Parallel and Cross Cousins

Parallel And Cross Cousins

In discussing consanguineal kinship in anthropology, a parallel cousin (or ortho-cousin) is a cousin from a parent's same sex sibling, while a cross cousin is from a parent's opposite-sexed sibling. So a parallel cousin is the child of the father's brother (paternal uncle's child) or the mother's sister (maternal aunt's child), while a cross cousin is the child of the mother's brother (maternal uncle's child) or of the father's sister (paternal aunt's child). Where there are unilineal descent groups in a society (i.e. matrilineal and/or patrilineal), one's parallel cousins on one or both sides will belong to one's own descent group, while cross cousins will not (assuming descent group exogamy).

Read more about Parallel And Cross Cousins:  Role, Kinship Terminologies, Taboos, See Also

Famous quotes containing the words parallel and, parallel and/or cross:

    As I look at the human story I see two stories. They run parallel and never meet. One is of people who live, as they can or must, the events that arrive; the other is of people who live, as they intend, the events they create.
    Margaret Anderson (1886–1973)

    The beginnings of altruism can be seen in children as early as the age of two. How then can we be so concerned that they count by the age of three, read by four, and walk with their hands across the overhead parallel bars by five, and not be concerned that they act with kindness to others?
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    As I was going by Charing Cross,
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