Panare - Kinship

Kin Groups and Descent. There are no terms in Panare for "family" or any other kind of kin grouping, although those who share the same settlement (who are often a bilateral kindred) may sometimes be referred to collectively. Descent is traced bilaterally but only to a very limited extent: if a person's grandparents died while he or she was still a child, it is quite likely that the grandchild will not even know their names. On the other hand, the lateral tracing of kinship relationships is theoretically infinite, and even two Panare who have never met before will usually quickly be able to identify a "real" or classificatory relative in common and thereby establish their own relative status.

Kinship Terminology. This apparently paradoxical circumstance is a particular property of the kinship terminology that in Ego's own and the two adjacent generations largely conforms to the ideal-typical two-line symmetric or Dravidian model, with Iroquois cousin terms and bifurcate-merging avuncular terms. In the generations two above and two below Ego, however, there is a greater elaboration of terms that can be associated with the practice of alternate-generation marriage.