clan

A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details remain unknown or non-specific, clan members may claim descent from a founding individual or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societies' exogamy rules are on a clan basis, where all members of one's own clan, or the clans of both parents or even grandparents, are excluded from marriage as incest. Clans preceded more centralized forms of community organization and government, and have existed in every country. Members may identify with a coat of arms or other symbol. Some kinship-based groups may also have a symbol of origin, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor serving as a symbol of the clan's unity. Traditional anthropological thought (as for example in the work of Gerardus van der Leeuw) classified non-human examples of such "ancestors" (frequently animals) as totems.

A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details remain unknown or non-specific, clan members may claim descent from a founding individual or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societies' exogamy rules are on a clan basis, where all members of one's own clan, or the clans of both parents or even grandparents, are excluded from marriage as incest. Clans preceded more centralized forms of community organization and government, and have existed in every country. Members may identify with a coat of arms or other symbol. Some kinship-based groups may also have a symbol of origin, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor serving as a symbol of the clan's unity. Traditional anthropological thought (as for example in the work of Gerardus van der Leeuw) classified non-human examples of such "ancestors" (frequently animals) as totems.

Irish Clans

Irish Clans are social and kinship groups sharing a common surname and heritage and existing in a lineage based society. A clan (or fine in Irish) included the chief and his patrilineal relatives as well as unrelated clients of the chief. Unrelated clients and their descendants were ineligible to be elected chief, but nonetheless assumed the name of the leading lineage to show allegiance.

Clannism

Clannism (in Somali culture, qabiilism) is a system of society based on clan affiliation. The Islamic world, the Near East, North and the Horn of Africa in general, and Somali culture specifically, is patriarchal and traditionally centered on patrilineal clans or tribes.

African

In the African Great Lakes region, the clan is a unit of social organisation. It is the oldest societal structure in the region, other than family and direct lineage. The structure is found in modern-day Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and Uganda. The term clan was first used in the nineteenth century by Europeans, due to the similarities to other clan systems found across the world. The people of the area use a variety of vernacular terms to describe the concept: ubwoko in Rwanda, umuryango in Burundi, ruganda in the Bunyoro and Buhaya kingdoms, igise in Buha, ishanja in Buhavu and ebika in Buganda. Clans differ somewhat in their nature from country to country: in Rwanda the clan is a very structured unit, with twenty in total, themselves divided into subclans. The same holds in Nkore, which has only four clans.

Matriclans

In a number of societies that have clans, clan membership is passed down matrilineally. These are sometimes known as matriclans. Peoples such as the Serer, Haudenosaunee, Akan, Minangkabau and Ejagham follow this matrilineal clan system.

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References

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1372121182 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.