ANTHRO 2A Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Patrilineality, Margaret Mead, Arapesh Languages
Anthro 2A Lecture 7 - May 30, 2018
Trobriand
●Yams, children related to the mother’s side instead of the father’s side
●Most Trobrianders practice management marriage - one spouse only
●But chiefs are permitted and expected to have several wives
●Trobriand chief practice polygyny
●Commouse may not have more than one wife
●Chief are not related to their own children
●In Trobriand society, only mothers, no fathers, are related to their children
●Chiefs cannot past their position down to their own son
●They pass on their position to their sister’s son
●Trobrianders have very specific belief about why children are only related to their
mothers
●Belief in reincarnation
●When a person dies, their Baloma (son) leaves their body and goes to live on Toma
Island as a spirit for 80 years
●The spirit seeds seeds 80 years on Toma doing the things it enjoyed while living
●After 80 years, the Spira (baloma) has grown old
●It then bathes in the ocean and is rejuvenated
●The Baloma is transformed into a young, baby spirit Waiwaia spirit
●Waiwaia spirit wants to be reincarnated into the human world
●So it swims to the Trobriand Islands
●Then it looks for a possible mothers
●Then mother must share the same clain or bloodline that the spirit belonged to when it
died 80 years before
●So when the right women is found, the Waiwaia enters her body, mixes with her blood,
and forms a baby
●The baby is only related to the mother
●Their view of sex and human reproduction
○Sex does not directly make a woman pregnant
■Instead, sex opens the path for the Waiwaia spirit to enter a woman
○The father’s sperm provides nutrition for the unborn body
■It helps the unborn body grow
●Even though children are only related to their mothers, the fathers become key core
givers, especially after they stop breastfeeding
●Divorce is relatively easy
Masi
●Masi live in Kenya and Tanzania (2 nations in East Africa)
Document Summary
Anthro 2a lecture 7 - may 30, 2018. Yams, children related to the mother"s side instead of the father"s side. Most trobrianders practice management marriage - one spouse only. But chiefs are permitted and expected to have several wives. Commouse may not have more than one wife. Chief are not related to their own children. In trobriand society, only mothers, no fathers, are related to their children. Chiefs cannot past their position down to their own son. They pass on their position to their sister"s son. Trobrianders have very specific belief about why children are only related to their mothers. When a person dies, their baloma (son) leaves their body and goes to live on toma. The spirit seeds seeds 80 years on toma doing the things it enjoyed while living. After 80 years, the spira (baloma) has grown old. It then bathes in the ocean and is rejuvenated. The baloma is transformed into a young, baby spirit waiwaia spirit.
