The "Crow-Omaha problem" has perplexed anthropologists since it was first described by Lewis Henry Morgan in 1871. During his worldwide survey of kinship systems, Morgan learned with astonishment that some Native American societies call some relatives of different generations by the same terms. Why? Intergenerational "skewing" in what came to be named "Crow" and "Omaha" systems has provoked a wealth of anthropological arguments, from Rivers to Radcliffe-Brown, from Lowie to Levi-Strauss, and many more. Crow-Omaha systems, it turns out, are both uncommon and yet found distributed around the...
The "Crow-Omaha problem" has perplexed anthropologists since it was first described by Lewis Henry Morgan in 1871. During his worldwide survey of kins...