Abstract
Morgan had begun with a conception of the ‘human family’ that had pride of place in the title of his work, Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family. There was ambiguity in this title. It referred on the one hand to the unity and single origin of humankind, taking a position against the popular polygenism of the day. But further than this, it referred to an underlying unity in the systems of kinship terminology of humans. Fison made significant contributions to a theory of kinship based on this unity and universality, drawing evidence from comparison of known systems.
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© 2015 Helen Gardner and Patrick McConvell
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Gardner, H., Mcconvell, P. (2015). The Unity of World Kinship: A Southern Perspective. In: Southern Anthropology — a History of Fison and Howitt’s Kamilaroi and Kurnai. Palgrave Studies in Pacific History. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137463814_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137463814_3
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-57300-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-46381-4
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