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A Note on Regional Variation in Navajo Kinship Terminology†

  1. Stanley A. Freed1,
  2. Ruth S. Freed2

Article first published online: 28 OCT 2009

DOI: 10.1525/aa.1970.72.6.02a00190

Issue

American Anthropologist

American Anthropologist

Volume 72, Issue 6, pages 1439–1444, December 1970

Additional Information

How to Cite

Freed, S. A. and Freed, R. S. (1970), A Note on Regional Variation in Navajo Kinship Terminology. American Anthropologist, 72: 1439–1444. doi: 10.1525/aa.1970.72.6.02a00190

Author Information

  1. 1

    American Museum of Natural History

  2. 2

    New York University

  • †

    Research on the Navajo Indian Reservation was supported by the Frederick G. Voss Anthropology and Archaeology Fund of the Department of Anthropology, The American Museum of Natural History; by the Undergraduate Ruearch Participation Program, National Science Foundation (grant number GY-4415); and by the Urban Corps. Mrs. Diana Rochman, supported by the Hunter College work-study program financed jointly by Hunter College of the City University of New York and the American Museum of Natural History, assisted us in analyzing the data. The students who assisted us on the Navajo Reservation were Miss Nancy Bonvillain (Columbia University), Miss Mary Ann Castle (Herbert H. Lehman College, City University of New York), Miss Helen Fisher (New York University), Miss Judith Kopecky (Barnard College), and Miss Laura Lein (Swarthmore College). We thank these students and organizations for their assistance.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 28 OCT 2009
  2. Article first published online: 28 OCT 2009
  3. Accepted for publication 17 February 1970.

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Keywords:

  • Navajo;
  • kinship;
  • ethnology, Southwest;
  • terminological change

Analysis of genealogies collected from ninety-four Navajo respondents living in two widely separated areas of their reservation revealed significant regional variation in kinship terminology. Considerable individual variability in the terminologies from one of these regions suggests that the kinship terminology in this region may be changing. The reasons for this possible change are unclear, but we note that the kinship terminology in this region resembles that of the nearby Hopi.

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