As we saw previously, the Katukina divide into six clans: Varinawa, Kamanawa, Nainawa, Waninawa, Satanawa and Numanawa. These clans are organized on the basis of a principle of unifiliation. However, the Katukina are in disagreement here: while some assert matrilinearity, others assert patrilinearity.

There is a lively debate among the Katukina as to which principle of unifiliation is ‘correct.’ On one side, supporters of matrilinearity say they are more faithful to the past. On the other side, practitioners of patrilinearity openly recognize that there has been an inversion in the rule of filiation in recent years.

Dominating this discussion is the idea that a ‘correct’ or ‘pure’ principle exists that expresses the traditional order. Those who assert filiation along the maternal line look to the past for the model of this order and cite irrefutable genealogies to exemplify what they hold to be the ideal. However, those who nowadays contest this saying the Katukina are patrilineal also do so by seeking the same sense of ‘purity’ and tradition. But with an important detail: their chosen model is Cashinahua. Some Katukina say that about fifteen years ago, they discovered that the Cashinahua are patrilineal. As it had already been some time since anyone knew for sure how the ‘ancient ones’ lived, some of these Katukina decided to adopt patrilinearity following the Cashinahua pattern. The premise behind this borrowing is clear: if there is no consistent and unquestionable native ‘rule,’ it may be found elsewhere.

The issue of determining what in the end is the true principle of affiliation of the Katukina groupings remains open. The debate among them generates positions as disparate as they are interesting, since their common aspect is the claim that they lost something in contact with the Whites. Something that can only be regained by a return to their past selves, as defenders of matrilineal filiation wish, or by seeking the model that supposedly existed among the Katukina among other Pano peoples, as those who defend patrilineal filiation claim.

Although an overall lack of definition to the rule of filiation predominates, it is possible to define the internal groupings making up Katukina society as clans, since there is an underlying idea among the Katukina which may be called ‘supposed’ or ‘presumed’ ancestrality: in other words, the contemporary Varinawa are taken to be descendants of the ancient Varinawa, the Kamanawa of the ancient Kamanawa and so on.

It may be more useful to think of a ‘clanification process’ to the Katukina self-designations. As we saw, when the Katukina became aware of Cashinahua patrilinearity, a certain sense of loss of traditional organization had already taken place (normally blamed on the influence of Western values). By resorting to either of these forms of tracing filiation (maternal or paternal), the Katukina simply reinforce the idea of ‘ancestrality,’ but without directly combining it with other levels of social organization (as occurs with the Marúbo, for example).