Revision summary
Lineage members can show genealogical links to an ancestor. Clan members share a putative ancestor and often a totem. Lineages nest inside clans in many segmentary systems. Nuer feud and fusion made the distinction famous. Both groups are commonly exogamous.
Model answer
Introduction
Lineage and clan are descent groups. They differ by whether members can trace the actual links to an ancestor.
Body
Lineage
- A lineage is a unilineal group of people who demonstrate descent from a known ancestor.
- Evans-Pritchard’s Nuer minimal and maximal lineages segment in feud and fusion.
- Property, blood compensation, and worship often sit on the lineage.
Clan
- A clan is a unilineal group that only stipulates a common ancestor, often totemic or mythical.
- Several lineages nest inside a clan, as among many Indian Scheduled Tribes and Scottish usage in textbooks.
- Fortes on Tallensi and Middleton and Tait on segmentary systems used this nesting.
Teaching contrast
- Lineage: demonstrated. Clan: putative. Both may be exogamous.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD D[Unilineal descent] --> L[Lineage demonstrated] D --> C[Clan stipulated] L --> N[Nuer segments] C --> T[Totem ancestor]
Conclusion
A lineage proves the pedigree. A clan claims a distant ancestor. Nuer segmentation is the type case for how the two nest in politics.
Quick related
Students also ask
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Totemism
Next question in the 2016 paper (Q1). View answer →
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Is a gotra a clan?
In teaching, north Indian gotra behaves like an exogamous putative descent category, akin to clan.
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Can a clan exist without lineages?
Yes, if people only keep the wide name and forget inner pedigrees.
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