Subsistence Management, U. S. Fish and Wildlife, 3601 C Street, Suite 1030, Anchorage, Alaska 99503