Clan
Şablon:For Şablon:Anthropology of kinship
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship<ref name=EB1911>Şablon:Cite EB1911</ref> and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolic, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a symbol of the clan's unity. When this "ancestor" is non-human, it is referred to as a totem, which is frequently an animal. The word clan is derived from the Gaelic clann<ref name=EB1911/> meaning children or progeny but not family in the Irish<ref name="Focloir_Dineen">Şablon:Cite book</ref><ref name="Focloir_De Bhaldraithe">Şablon:Cite book</ref> and the Scottish Gaelic languages. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word was introduced into English in around 1425, as a label for the nature of the society of the Scottish Highlands ll.<ref>"Clan", Online Etymology Dictionary</ref> Clans in indigenous societies tend to be exogamous, meaning that their members cannot marry one another. Clans preceded more centralized forms of community organization and government and are in every country. Members may identify with a coat of arms or other symbol to show they are an independent clan.
Clans as political units
In different cultures and situations, a clan does not usually mean the same thing as other kin-based groups, such as tribes, and bands. Often, the distinguishing factor is that a clan is a smaller part of a larger society such as a chiefdom, or a state. In some societies, clans may have an official leader such as a chieftain, matriarch,<ref>Şablon:Cite web</ref> or patriarch; in others, leadership positions may have to be achieved, or people may say that "elders" make decisions.
Examples include Irish, Scottish, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Jat and the Nair (Malayala Kshatriya) clans, which exist as kin groups within their respective nations. Note, however, that tribes and bands can also be components of larger societies. However, the early Norse clans, the ætter, are often translated as house or line. The Biblical 'tribes' of Israel were composed of many clans.<ref>See, for example, 1 Chronicles 4 and Numbers 26 in the Old Testament.</ref> Arab clans are sub-tribal groups within Arab society. Ojibwa bands are smaller parts of the Ojibwa tribe or people in North America, as one example of the many Native American peoples distinguished by language and culture, most having clans and bands as the basic kinship organizations. In some cases more than one tribe recognized each other's clans; for instance, both the Chickasaw and Choctaw tribes had fox and bear clans whose membership could supersede the tribe.Şablon:Citation needed
Apart from these different historical traditions of kinship, conceptual confusion arises from colloquial usages of the term. In post-Soviet countries, for example, it is quite common to speak of "clans" in reference to informal networks within the economic and political sphere. This usage reflects the assumption that their members act towards each other in a particularly close and mutually supportive way approximating the solidarity among kinsmen. Polish clans differ from most others as they are a collection of families who bear the same coat of arms, as opposed to claiming a common descent (see Polish heraldry). There are multiple closely related clans in the Indian sub-continent, especially south India.
Clans by continent and/or region
The Irish Gaelic term for clan or Şablon:Clarify span is fine Şablon:IPA-gd; líon tí is a term for "family" in the sense of "household"; and muintir is a term for "family" in the sense of "kinsfolk".<ref name="Focloir_De Bhaldraithe"/>
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