RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Unangam Aleut Social System
JF Arctic Anthropology
JO Arctic Anthropol
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 126
OP 139
DO 10.1353/arc.2011.0040
VO 41
IS 2
A1 Petrivelli, Patricia J.
YR 2004
UL http://aa.uwpress.org/content/41/2/126.abstract
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