Cognatic kinship

Cognatic kinship is how we decide who is related to us in our family. When we talk about cognatic kinship, we mean that someone is related to us through both our mom's and dad's side of the family.

Let's say you have a grandma on your mom's side of the family, and a grandpa on your dad's side of the family. You are related to both of these people through cognatic kinship.

Imagine that your grandma had a brother, who is your great-uncle. You are also related to him through cognatic kinship, because he is related to you through your mom's side of the family.

So basically, when we talk about cognatic kinship, we are talking about how someone is related to us through both our mom's and dad's side of the family. It's important because it helps us understand all the people we are related to in our big family tree!