Creoles of Nicaragua - Kinship

Kin Groups and Descent. Women, their children, and their daughters' children are the basic members of Creole kin groups. The independent nuclear family is the ideal, but extended families constructed around mother, daughter, and daughter's children are common. Creoles reckon kinship bilaterally. Descent is recognized only to the depth of three or four generations, although particularly important ancestors (usually European or Amerindian) are remembered. The lateral extension of Creole kinship reckoning is shifted toward the female side and generally extends to second cousins. There are no formal kin groups above the level of the nuclear family; however, Creoles see themselves as members of related but distinct, loosely structured kindreds based on common family names and consanguineal ties.

Kinship Terminology. Kinship terminology is of the Eskimo type, with a strong tendency not to extend consanguineal terms to affines.