skin group

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See also: skin-group

English

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Alternative forms

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Noun

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skin group (plural skin groups)

  1. 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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