List of matrilineal or matrilocal societies information
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The following list includes societies that have been identified as matrilineal or matrilocal in ethnographic literature.
"Matrilineal" means kinship is passed down through the maternal line.[1]
The Akans of Ghana, West Africa, are Matrilineal. Akans are the largest ethnic group in Ghana. They are made of the Akims, Asantes, Fantis, Akuapims, Kwahus, Denkyiras, Brongs, Akwamus, Krachis, etc.
The Serer people of Senegal, Gambia, and Mauritania are bilineal, but matrilineality (tiim, in Serer) is very important in their culture, and is well preserved.[2][3] There are a multitude of Serer maternal clans with their various history and origins.
"Matrilocal" means new families are established in proximity to the brides' extended family of origin, not that of the groom.
Note: separate in the marriage column refers to the practice of husbands and wives living in separate locations, often informally called walking marriages. See the articles for the specific cultures that practice this for further description.
Group name
Continent
Country / Region
Marriage
Lineage
Reference
(c. year)
Akan
Africa
Ghana
Both
Matrilineal
Meyer Fortes[4]
1950
Alor
Asia
Indonesia
Cora du Bois
1944
Nso
Africa
Cameroon
Patrilocal
Only Kom Matrilineal
Phyllis Kaberry
1952
Batek
Asia
Malaysia
Patrilocal
Kirk Michael Endicott
1974
Bijagós
Africa
Guinea-Bissau
Matrilineal
Luigi Scantarburlo
1978
Billava
Asia
India
Patrilocal
Matrilineal
Bontoc
Asia
Philippines
Albert Jenks Albert Bacdayan
1905 1974
Boyowan
Australasia
Trobriand Islands, Papua New Guinea
Patrilocal
Matrilineal
Bronisław Malinowski
1916
Bribri
North America
Costa Rica
Matrilocal
Matrilineal
William More Gabb
1875
Bunt
Asia
India
Patrilocal
Matrilineal
E Kathleen Gough
1954
Cherokee
North America
United States
Matrilocal
Matrilineal
Chickasaw
North America
United States
Matrilineal
Choctaw
North America
United States
Matrilineal
Danes
Europe
Læsø
Matrilocal
Matrilineal[5]
Bjarne Stoklund[6]
1700-1900
Chambri
Australasia
Papua New Guinea
Margaret Mead
1935
Nairs
Asia
India
Both
Matrilineal
Fore
Australasia
Papua New Guinea
Shirley Glasse (Lindenbaum)
1963
Garo
Asia
India, Bangladesh
Matrilocal
Matrilineal
Gitxsan
North America
Canada
Matrilineal
Greek
Europe
various islands
Matrilocal
John Hawkins
to the end of the 18th century AD[7]
Haudenosaunee (Iroquois)
North America
United States, Canada
Matrilocal
Matrilineal
Lewis Henry Morgan
1901
Hopi
North America
United States
Matrilocal
Matrilineal
Barbara Freire-Marreco
1914
Huaorani[citation needed]
South America
Ecuador
John Man[citation needed]
1982[citation needed]
Iban
Asia
Borneo
Both
Neither
Edwin H Gomes
1911
Imazighen
Africa
North Sahara
George Peter Murdock
1959
Jaintia
Asia
India
Matrilocal
Matrilineal
Jívaro
South America
West Amazon
Rafael Karsten
1926
Jews in the Kibbutzim
Israel
[8]
Matrilineal
Judith Buber Agassi[9]
1989
Karen
Asia
Burma
Matrilocal
Matrilineal
Harry Ignatius Marshall[10]
1922
Kerinci
Asia
Indonesia
Matrilocal
Matrilineal
C.W. Watson[11]
1992
Khasi
Asia
India
Matrilocal
Matrilineal
P. R. T. Gurdon[12]
1914
Kuna people
South America
Panama, Colombia
Matrilocal
!Kung San
Africa
Southern Africa
Marjorie Shostak
1976
Lenape (Delaware)
North America
United States of America
Matrilocal
Matrilineal
Marshallese
Oceania
Marshall Islands
Matrilocal
Matrilineal
Maliku
Asia
India
Separate
Matrilineal
Ellen Kattner
1996
Minangkabau
Asia
Indonesia
Separate
Matrilineal
Pieter Johannes Veth
1882
Mohican
North America
United States
Matrilineal
Mosuo/Nakhi
Asia
China
Separate
Matrilineal
Joseph Francis Charles Rock
1924
Nair
Asia
India
Matrilocal
Matrilineal
E Kathleen Gough
1954
Navajo
North America
United States
Matrilocal
Matrilineal
Ngazidja/Grande Comore
Africa
Comoros
Matrilocal
Matrilineal
Paul Guy[13] Martine Gestin, Nicole-Claude Mathieu[14]
1942
Nubians
Africa
Sudan
Ernest Godard
1867
Ovambo
Africa
Namibia
Matrilineal
Maija Hiltunen (Tuupainen)[15]
1970
Seminole
North America
United States
Matrilineal
Serer
subgroups: Saafi, Ndut, Palor, Laalaa, Noon and Niominka.
