I’ve been invited to speak with anthropologists studying matrilineality to investigate the wider social nature of a link between matrilineality and social authority. So watch this space.
September 7, 2026 at 8:58 AM
I’ve been invited to speak with anthropologists studying matrilineality to investigate the wider social nature of a link between matrilineality and social authority. So watch this space.
All these years and years of stories organised structurally around patrilineality (e.g. Kirk’s grief over David when Carol is right there) and we get a story structured around matrilineality. Blows my mind.
Rewatching 300th Night and oh their adopted mammas snd dadda go after them my poor old heart 😭
#StarfleetAcademy
#StarfleetAcademy
April 18, 2026 at 7:10 AM
All these years and years of stories organised structurally around patrilineality (e.g. Kirk’s grief over David when Carol is right there) and we get a story structured around matrilineality. Blows my mind.
Matrilineality is a rabbinic invention to appropriate Jesus; before that, not having a human father he didn't count as Jewish
Genius theologian
Genius theologian
July 1, 2026 at 7:54 AM
Matrilineality is a rabbinic invention to appropriate Jesus; before that, not having a human father he didn't count as Jewish
Genius theologian
Genius theologian
Finally got round to honouring our Scottish roots. Funnily enough, thinking about matrilineality, this northern family knows our maternal line right back to the 1660s.
January 28, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Finally got round to honouring our Scottish roots. Funnily enough, thinking about matrilineality, this northern family knows our maternal line right back to the 1660s.
All I want for the holidays is for Microsoft Word to recognize matrilineality as a word and to stop trying to change it to patrilineality
December 8, 2025 at 8:52 PM
All I want for the holidays is for Microsoft Word to recognize matrilineality as a word and to stop trying to change it to patrilineality
Even a non-Jew could be a patrilineal descendant of David due to matrilineality. But nope, God is his dad. 😆
June 24, 2026 at 6:35 PM
Even a non-Jew could be a patrilineal descendant of David due to matrilineality. But nope, God is his dad. 😆
Other early medieval Scottish things people have claimed existed that I simply do not believe: Pictish matrilineality
February 5, 2026 at 11:28 AM
Other early medieval Scottish things people have claimed existed that I simply do not believe: Pictish matrilineality
Parabiosis, matrilineality, Aylesford Priory, and the category page for 20th-century British LGBTQ people
Fuck the other stuff, tell me what Wikipedia tabs you got open right now
January 3, 2026 at 4:09 AM
Parabiosis, matrilineality, Aylesford Priory, and the category page for 20th-century British LGBTQ people
I suspect that we can learn a lot more about the limits of matrilineality from the rabbinic treatment of Jewish messianic movements throughout history than from halakhic works.
June 15, 2026 at 8:45 PM
I suspect that we can learn a lot more about the limits of matrilineality from the rabbinic treatment of Jewish messianic movements throughout history than from halakhic works.
my angry post about jpeople questioning jewishness vis a vis matrilineality did not get a fraction of this annoying bullshit lol
July 15, 2026 at 10:27 AM
my angry post about jpeople questioning jewishness vis a vis matrilineality did not get a fraction of this annoying bullshit lol
plus, it’s a sort of latent focus on jewishness derived from traditional matrilineality but even then, you can still intermarry and raise jewish kids. in that context, the threat to institutions and tradition and assimilation isn’t really a thing.
December 26, 2024 at 10:58 PM
plus, it’s a sort of latent focus on jewishness derived from traditional matrilineality but even then, you can still intermarry and raise jewish kids. in that context, the threat to institutions and tradition and assimilation isn’t really a thing.
"house head/extended family head" also works as a general term but it doesn't catch the contextual matrilineality of Minangkabau culture
May 2, 2026 at 4:09 PM
"house head/extended family head" also works as a general term but it doesn't catch the contextual matrilineality of Minangkabau culture
And while, at the time, Jewishness wasn’t officially matrilineal, so in theory, the patriarchs could have just take different wives, there’s a sort of covert matrilineality starting with Abraham.
