Kinship and Family

Kinship networks are extremely important for all Na-Dene groups since individuals require care as children, share a residence with other members of their family, and may work and marry within the kin network of their own or adjacent communities. Groups differ in the extent to which they have maintained traditional kinship patterns and apply these to contemporary life. The Tlingit and Haida maintain the matrilineal clan system for purposes such as the giving of native names or the assignment of roles at a potlatch, but they now use their English names for most purposes. Inheritance of property, which was formerly in the female line, may now follow the male line as well. Marriage between two members of the same moiety is somewhat discouraged, but more common than formerly when it was considered a serious offence punishable by death. Traditionally, for both the Haida and Tlingit, the ideal marriage partner was someone from one’s father’s lineage. For this reason, lineages were often paired and the exchange of marriage partners over a number of generations was common. Marriages were formerly arranged by the respective families, but individuals now select their own mates.

Kinship also continues to structure the daily life of Athabaskans, although, as with the Tlingit and Haida, its role has changed over time. Western Athabaskan groups such as Southern Tutchone, Tagish, Tahltan, Kaska, and Carrier have matrilineal clans or moieties. Most individuals, including children, still know their native name and clan affiliation, but English names are more commonly used on a daily basis. While arranged marriages have been replaced by dating, some western Athabaskans avoid dating members of the same clan. Marriages with non-natives, and with natives from neighboring groups, are now common, and in some cases non-natives marrying into the group are adopted into the appropriate lineage. Formerly, distinctions were drawn between cross-cousins (mother’s brother’s children and father’s sister’s children) and parallel cousins (mother’s sister’s children and father’s brother’s children–who were called by the same term as siblings). Marriages within a clan were strongly discouraged and knowledge of clan affiliations helped individuals determine eligible marriage partners. Marriages between cousins are rare in these groups today and most younger people reckon kinship using English kin terms.

Athabaskan groups further from the Pacific, including Slave, Dogrib, Beaver, and Chipewyan, do not have formal clans. Some of these groups continue to name individuals in both native languages and in English since native languages are most strongly maintained in this region. In many cases English last names are based on native names which are then handed down in the male line. Among the Beaver and Gwich’in, parallel cousins are distinguished from cross cousins, but no such distinction is made among the Slave, Dogrib, and Chipewyan. Some anthropologists have proposed that the kinship system of these latter groups is bilateral rather than matrilineal. Others report that marriage patterns reveal differentiation between parallel and cross-cousins even where these relations are not currently distinguished in the language. It has also been observed that residence groups formerly were based on a core consisting of a group of brothers, or, alternatively, a group of sisters. As the Dene of the Mackenzie valley have settled in larger settlements, kinship relations have been recast. In some communities many younger people now use English kin terms and can no longer identify their more distant relations.

There are other aspects of kinship relations that have almost totally been abandoned in contemporary society. Traditionally, most Na-Dene were on familiar terms with certain relatives, while interaction with other relatives was restricted in various ways. Among the Haida, for instance, a man would treat his adult sister or his sister’s daughter very formally and would not speak to his mother-in-law directly. Similar restrictions on touching or speaking to certain relatives existed for most groups at one time but are rarely observed today.

Young Na-Dene women are no longer secluded at the time of first menstruation. The Tlingit formerly isolated young women of high rank for up to two years so that they might receive instruction and prepare for adult roles. Young women among Athabaskan groups also stayed in a separate shelter at this period of their life, and western Athabaskan women wore a hood which completely covered the head for up to a year. These customs are not observed among young women at present.