skin group
See also: skin-group
English
Alternative forms
- skin-group
Noun
skin group (plural skin groups)
- An Australian Aborigine social division, which is inherited from the mother and which determines who one can marry and how one relates to others.
- 2002, Diane Bell, Daughters of the Dreaming, →ISBN, page 18:
- A person is born into their skin group and thus, in addition to a personal name, shares with other relatives who are similarly classified, a skin name.
- 2004, Claire Smith, Country, Kin and Culture, →ISBN, page 9:
- Until very recently the penalties for marrying someone from another skin group were very harsh, and included death.
- 2006, Chris Wilson, Macmillan Educational Company, Trisha Sertori, Jane Pelusey, Michael Pelusey, Chris Wilson, Huddleston Bruce, & Marilyn Huddleston, Life in Indigenous Australian Communities, →ISBN, page 13:
- Our skin group tells us who we can marry and who we should not talk to.
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Synonyms
- skin name