Showing papers in "Ethnos in 1990"
TL;DR: In modern ideology the individual is felt to be the ultimate value as discussed by the authors, and this feature is documented in two longlasting developments which lend progressively to disregard society as a coherent whole.
Abstract: In modern ideology the individual is felt to be the ultimate value. This feature is documented in two of its long‐lasting developments which lend progressively to disregard society as a coherent whole. First the quest for freedom as stated according to the Human Rights perspective opened by the Enlightenment. Second the Middle Ages’ tendency to relegate society to the “mystical body” of Christ and of king. Holistic ideologies, in contrast to modern ideology, are summarized in their general socio‐cosmic structure, which shows society as the ultimate value not separated from nature. Anthropology is built upon this contrast between individualistic ideology and the holistic one.
22 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the author attempts to show the rationale behind the ideology of the Fijian political movement called Taukei, i.e. "owners of the land" and the moral standards represented by vanua give them a sense of identity in a situation of rapid social and political change.
Abstract: In this article the author attempts to show the rationale behind the ideology of the Fijian political movement called Taukei, i.e. “owners of the land”. The fundamentalist current within the Fijian political scene in later years has made powerful use of indigenous concepts related to the land (vanua). In contrast to other ethnic groups in the country Fijians consider themselves to be upholders of indisputable moral principles also embraced by the concept vanua. On the one hand their preoccupation with everything that vanua stands for makes Fijians easy prey to political manipulation. On the other hand, the moral standards represented by vanua give them a sense of identity in a situation of rapid social and political change.
22 citations
TL;DR: This article argued that suffering is an essentially female virtue, reflecting the life experience of women and that the experience of suffering is related to the concepts of virginity, chastity, honour and shame.
Abstract: The following article, based on field work in a mestizo village in Mexico, argues that suffering is an essentially female virtue, reflecting the life experience of women. The experience of suffering is related to the concepts of virginity, chastity, honour and shame. These in turn are examined in relation to the prevailing ideologies of machismo and marianismo. It is suggested that for women the opposite of shame is not honour, but shamelessness. In order to grasp the internal logic of this cultural representation, the significance of the Virgin of Guadalupe as an overarching symbol is considered. Underpinning the whole argument is a suggestion that morality be viewed as essentially ambiguous and hence open for interpretation
14 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a person is constituted through a set of relationships, some of which are established on the level of the smallest social unit, other on the levels of the society as a whole.
Abstract: Components of the person in Kei society are analysed through the study of childbirth and funerary rituals. It shows that an analysis of the ideas related to the notion of the person itself cannot be arbitrarily isolated from that of the social structure. A person is constituted through a set of relationships, some of which are established on the level of the house—the smallest social unit—others on the level of the society as a whole. The distinction between various elements of the person is based on the distinction between these relationships, which are ordered at different levels of the ideology. Elements which make up a person are not substances, they are elements of relationships constitutive of the socio‐cosmic universe. A house, as a social unit, appears as a sort of permanent relay between the different levels on which these elements are ordered.
13 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors summarize data collected from the literature on 123 interior attached ditch enclosures ("sacred enclosures") of the Middle and Upper Ohio River Valley and isolate two structural elements (dirt and water) that were employed consistently in the construction of sacred spaces beginning about 2300 B.P.
Abstract: This paper summarizes data collected from the literature on 123 interior attached ditch enclosures ("sacred enclosures") of the Middle and Upper Ohio River Valley. In addition to the data summary it isolates two structural elements‐dirt and water—that were employed consistently in the construction of sacred spaces beginning about 2300 B.P. These same two elements reappear in the historic mythology of the region. It is proposed that the enclosures represent a material expression of the creation of the world as an historical event. Thus, the creation of a sacred place for ritual was also a recreation of the cosmos as related historically in the Earth Diver myth.
9 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a rereading of Durkheim's work reveals an alternative formulation derived from two distinct forms of hierarchy: gradation and encompassment, which then appear as governed by a unified hierarchy of values.
Abstract: The study of rituals raises the issue of the formulation of the sacred‐profane distinction. If sacred and profane are considered as mutually exclusive, this distinction is not applicable to Melanesian societies. However, a re‐reading of Durkheim's work reveals an alternative formulation derived from two distinct forms of hierarchy: gradation and encompassment. Dumont's analysis of the caste system permits us to reconcile these two forms, which then appear as governed by a unified hierarchy of values. This reformulated, hierarchic definition of the sacred‐profane relation is tested on the Orokaiva case. Finally, it allows us to draw certain comparative conclusions.
7 citations
TL;DR: In the Lio of eastern Indonesia as mentioned in this paper, women are interpreted in their roles as wives and men are interpreted as husbands. But it is argued that consanguinity may represent a higher ideal than affinity, that wife givers stand for the whole, and that the brother-sister relationship is the most important cross-sex relationship.
Abstract: Societies that adhere to a patrilineal ideology of asymmetric prescriptive cross‐cousin marriage are usually analysed in terms of the affinal relationship. Women are interpreted in their roles as wives. Taking the Lio of eastern Indonesia as an ethnographic example, it is argued that consanguinity may represent a higher ideal than affinity, that wife‐givers stand for the whole, and that the brother‐sister relationship is the most important cross‐sex relationship. By symbolically transforming wives into sisters, the Lio, just like many stratified cognatic societies, manage to maintain a cultural marking of sisters rather than wives.
7 citations
TL;DR: The authors explored the dynamics of that parallel structure of the institutional Church, and discussed if and in what respects this visionary-centered patronage network differs from patron-client configurations in the political field.
