Representing Anthropological Knowledge: Calculating Kinship
Michael D. Fischer
Analyzing and Understanding Cultural Codes

Kinship
Contents

Kinship&Genealogy
Kinship Introduction
Learning Kinship with
the Kinship Editor
Use the Kinship Editor
Kinship Editor Results
Sample Output

Kinship Contents

Kinship Contents

Kinship Contents

Kinship Contents

Kinship Contents

Kinship Contents

Kinship Contents

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Kinship Contents

 Sample Output from Kinship Editor

Following is the information generated by the first sample session of the Kinship Editor applet. This file is in a form defined by the XML (eXtended Markup Language) standard for defining document formats and content. XML is useful because we can define the particular way we represent the data so long as it fits the specific broad parameters of XML. Given the kinds of complex documents that anthropologists work with, which are variable in structure and must be able to incorporate idiosyncratic information.

Because the document is structured, it is easy to translate it into more specific forms, such as the two examples in Passive Media: Text and Active Media: Prolog. The latter was used to produce the examples we look at in the second section on analysis. The former demonstrates that although the following representation may look rather arcane, all of the information entered can be produced in a more 'human-friendly' format.

Note that normally you would not deal directly with the XML, which is intended for easy machine access and transformation, as the following examples demonstrate.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE kindata>
<!-- Store Kinship data for mdf -->

<kindata>
<people>
<person>
<name>John</name><id>1</id><sex>male</sex>
<stats><born>1910</born><died>1998</died></stats>
<location><x>174</x><y>84</y></location>
<comment>None</comment>
</person>

<person>
<name>George</name><id>2</id><sex>male</sex>
<stats><born>1926</born><died>na</died></stats>
<location><x>451</x><y>180</y></location>
<comment>None</comment>
</person>

<person>
<name>Mike</name><id>3</id><sex>male</sex>
<stats><born>1951</born><died>na</died></stats>
<location><x>420</x><y>248</y></location>
<comment>None</comment>
</person>

<person>
<name>Earl</name><id>4</id><sex>male</sex>
<stats><born>1900</born><died>1992</died></stats>
<location><x>380</x><y>84</y></location>
<comment>None</comment>
</person>

<person>
<name>Noddie</name><id>5</id><sex>female</sex>
<stats><born>1900</born><died>1996</died></stats>
<location><x>254</x><y>83</y></location>
<comment>None</comment>
</person>

<person>
<name>Jean</name><id>6</id><sex>female</sex>
<stats><born>1931</born><died>na</died></stats>
<location><x>548</x><y>181</y></location>
<comment>None</comment>
</person>

<person>
<name>Jimmi</name><id>7</id><sex>female</sex>
<stats><born>1952</born><died>na</died></stats>
<location><x>538</x><y>242</y></location>
<comment>None</comment>
</person>

<person>
<name>Nancy</name><id>8</id><sex>female</sex>
<stats><born>1957</born><died>na</died></stats>
<location><x>638</x><y>240</y></location>
<comment>None</comment>
</person>

<person>
<name>Jim</name><id>9</id><sex>male</sex>
<stats><born>1928</born><died>na</died></stats>
<location><x>141</x><y>181</y></location>
<comment>None</comment>
</person>

<person>
<name>Elizibeth</name><id>10</id><sex>female</sex>
<stats><born>1929</born><died>na</died></stats>
<location><x>36</x><y>180</y></location>
<comment>None</comment>
</person>

<person>
<name>Vikki</name><id>11</id><sex>female</sex>
<stats><born>1958</born><died>na</died></stats>
<location><x>139</x><y>246</y></location>
<comment>None</comment>
</person>

<person>
<name>Richard</name><id>12</id><sex>male</sex>
<stats><born>1960</born><died>na</died></stats>
<location><x>16</x><y>246</y></location>
<comment>None</comment>
</person>

<person>
<name>Wenonah</name><id>13</id><sex>female</sex>
<stats><born>1942</born><died>na</died></stats>
<location><x>345</x><y>247</y></location>
<comment>None</comment>
</person>

<person>
<name>Stephen</name><id>14</id><sex>male</sex>
<stats><born>1966</born><died>na</died></stats>
<location><x>432</x><y>291</y></location>
<comment>None</comment>
</person>

<person>
<name>Demeter</name><id>15</id><sex>female</sex>
<stats><born>1964</born><died>na</died></stats>
<location><x>269</x><y>291</y></location>
<comment>None</comment>
</person>

<person>
<name>Paul</name><id>16</id><sex>male</sex>
<stats><born>1957</born><died>na</died></stats>
<location><x>207</x><y>246</y></location>
<comment>None</comment>
</person>

<person>
<name>Albert</name><id>17</id><sex>male</sex>
<stats><born>1962</born><died>na</died></stats>
<location><x>172</x><y>291</y></location>
<comment>None</comment>
</person>

<person>
<name>Carl</name><id>18</id><sex>male</sex>
<stats><born>1999</born><died>na</died></stats>
<location><x>213</x><y>330</y></location>
<comment>None</comment>
</person>

<person>
<name>Effie</name><id>19</id><sex>female</sex>
<stats><born>1900</born><died>1996</died></stats>
<location><x>566</x><y>81</y></location>
<comment>None</comment>
</person>

