a clan says we descend from the bear, and the bear becomes law, not lunch.
means a belief system linking a social group to a plant, animal, or natural object as an ancestral emblem, kinship marker, and rulebook for who can marry whom.
from from the ojibwe word ododem, meaning kinship group, first exported into anthropology in 1791 by fur trader james long, then blown up into a grand theory by durkheim, frazer, and levi-strauss, who mostly argued about it from armchairs in europe.
ojibwe clan system — crane, bear, and fish clans structure ontario anishinaabe society
australian aboriginal totems — dreamtime ancestors like the rainbow serpent anchor kinship and land law
native american pole carvings — pacific northwest totem poles narrate lineage, not deities
scottish clan crests — eagle and boar emblems echo totemic clan identity in the highlands