My ex-husband is from West Africa and his family (and maybe his entire ethnic group) follow the same kinship system. What's interesting though, is that my family (black American) does the same thing and always has. My mom's first cousins are considered her sisters/brothers and my aunts/uncles. And one of my cousin's kids call me Aunt Rosalind. Even close family friends get in on it.. I have a childhood friend that won't refer to me as anything other than her cousin. WE ALL understand the connections, but I know we confuse the mess out of other folks when we try explain it, LOL.
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Originally Posted by epchick
Yes they are first cousins. I do believe it makes sense now. My family has sooo many people in it, it is hard to keep track of it. lol.
I guess i've always been confused with this whole thing because i've always understood the "Mexican" way. Like Rudy and I are cousins, but he's always been "uncle Rudy" to me b/c in Mexico my mom and Rudy would be considered primos-hermanos or cousins-brothers. So that would mean that Rudy (and his siblings) and my mom (and her siblings) are more siblings than cousins because they all are around the same age.
Thanks for clearing it up MC & AGDee
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