Anthropologists play a crucial role in the society. As the bridge between past and present culture, anthropologists facilitate the collection of relevant information, which can be used in the reconstruction of the human processes and thoughts. The establishment of historical relations between different individuals in the society also falls under the purview of anthropology. Such initiative in the discipline, entails the identification of different kinship arrangements. Primarily, kinship refers to a social setting arrangement that is made up of individuals who share a common descent. As a web of social connections, kinship provides insight on the background of individuals in a given setting. To attain relevant and correct information involved in given kinships, anthropologists commit to various study systems. The current analysis is predicated on the question: “How do anthropologists study kinship systems and what can be learned about the society from these systems?”. Mainly, the study seeks to highlight the various analytical approaches that are embraced by anthropologists in their attempts to infer relevant information on the relationship between individuals.
How Anthropologists Study the Kinship System
There are several methods of study that anthropologists engage on studying the kinship system. One of the most common methods that are used by anthropologists in studying kinship relations is the method of conjectural history. As a contentious method, conjectural history makes use of information fueled through speculation to infer relevant findings. With regards to the same, Radcliffe-Brown (1941) indicated that conjectural history was used in a number of different ways. In the first manifestation of the type of study, the anthropologists commit their analysis to the principles of human nature. Under the framework, kinships are analyzed from a general perspective on the belief that human connections reflect commonalities. Based on the understanding, kinship is projected to be a system of similarities and differences, where the connection between two groups or individuals is shown to be discernible through physical makeup and social inclinations (Carsten, 2000). Still, the approach to the study of kinship may lead to significant misinformation, as the analysis is pegged on unverified information.
Alternatively, anthropologists also make use of system analysis to reveal relations between various individuals in the community. Mainly, systems analysis is predicated on the need to establish the cultural and biological components that can be used to infer relationships that exists between societies. Under the framework, the study of kinship is revealed through the tracing of the origins of individuals from the elementary, which is in the subject case the family setting. The system analysis approach facilitates the collection of data that can be verified. Rather than relying on conjecture, the systems approach makes use of valid premises to infer the relationship between family members. By starting from the base, system analysis as a study approach in the assessment of kinship relations facilitates the collection of basic and first-hand data that can then be used to establish the prevailing similarities between different individuals. In the study Structural Analysis of Kinship, Davis and Warner (1937) argue that the systems analysis framework addresses relations such as siblings and siblings link, the siblings and birth-order phenomenon and the sexes similarities. The sex-gender consideration in the study of kinship provides a slight deviation from the approach that was engaged by anthropologists in the conjectural framework.
Other than the systems and conjectural approaches in the study of kinship, anthropologists also make use of linguistic studies to oversee relations between various individuals in the society. The study of linguistics seeks to infer the relationship between various individuals based on elements such as phonetics, language patterns and grammatical similarities (Herzfeld, 2007). The linguistic studies are mainly aimed at establishing the shifts in language, their manifestations in the present society, and the ultimate influence on the characters and features of subject communities or individuals. Linguistics as a point of inference, in trying to deduce human relations, is predicated on the idea that at some point in history, human beings shared a history. Linguistic study in the analysis of kinship presumes that there are elements of language that are also specific to a given group of people. Subsequently, the linguistic patterns can then be used as definitive components in the understanding of relations between individuals.
What Can be Learned About the Society from These Systems
There are several things that can be learned from the systems regarding the state of societies overtime. Primarily, system analysis reveals that societies evolve gradually depending on factors such as the environment. Societies are projected to have originated from a single point of divergence, after which individuals embraced characteristics and features that would enable and augment their sustenance in different environments (Palmeri, 2008). The importance of language in the study of kinship is also revealed in the interactions between individuals in different settings. One of the most critical components that can be inferred from the study methods that anthropologists engage in the study of kinship relates to the influence of biology. Conjectural study in kinship also reinforces the significance of culture in the society. As a vessel through which values and traditions are transmitted, society acts as a bridge through which continuity is realized (Wade, 2002). The analysis reveals that traditions are shared across generations. Despite the disparities in biological and geographical factors, individuals always retain an aspect of culture that was borrowed from the previous communities and society. Lastly, the society is projected to be repetitive. Practices that were engaged in the past also underline initiatives in the present time. Therefore, practices from the past continue to influence prevailing behavior.
Conclusion
Anthropology is an influential discipline in the society as it seeks to establish the relationship between different individuals in the society. To achieve its goals, anthropology depends on various approaches which include conjectural studies, linguistic analysis, biological inference and systems analysis. All of the study methods are mainly aimed at establishing the correlation between individuals given their pasts. The commonalities that are inferred by linguistic analysis reveals the existence of relations in the past.
References
Carsten, J. (Ed.). (2000). Cultures of relatedness: New approaches to the study of kinship. Cambridge University Press.
Davis, K., & Warner, L. (1937). Structural Analysis of Kinship. American Anthropologist, 39, 291-313.
Herzfeld, M. (2007). Global kinship: Anthropology and the politics of knowing. Anthropological Quarterly, 80(2), 313-323.
Palmeri, F. (2008). Conjectural history and the origins of sociology. Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture, 37(1), 1-21.
Radcliffe-Brown, A. R. (1941). The study of kinship systems. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 71(1/2), 1-18.
Wade, P. (2002). Race, nature and culture: an anthropological perspective. Pluto Pr.
