ABSTRACT
This paper w i l l examine Hsu's hypotheses (Hsu, 1965) by way of a specific ethnographic case: the Suku of the southwest of the Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa), whom I studied in the field. I shall describe and analyze Suku kinship relations in terms of structure and content (cf. Hsu, 1959). I shall then compare the results of my analysis wi th Hsu's hypo theses about systems of which the Suku should be an instance. Finally, Hsu's formulations w i l l be reexamined in the light of the discrepancies that emerge.