Africa
Senegal, Gambia and Mauritania
Patrilocal
Both
Henry Gravrand[16]
Charles Becker[17]
1990
1993
Siraya
Austronesia
Taiwan
Duolocal, uxorilocal
Matrilineal
Shepherd & Candidius
1995
Tai people
Asia
Matrilocal
Tlingit
North America
United States, and Canada
Matrilocal
Matrilineal
Aurel Krause
1885
Tiwi
Australasia
Australia
Matrilineal
Tsimshian
North America
United States, and Canada
Matrilocal
Matrilineal
Vanatinai
Australasia
Papua New Guinea
Matrilocal
Matrilineal
Maria Lepowsky
1981
Wemale
Asia
Indonesia
Adolf E Jensen
1939
Basques
Europe
Spain and France
Matrilocal
Matrilineal
Chams
Asia
Vietnam, Cambodia
Matrilocal
Matrilineal
[18]
Rhade (Ê Đê)
Asia
Vietnam, Cambodia
Matrilocal
Matrilineal
[19]
Amis
Asia
Taiwan
Matrilocal
Matrilineal
Han Taiwanese (antiquated, mostly rural)
Asia
Taiwan
Matrilocal
Matrilineal
[20]
Western Apache
North America
United States
Matrilocal
Matrilineal
Akimel Oʼodham (Pima)
North America
United States
Matrilocal
Muscogee
North America
United States
Matrilineal
Tsenacommacah (Powhatan confederacy)
North America
United States
Matrilineal
Wampanoag
North America
United States
Matrilocal
Matrilineal
Nipmuc
North America
United States
Matrilineal
Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico
North America
United States
Matrilineal
Paul Kirchhoff[21]
1954
Keres people
North America
United States
Matrilineal
Paul Kirchhoff[21]
1954
Zuni
North America
United States
Matrilineal
Paul Kirchhoff[21]
1954
^Madaus, Sarah. "6 Matriarchal Societies That Have Been Thriving With Women at the Helm for Centuries". Town and Country. Hearst Digital Media. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
^Becker, Charles: "Vestiges historiques, trémoins matériels du passé clans les pays sereer", Dakar (1993), CNRS - ORS TO M.
^Gastellu, Jean-Marc, "Petit traité de matrilinarité. L'accumulation dans deux sociétés rurales d'Afrique de l'Ouest", Cahiers ORSTOM, série Sciences Humaines 4 (1985) [in] Gastellu, Jean-Marc, "Matrilineages, Economic Groups and Differentiation in West Africa: A Note", O.R.S.T.O.M. Fonds Documentaire (1988), pp 1, 2-4 (pp 272-4), 7 (p 277)
^Val'Dman, A. V.; Kozlovskaia, M. M. (1975). "1950 Ashanti Kinship. In A.R. Radcliffe Brown. African systems of Kinship and Marriage. London: Oxford University Press". Zhurnal Nevropatologii i Psikhiatrii Imeni S.S. Korsakova. 75 (11): 1710–7. PMID 1950.
^only in informal everyday language.
