Feminist anthropology and kinship, II

Feminist anthropology and kinship, II

Ryan Schram

ANTH 2654: Forms of Families

17 September 2015

Available at http://anthro.rschram.org/2654/8

Lecture outline

• Review from last week: Ortner on patriarchy, criticism of Ortner
• Three examples of gender inequality: Are they the same?
  • Woman/Man: A marked-unmarked opposition.
  • In these societies, are women oppressed in a way that is fundamentally similar?
  • Do women of these societies have common interests, that is, should they all be working toward challenging male domination?
• Marilyn Strathern: A more ambitious critique of Ortner
  • Mount Hagen, PNG: Home of Ongka, and a truck.
  • Women are rubbish and selfish, men are successful leaders
  • Autonomy and cooperation have to be balanced
  • Hagen personhood: The gender dichotomy is a metaphor for the human mind.
• The witchcraft meeting in Auhelawa
  • Women have a “tongue of fire”
  • Women are “the boss of this place”
  • Accusations, and a collective admission of responsibility
  • The witch is a deviant woman and a matrilineal woman
• Forms of power
  • Coercion
  • Authority
  • Persuasion
  • “The exemplary center”