It’s not *his* children that are Jews—it’s specifically Sarah’s.
It’s not *his* children that are Jews—it’s specifically Sarah’s.
June 6, 2025 at 6:56 PM
And while, at the time, Jewishness wasn’t officially matrilineal, so in theory, the patriarchs could have just take different wives, there’s a sort of covert matrilineality starting with Abraham.
It’s not *his* children that are Jews—it’s specifically Sarah’s.
It’s not *his* children that are Jews—it’s specifically Sarah’s.
You may notice this polyandry is happening in a culture that is patrilineal (descent and inheritance through male line) and also rather patriarchal.
Neither matrilineality (as demonstrated by the orcs) nor polyandry (as demonstrated here) imply "matriarchy", a mistake laypeople often make.
Neither matrilineality (as demonstrated by the orcs) nor polyandry (as demonstrated here) imply "matriarchy", a mistake laypeople often make.
April 15, 2026 at 4:41 PM
You may notice this polyandry is happening in a culture that is patrilineal (descent and inheritance through male line) and also rather patriarchal.
Neither matrilineality (as demonstrated by the orcs) nor polyandry (as demonstrated here) imply "matriarchy", a mistake laypeople often make.
Neither matrilineality (as demonstrated by the orcs) nor polyandry (as demonstrated here) imply "matriarchy", a mistake laypeople often make.
A separate but equally important point: we *still* need to get rid of the unilineal evolutionary narratives! You can’t rope in later people on the other end of Europe in order to recreate a narrative that patrilineslity replaced matrilineality as some kind of universal process. 16/
June 27, 2025 at 5:42 PM
A separate but equally important point: we *still* need to get rid of the unilineal evolutionary narratives! You can’t rope in later people on the other end of Europe in order to recreate a narrative that patrilineslity replaced matrilineality as some kind of universal process. 16/
No, Hank, it sure doesn't because this is more of you opening your ignorant mouth!
Blood quanta is how the NAZIS define Jews.
WE define Jews by matrilineality Nobody is "partially" Jewish.
Blood quanta is how the NAZIS define Jews.
WE define Jews by matrilineality Nobody is "partially" Jewish.
February 23, 2026 at 9:18 PM
No, Hank, it sure doesn't because this is more of you opening your ignorant mouth!
Blood quanta is how the NAZIS define Jews.
WE define Jews by matrilineality Nobody is "partially" Jewish.
Blood quanta is how the NAZIS define Jews.
WE define Jews by matrilineality Nobody is "partially" Jewish.
Those who read my ‘not surprised’ piece last week on Iron Age matrilineality may be amused to hear that I ordered my own copy of Ferguson McLellan’s (1885) “The Patriarchal Theory’ and said book was delivered yesterday, unbeknownst to me, and got very horribly water damaged. ⚡️
January 28, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Those who read my ‘not surprised’ piece last week on Iron Age matrilineality may be amused to hear that I ordered my own copy of Ferguson McLellan’s (1885) “The Patriarchal Theory’ and said book was delivered yesterday, unbeknownst to me, and got very horribly water damaged. ⚡️
Busy year here. I helped this lovely lot below on the nature of Neolithic society in Ireland.
I wrote on the archaeology of matrilineality for the Iron Age.
And sorted out palisaded enclosures as a type, building a model of Late Bronze Age transhumant pastoralism with Lorrae Campbell.
I wrote on the archaeology of matrilineality for the Iron Age.
And sorted out palisaded enclosures as a type, building a model of Late Bronze Age transhumant pastoralism with Lorrae Campbell.
Academics: what's the best bit of knowledge you created this year?
I co-authored a new model of the Irish Neolithic, effectively rewriting social structure and the role of large funerary monuments for the creation of community identities
I co-authored a new model of the Irish Neolithic, effectively rewriting social structure and the role of large funerary monuments for the creation of community identities
What historians (and other scholars do) is create knowledge. We should use that phrase more and talk about what it means. I think we don't, and it's part of why AI enthusiasts are confused when we don't readily agree that our work can be replicated/replaced by their products.
