Wik Mungkan - Kinship

Kin Groupe and Descent. It is necessary to distinguish between actual social groups formed for a specific purpose—such as residence or fighting—and clan membership, even though to some extent the latter provides the benchmark against which the former are conceptualized by the Wik. Residential groups in the bush, for example, may be comprised of members of several clans, including spouses of core clan members, visitors from neighboring estates, and those whose kin ties to the core residence group give them legitimate rights to be there. Clans are patrilineal, exogamous, landholding units, with shallow genealogical connections that are rarely traced beyond the second or third ascending generation. Clan membership itself, however, may vary over time, with schism being a common feature, resulting from conflict and, in the past, possibly environmental and demographic pressures. The web of kin ties, traced bilaterally, is much more important in mundane life, however, than is clan solidarity, which is realized mainly in events such as major conflicts and mortuary rituals.

Kinship Terminology. Essentially, terminology is of a simple Dravidian type, with grandparents divided into Parallel and cross varieties.