Abstract: Eric Wolf has argued that the study of patron‐client relations and other ‘parallel structures’ may be useful for furthering our understanding of complex societies. As for political patronage, Wolfs suggestion has been taken to heart. As far as religion is concerned, his suggestion has barely met with any response at all. Data obtained from a Yugoslav peasant community seem to indicate that Wolf s proposition is applicable to the religious field as well. In Medjugorje, a pilgrimage centre in Bosnia‐Hercegovina, a patronage network has evolved around a small group of young local seers. The relations with the ‘official’, clergy‐run Marian devotion are rather strained. This article explores the dynamics of that parallel structure of the institutional Church, and discusses if and in what respects this visionary‐centered patronage network differs from patron‐client configurations in the political field.
6 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the interplay of exorcism and adorcism in relation to gender in Christian, Muslim and Buddhist settings, and suggest that the consequences of the formal distinction between exorcism, and the implications of women as well as men practising exorcism may not always be as sharply opposed as appears at first sight.
Abstract: In many cultures with male‐dominated religions, women are subject to illnesses which are attributed to spirit‐possession. Two main alternative therapies are usually available. Treatment is effected either by exorcism, or by domesticating the spirit ‐ a process which de Heusch calls ‘adortism’. In the latter case, women are recruited through illness into female‐centred ‘cults of affliction’, regarded as superstitious and subversive by men, who try to prevent their wives from becoming involved in these cults, preferring exorcism as therapy. Exorcism thus becomes an instrument of male power in the struggle to control women's incipient religiosity. The paper examines the interplay of exorcism and adorcism in relation to gender in Christian, Muslim and Buddhist settings. It concludes by considering the implications of women as well as men practising exorcism, and suggests that the consequences of the formal distinction between exorcism and adorcism may not always be as sharply opposed as appears at first sight.
6 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a comparative analysis of data gathered in a Sri Lankan Muslim community showed that normative depictions of cross-sibling relationships do not reflect or explain actual behavior patterns; and variation in post-marital cross sibling relationships is largely accounted for by the presence or absence and use of the dowry.
Abstract: Studies of Dravidian kinship have neglected the importance of the cross‐sibling relationship. A comparative analysis of data gathered in a Sri Lankan Muslim community shows: (1) normative depictions of cross‐sibling relationships do not reflect or explain actual behavior patterns; and (2) variation in post‐marital cross‐sibling relationships is largely accounted for by the presence or absence and use of the dowry. The overarching purpose is to show that any comprehensive analysis of the Dravidian kinship system must include an analysis of cross‐sibling relationships and dowry practices.
5 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a focussed reading of Dumont with a view to two particular interests: modernity and the place of gender not only within modern discourse, but also in modern practice is presented.
Abstract: This article is the product of a focussed reading of Louis Dumont with a view to two particular interests: modernity and the place of gender not only within modern discourse, but also in modern practice. Though polemical in form, the intention is to shed new light on the ongoing debates of gender by addressing them within Dumont's theoretical framework. Starting with some reflections on vantage point and gendered positioning, the author proceeds to discuss the modern notion of the individual, suggesting that the autonomous agent in modern society is the couple. Drawing on both Bateson and Rappaport, she considers the notions of hierarchy, logical scandal and the place of ultimate values in relation to change.
TL;DR: Although the Sturlunga sagas and the Family sagas were written about the same time, they record different frequencies of several classes of economic and legal transactions as discussed by the authors, which are consistent with the changes we would expect to occur in a stratified society without a state.
Abstract: Although the Family sagas about events of two to three hundred years in the past and the Sturlunga sagas about contemporary 13th century events were written about the same time, they record different frequencies of several classes of economic and legal transactions. These differences are consistent with the changes we would expect to occur in a stratified society without a state. These differences add credibility to the sagas as sociological representations of the society of the past.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: The theory on hierarchy and value developed by Louis Dumont and his students is here tried out on the society and culture of the Yukuna Indians of Colombian Amazonas as discussed by the authors, and it is shown that this society can easily by analyzed to fit the Dumontian model of a hierarchical order, but the notion that such an order can be anchored to an "ultimate value" is criticized.
Abstract: The theory on hierarchy and value developed by Louis Dumont and his students is here tried out on the society and culture of the Yukuna Indians of Colombian Amazonas. It is shown that this society can easily by analyzed to fit the Dumontian model of a hierarchical order, but the notion that such an order can be anchored to an “ultimate value” is criticized. Rather than stressing the “pre‐modern” aspects of hierarchies, it is argued that the cognitive functions implied are expressive of how the construction of all ideology may rely on the less than strictly logical aspects of human thinking. It is suggested that the dichotomy of the “modern” and “pre‐modern” may itself be an ideological construction.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the interconnection between gender, kinship and seniority in Malay rural society, maintaining the idea that seniority is a prominent value, and a process is described in which a structure of genderneutral seniority and balanced gender collectivities gives way to a stronger collusion between seniority, personified in the husband-wife dyad.
Abstract: The paper approaches Dumont's hypothesis of value hierarchy by examining the interconnection between gender, kinship and seniority in Malay rural society, maintaining the idea that seniority is a prominent value. A process is described in which a structure of gender‐neutral seniority and balanced gender collectivities gives way to a stronger collusion between seniority and maleness, personified in the husband‐wife dyad. The author is open to the possibility of a “hierarchising impulse” in cultural processes, but doubts that ultimate values will ever fully emerge in social realities because “society” has no unambiguous delimitation, and because organizational and communicative domains shrink and expand over time so that any dominant value can be challenged through organizational innovations.