Morgan: Imagining Kinship

Abstract

Lewis Henry Morgan’s kinship schedule drew Fison and Howitt into the study of kinship and provided the central methodological tool for their work. It was revolutionary for the period for the following reasons. First, unlike other questionnaires it was developed in close partnership with the subjects of his study. Second, in order to begin the process the collector was urged to formulate an explicit understanding of his/her own kinship system; therefore, the very act of gathering kinship data was intrinsically reflexive. Third, the completion of a schedule was entirely dependent on the knowledge of the cultural expert, not the collector. Morgan’s method for the gathering of kinship data gave collectors an unprecedented entrée into the lives, systems and the structuring of other societies that revealed both their complexity and coherence. This chapter explores the formulation of Morgan’s schedule through his close engagement with Amerindian people, and the significance of the schedule in determining key elements of the lives of others. It would become the template for Fison and Howitt’s variations trialled throughout the 1870s.