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Research draft

kinship

vr.tr.kinship · XCT.REL

Let an agent handle kinship as culturally defined relations with legal effects, and avoid assuming one culture terminology or family structure.

Thing Registry Cross-cutting context

Research draft, second pass

A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.

written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify

Researched by: Claude

Purpose and description

Let an agent handle kinship as culturally defined relations with legal effects, and avoid assuming one culture terminology or family structure.

The web of social relationships between people based on descent, marriage, adoption and other culturally recognised ties, and the terms and rules that organise them.

What it is for: Organising family, inheritance, care, marriage rules and belonging.

It can be describe it, with kinship terms and diagrams; establish it legally, for inheritance, custody and immigration; test biological relatedness, which is not the same as kinship; translate kinship terms, which often have no exact equivalents.

Distinguishing features

Social and legal as well as biological

Terminology systems differ across cultures (for example Eskimo, Hawaiian, Sudanese types)

Includes affinal ties by marriage and ties by adoption

Degree of relationship is computed differently in different legal systems

What it looks like

Not visible; represented in family trees, kinship diagrams, civil records and the terms people use for relatives.

How it is recognised

Kinship diagrams and family trees

Terms such as aunt, cousin, biaomei, half-aunt

Civil records of birth, marriage and adoption

Related models

is studied by - kinship is a core anthropological topic

anthropology

has legal effect in - kinship decides rights

inheritance and family law

is confused with - biology and social kinship can diverge

genetic relatedness

is expressed in - kinship terms vary by language

language

In practice

Families and kinds

consanguineal: by descent

affinal: by marriage

adoptive and fictive kinship

by degree: first-, second-, third-degree relatives

Standards and regulation

Civil codes on degrees of kinship and inheritance

Family law on adoption and parentage

Data protection rules on genetic and family data

Failure modes and hazards

Translating kinship terms with false equivalents

Inferring kinship from genetic data without consent

Assuming a nuclear family structure

Also called

cognatethird-degree relativemay be relatedhalf-auntdouble half-auntbiaojiebiaomeihalf-uncledouble half-unclechild of a sibling, aunt or unclehalf-nephewhalf-niecegrandaunt or grandunclefirst cousinsecond-degree relativehalf first cousinmaternal first cousinpaternal first cousinchild of sister of parentdouble cousinparent's siblingdouble half-nephewdouble half-nieceancestor generation starting with parentconsanguinityconsanguine reproductionblood-related incestsonhoodcollateralnominal kinshipsoulmatetype of siblingstype of siblingChinese kinshiprelative kinship between peoplesinverse family relationshipouter kingenetic relationshipPhilippine kinshipHokkien kinship

Where this came from

wikidata · CC0 1.0

Source repository Registry entry point

Also registered as vr.tr.kinship

Drafted structure

Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions.

Relations Who is related to whom and how.

Kinship is a network of typed relations.

Type of tie

Descent, marriage, adoption.

Tie type

The kind of relation.

  1. What kind of tie links these people? definition
  2. Is it recognised socially, legally or both? boundary

Degree

Closeness of relation.

Degree computation

The degree and how it is counted.

  1. What degree of relationship is this, by which counting system? measurement
  2. Does the system matter for the purpose at hand? boundary
Terminology Words for relatives.

Kinship terms encode distinctions that other languages lack.

Terms

The kinship term used.

Term meaning

What the term covers.

  1. Which relatives does this term cover? definition
  2. Which distinctions does it make that English does not? boundary

Translation

Mapping between languages.

Translation choice

How it is translated.

  1. How should this term be translated without losing meaning? action
  2. When should the original term be kept? action
Law Legal consequences.

Kinship decides inheritance, custody and immigration rights.

Rights and duties

Inheritance, care, support.

Legal effects

Rights and duties arising.

  1. Which rights and duties follow from this relationship here? definition
  2. Which law governs it? provenance

Proof

Records and evidence.

Evidence of kinship

Documents that establish it.

  1. What documents establish this relationship? provenance
  2. When is genetic testing used, and with what consent? boundary
Privacy Family data.

Family data reveals information about people who did not consent.

Data handling

Family trees and genetic data.

Data rules

Rules on handling family data.

  1. What rules apply to storing family and genetic data? boundary
  2. Who else is affected by sharing it? boundary

Inference

Deducing relations.

Inference limits

Limits on inferring kinship.

  1. Should an agent infer a family relationship here? boundary
  2. How should such an inference be marked? action

What the second pass must settle

  • Should kinship terms be registered per language?
  • How should legal and social kinship be distinguished in records?
  • What limits apply to agents inferring family relationships?
Draft as JSON