^Gårdene gik i arv på spindesiden. Kvinderne drev landbruget, medens mændene mest tog sig af strandinger og fiskeri og hjalp med pløjning og tærskning. The farms were inherited in the distaff side. The women drive agriculture, while men most took care of shipwrecks and fishing and helped with plowing and threshing.
Stoklund, Bjarne: "Arbejde og kønsroller på Læsø o. 1200-1900" ISBN 87-88683-08-7
"Kvindefællesskaber" (Anna Birte Ravn og Marianne Rostgård). ISBN 87-982062-1-4
^Myers, Peter (November 23, 2001). "Aryan Invasions – Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, Colin Renfew, Marija Gimbutas and Martin Bernal on the Indo-European invasions and the earlier Goddess cultures". Neither Aryan Nor Jew. Retrieved 10 March 2014. Traces of matrilineal practices have been found in recent centuries in peripheral areas of the west and north of Europe, and in the Aegean islands. In a number of islands, including Lesbos, Lemnos, Naxos, and Kos, matrilineal succession to real property was the rule at the end of the 18th century A.D. The facts were reported by an English traveller, John Hawkins, who wrote: "In the large number of the islands, the eldest daughter takes as her inheritance a portion of the family house, together with its furniture, and one third of the share of the maternal property, which in reality in most of these cases constitutes the chief means of subsistence; the other daughters, when they marry off in succession, are likewise entitled to (a portion of) the family house and the same share of whatever property remains. These observations were applicable to the islands of Mytilin (Lesbos), Lemnos, Scopelo, Skyros, Syra, Zea Ipsera, Myconi, Paros, Naxia, Siphno, Santorini and Cos, where I have either collected my information in person or had obtained it through others."
^see Jewish views of marriage
^Agassi, Judith Buber, (1989) "Theories of Gender Equality: Lessons from the Israeli Kibbutz", Gender and Society, 3/2, 160-186.
^Marshall, Harry Ignatius (1922). "The Karen People of Burma: A Study in Anthropology and Ethnology." Ohio State University Bulletin 26(13). ISBN 974-8496-86-4
^C. W. Watson Kinship, Property and Inheritance in Kerinci, Central Sumatra 1992 ISBN 0 904938 19 0
^The Khasis by P. R. T. Gurdon
^Guy, Paul (October–December 1942). "Sur une coutume locale de droit musulman de l'Archipel des Comores". Revue algérienne, tunisienne et marocaine de législation et de jurisprudence (in French). pp. 78–79.
Laurent Sermet. "Loi et coutume en Grande-Comore". Anthropologie en Ligne (in French).
^Gestin, Martine; Mathieu, Nicole-Claude [in French] (2007). Une maison sans fille est une maison morte (in French). Maison des sciences de l'homme.
"Une maison sans fille est une maison morte". France Culture.
^Marriage in a matrilineal African tribe: A social anthropological study of marriage in the Ondonga tribe in Ovamboland.
^(in French) Gravrand, Henry, "La civilisation sereer, vol. II: Pangool", Nouvelles éditions africaines, Dakar (1990), pp 193-4, ISBN 2-7236-1055-1
^(in French) Becker, Charles, "Vestiges historiques, témoins matériels du passé dans les pays sereer", Dakar (1993), CNRS - ORS TO M Excerpt (Retrieved: 23 July 2012)
^Phuong, Tran Ky; Lockhart, Bruce (2011-01-01). The Cham of Vietnam: History, Society and Art. NUS Press. ISBN 978-9971-69-459-3.
^Lebar, Frank M.; Gerald C. Hickey; John K. Musgrave (1964). Ethnic Groups of Mainland Southeast Asia. New Haven, Connecticut: Human Relations Area Files Press. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 64-25414.
^Kleinman, A.; Lin, T. Y. (29 June 2013). Normal and Abnormal Behavior in Chinese Culture. ISBN 9789401749862.
^ abcPaul Kirchhoff, "Gatherers and Farmers in the Greater Southwest: A Problem in Classification", American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 56, No. 4, Southwest Issue (August 1954), pp. 529–550
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