Kinship

     The Yanomami kinship is base in the Iroquois system of kinship terminology. This system distinguishes between gender, generation and between parental siblings of opposite sexes. Parental siblings of the same sex are considered blood relatives; however, parental siblings of different sexes are labeled "aunt" or "uncle." For example, one's mother's sister is also called a mother and one's mother's brother is called a father-in-law. By tracing the family kinship through the males further reinforces how the Yanomami consider males more important that women. Leadership positions determine the relationships among other villages and are a large result of marriage patterns.
     Children stay close to their mothers as they are young. This makes sense since almost all of the child rearing is done by the women. The families of the Yanomami consist of large patrifocal (father focused) units based on one man, and numerous smaller matrifocal (mother focused) subfamilies. These subunits consist of each wife and her children.

Familypedia: Iroquois kinship. Electronic document, http://familypedia.wikia.com/wiki/Iroquois_kinship, accessed 12 March 2013. 

Yanomami: Indians of Brazil. Electronic document, http://www.crystalinks.com/yanomami.html, accessed 12 March 2013.

Home to the Yanomami. Electronic document, http://www1.broward.edu/~hsorkin/Lib-Arts/Projects/Fall2002/Hottinger/culture.html, accessed 12 March 2013.