Kinship Practices

Kinship practices – including daily activities based on respect for kinsfolk and elders, and traditional rules and prohibitions – not only unite groups of people also underpin the economic, social, and political organization of Kalmyk society. Traditionally, Kalmyk groups consisted of exogamous clans (torl), which were further divided into khotn units. Arranged as nomadic encampments, these khotn units were usually comprised of households led by brothers or related men from the same patrilineage. Daily life in these units, as in Kalmyk society at large, was regulated by various kinship practices, the videos of which are hosted in the three different video collections on this page.