ABSTRACT
The three related domains of kindred, household, and conjugality have dominated the attention of students of Caribbean kinship. Leeward Village kindreds are large and vaguely defined categories of blood relatives similar in structure to the kin networks reported elsewhere in the region. The importance attributed to Black kindreds-or extended families as they are sometimes called-by these writers suggests that the deterministic role of the Afro-Caribbean household should be questioned. The Leeward Village kindred are a bilateral, egocentric collection of all known or reputed consanguineal relatives of an individual regardless of genealogical distance. Despite the volitional basis of kindred affiliation a perusal of household composition shows that particular patterns of interaction are commonplace. In his analysis of Black Trinidadian family organization Rodman identified several principles of family interaction, each of which is partially applicable to Leeward Village kindred organization. The optative, dyadic, and self-interested bases of kindred organization make it difficult to delineate its typical functions.
