Levi-Strauss - Fuller

Levi-Strauss points out the dynamic nature of household inheritance and lineage in the Kwakiutl society. Inheritance in terms of family names and titles operate very differently in this reading, and we see that there are rules in place for a matrilineal system of family name and marriage; however, this system still heavily relies on the patrilineal system for the passing on of certain rights. I also found it very interesting the spiritual lineages, origin, and etc., were a basis for passing on of lines (174), taking a far broader view of the idea of family in terms of history than we have really observed before.

These intricacies of the rules of Kwakiutl family lineages (Boas himself had a difficult time defining the system with English words, finally resorting to a Kwakiutl word) depict the natural complexities of the family and household, in terms of definitions. From community to community around the Kwakiutl, the structures of household differed; likewise, in the States today, with the huge melting pot of cultures, household to household varies in their familial structure depending on their history, cultural background, and so forth.