the nature of nurture

The problem of what is to be included in “the nature of kinship” is examined by focusing on kinship and friendship in Truk District, Caroline Islands, Micronesia. A cultural model of “intensive interpersonal relationships” is presented showing how natural kinship, created kinship, and friendship conceptually interlock for Trukese. It is concluded that the essence of kinship as a general cross‐cultural construct is sharing and that cross‐cultural studies of kinship must focus on the variety of symbolic actions that stand for kinship in different cultural settings.