Zuni Family Ties and Household-Group Values: A Revisionist Cultural Model of Zuni Social Organization

Abstract

An ethnolinguistically derived cultural model of the meanings and use of Zuni relational terminology provides a revisionist account of Zuni social organization based on the primacy and prototypicality of role structure categories within the Zuni household-group system. This revisionist model clarifies the nature of role positions within the Zuni household group and identifies three fundamental principles of social relations operating within the household group: relative seniority ranking, degree of social proximity, and ceremonial sponsorship. These three cultural principles, rather than genealogical reckoning, govern the ongoing use of relational terminology as indexical of actual social relationships within the family, ceremonial system, and pueblo community at large.