December 22, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Busy year here. I helped this lovely lot below on the nature of Neolithic society in Ireland.
I wrote on the archaeology of matrilineality for the Iron Age.
And sorted out palisaded enclosures as a type, building a model of Late Bronze Age transhumant pastoralism with Lorrae Campbell.
I wrote on the archaeology of matrilineality for the Iron Age.
And sorted out palisaded enclosures as a type, building a model of Late Bronze Age transhumant pastoralism with Lorrae Campbell.
Archaeology’s currently solving how human societies form, how they shift geographically, and morph over time. How cultures interact, where it goes wrong. How genetic inheritance plays out, and how identity is constructed and changes. We’re demonstrating matrilineality in prehistory!
July 9, 2026 at 10:25 AM
Archaeology’s currently solving how human societies form, how they shift geographically, and morph over time. How cultures interact, where it goes wrong. How genetic inheritance plays out, and how identity is constructed and changes. We’re demonstrating matrilineality in prehistory!
Mind, the Dwarven communities that practice matrilineality may still be patriarchal, and the residence pattern may be avunculocal (the couple lives with the husband's mother's brother) rather than matrilocal (living with the wife's mother).
May 6, 2026 at 4:19 PM
Mind, the Dwarven communities that practice matrilineality may still be patriarchal, and the residence pattern may be avunculocal (the couple lives with the husband's mother's brother) rather than matrilocal (living with the wife's mother).
Incidentally also while patrilineality is almost ubiquitous among patriarchal states (as I've said before, states have strong interest in controlling reproduction, and that usually means controlling women), among stateless societies, matrilineality and patrilineality are roughly balanced
April 17, 2026 at 3:06 PM
Incidentally also while patrilineality is almost ubiquitous among patriarchal states (as I've said before, states have strong interest in controlling reproduction, and that usually means controlling women), among stateless societies, matrilineality and patrilineality are roughly balanced
"Historical evidence marshalled by Professor Shaye J. D. Cohen indicates that a change from a patrilineal to a matrilineal-based principle for the offspring of mixed unions of Jew and gentile took place in the 1st century (c. 10–70 CE) times."
Matrilineality in Judaism - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
June 13, 2025 at 6:59 PM
"Historical evidence marshalled by Professor Shaye J. D. Cohen indicates that a change from a patrilineal to a matrilineal-based principle for the offspring of mixed unions of Jew and gentile took place in the 1st century (c. 10–70 CE) times."
that’s not how matrilineality works
February 1, 2026 at 5:09 PM
that’s not how matrilineality works
ARTICLE: Lashunta Family, Ancestry, & Matrilineality
www.worldanvil.com/w/castrovel-...
#pathfinder #pathfinder2e #starfinder #lashunta #castrovel #rpg #ttrpg #worldbuilding #worldanvil
www.worldanvil.com/w/castrovel-...
#pathfinder #pathfinder2e #starfinder #lashunta #castrovel #rpg #ttrpg #worldbuilding #worldanvil
Lashunta Family, Ancestry, & Matrilineality
www.worldanvil.com
September 5, 2026 at 11:55 PM
ARTICLE: Lashunta Family, Ancestry, & Matrilineality
www.worldanvil.com/w/castrovel-...
#pathfinder #pathfinder2e #starfinder #lashunta #castrovel #rpg #ttrpg #worldbuilding #worldanvil
www.worldanvil.com/w/castrovel-...
#pathfinder #pathfinder2e #starfinder #lashunta #castrovel #rpg #ttrpg #worldbuilding #worldanvil
Okay, I need someone to ask their rabbi, if a character is Jewish, are their clones also Jewish, or does not technically having a mother break the matrilineality of it, or something to that effect?
June 19, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Okay, I need someone to ask their rabbi, if a character is Jewish, are their clones also Jewish, or does not technically having a mother break the matrilineality of it, or something to that effect?