<person>
<name>Bill</name><id>20</id><sex>male</sex>
<stats><born>1901</born><died>1957</died></stats>
<location><x>624</x><y>85</y></location>
<comment>None</comment>
</person>

<person>
<name>Jo</name><id>21</id><sex>female</sex>
<stats><born>1937</born><died>na</died></stats>
<location><x>589</x><y>185</y></location>
<comment>None</comment>
</person>

<person>
<name>Wayne</name><id>22</id><sex>male</sex>
<stats><born>1929</born><died>na</died></stats>
<location><x>627</x><y>183</y></location>
<comment>None</comment>
</person>

<person>
<name>Arthur</name><id>23</id><sex>male</sex>
<stats><born>1930</born><died>na</died></stats>
<location><x>670</x><y>183</y></location>
<comment>None</comment>
</person>

<person>
<name>Sonia</name><id>24</id><sex>female</sex>
<stats><born>1968</born><died>na</died></stats>
<location><x>492</x><y>293</y></location>
<comment>None</comment>
</person>

<person>
<name>Ron</name><id>25</id><sex>male</sex>
<stats><born>1956</born><died>na</died></stats>
<location><x>591</x><y>241</y></location>
<comment>None</comment>
</person>

<person>
<name>Marie</name><id>26</id><sex>female</sex>
<stats><born>1992</born><died>na</died></stats>
<location><x>564</x><y>284</y></location>
<comment>None</comment>
</person>

</people>

<unions>
<union>
<id>1</id><location><x>313</x><y>80</y></location>
<stats><begin>1922</begin><end>1931</end><reason>na</reason></stats>
<partners>
<partner>5</partner>
<partner>4</partner>
</partners>
<siblings>
<sibling>2</sibling>
<sibling>9</sibling>
</siblings>
<comment>No Comment</comment>
</union>
<union>
<id>2</id><location><x>214</x><y>81</y></location>
<stats><begin>1948</begin><end>1996</end><reason>na</reason></stats>
<partners>
<partner>1</partner>
<partner>5</partner>
</partners>
<comment>No Comment</comment>
</union>
<union>
<id>3</id><location><x>503</x><y>177</y></location>
<stats><begin>1951</begin><end>na</end><reason>na</reason></stats>
<partners>
<partner>2</partner>
<partner>6</partner>
</partners>
<siblings>
<sibling>3</sibling>
<sibling>7</sibling>
<sibling>8</sibling>
</siblings>
<comment>No Comment</comment>
</union>
<union>
<id>4</id><location><x>84</x><y>178</y></location>
<stats><begin>1954</begin><end>na</end><reason>na</reason></stats>
<partners>
<partner>9</partner>
<partner>10</partner>
</partners>
<siblings>
<sibling>11</sibling>
<sibling>12</sibling>
</siblings>
<comment>No Comment</comment>
</union>
<union>
<id>5</id><location><x>382</x><y>241</y></location>
<stats><begin>1981</begin><end>na</end><reason>na</reason></stats>
<partners>
<partner>13</partner>
<partner>3</partner>
</partners>
<siblings>
<sibling>14</sibling>
<sibling>15</sibling>
</siblings>
<comment>No Comment</comment>
</union>
<union>
<id>6</id><location><x>172</x><y>243</y></location>
<stats><begin>1980</begin><end>na</end><reason>na</reason></stats>
<partners>
<partner>11</partner>
<partner>16</partner>
</partners>
<siblings>
<sibling>17</sibling>
</siblings>
<comment>No Comment</comment>
</union>
<union>
<id>7</id><location><x>214</x><y>283</y></location>
<stats><begin>1998</begin><end>na</end><reason>na</reason></stats>
<partners>
<partner>17</partner>
<partner>15</partner>
</partners>
<siblings>
<sibling>18</sibling>
</siblings>
<comment>No Comment</comment>
</union>
<union>
<id>8</id><location><x>595</x><y>82</y></location>
<stats><begin>1926</begin><end>1957</end><reason>na</reason></stats>
<partners>
<partner>20</partner>
<partner>19</partner>
</partners>
<siblings>
<sibling>6</sibling>
<sibling>21</sibling>
<sibling>22</sibling>
<sibling>23</sibling>
</siblings>
<comment>No Comment</comment>
</union>
<union>
<id>9</id><location><x>461</x><y>290</y></location>
<stats><begin>1992</begin><end>na</end><reason>na</reason></stats>
<partners>
<partner>24</partner>
<partner>14</partner>
</partners>
<comment>No Comment</comment>
</union>
<union>
<id>10</id><location><x>564</x><y>238</y></location>
<stats><begin>1992</begin><end>1999</end><reason>na</reason></stats>
<partners>
<partner>7</partner>
<partner>25</partner>
</partners>
<siblings>
<sibling>26</sibling>
</siblings>
<comment>No Comment</comment>
</union>
</unions>

<parameters>
<origin><x>0</x><y>-70</y></origin>
<ego>0</ego>
<marriage>10</marriage>
<label>4</label>
<beginyear>1900</beginyear>
<endyear>1999</endyear>
<editable>true</editable>
<egofixed>false</egofixed>
</parameters>
</kindata>

Next section: Passive Media: Text