Menominee - Kinship

Kin Groups and Descent. In aboriginal and early contact times the Menominee were organized into two moieties subdivided into totemic descent groups or clans. This system began to disintegrate in the 1700s under the impact of European contact and the nomadic way of life required by involvement in the fur trade. Totemic descent groups were patrilineal.

Kinship Terminology. Kinship terminology is of the Omaha type. One of the main features of Menominee family relationships was a classificatory system of terminology that was still in use in the 1960s.