Amahuaca - Kinship

Kin Groups and Descent. Several patrilaterally related nuclear families make up a hamlet. In the recent past several such extended families lived near one another as a named localized aggregate, or clan. Kinship is cognatic except for the mainly patrilineal clan affiliation. Formerly, succession to leadership also tended to be patrilineal.

Kinship Terminology. Kin terms for primary and secondary relatives are bifurcate-merging. For more distant relatives usage varies widely; individuals may use the bifurcate-merging, generation, or cross-cousin (so-called Dravidian) pattern of the four-section system found among some other Panoan peoples. Some terms are used reciprocally by kin in alternate generations.