Matrilineal / Matricultural

The term "matrilineal society" refers (at its most basic level) to societies in which people are identified by, the lineage/clan of their mother ... up until now.

Ethnographic studies tend to see, with rare exceptions, such matrilineal societies as being little more than a component within kinship studies.  These societies have rarely been the subject of in-depth studies within recent years.  In some cases, the fact that certain societies are matrilineal is not even mentioned.  Some matrilineal societies have adapted so much to the dominant (often patrilineal) culture that they have even forgotten they were ever matrilineal.

Some matrilineal societies and the scholars who work with them know there is much more to matrilineality than establishing who is related to whom.  Their matrilineality shapes the way they look at and interpret their world (i.e., worldviews or Weltanschauung), their identity, and how they deal with issues relating modernization and development.

The MATRICULTURAL Network, spearheaded by InterCulture, is working to bring together communities and scholars to examine and better understand the broader implications of matrilineality.

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