Documents
eHRAF is comprised of thousands of ethnographic sources including monographs, journal articles, dissertations and manuscripts. Use this page to find relevant documents by searching or filtering. Each document in eHRAF also contains a Publication Information page with added metadata including brief abstracts written by HRAF analysts who have subject-indexed the file.
The traditional kinship system of the Nayars of MalabarBook 1954 • Gough, Kathleen
Kerala • Asia > South Asia
This is a historical-functional analysis of Nayar caste kinship structure. A brief survey of the history of the Malabar (northern Kerala) coast reveals that there have traditionally been three major political areas, each with a different kinship syst...Nayaressay 1961 • Gough, Kathleen
Kerala • Asia > South Asia
This work on the Nayar caste of central Kerala presents an analysis of kinship and matrilineal descent, coupled with an account of Nayar political structure. A brief introduction dealing with the ecology and cultural history of the area is followed b...Nayaressay 1961 • Gough, Kathleen
Kerala • Asia > South Asia
This work on the Nayar caste of northern Kerala provides an analysis of kinship and matrilineal descent, coupled with an account of Nayar political structure. An introductory sketch of Kerala ecology and geography, and a brief discussion of the econo...Cults of the dead among the Nayarsarticle 1958 • Gough, Kathleen
Kerala • Asia > South Asia
The author presents a socio-psychological analysis of Nayar cults of the dead in relation to economic and legal institutions, and in regard to their emotional content. The focus is on two cults: one associated with lineage ghosts and the other with a...Female initiation rites on the Malabar Coastarticle 1955 • Gough, Kathleen
Kerala • Asia > South Asia
This paper presents a lengthy discussion of the similarities and differences in a form of ritual marriage for prepubescent girls between four regional caste groups, each with a different kinship system: the matrilineal, uxorilocal Nayars of central K...Kerala politics and the 1965 electionsarticle 1967 • Gough, Kathleen
Kerala • Asia > South Asia
Kerala’s 1965 elections were notoriously inconclusive and fragmented, leading to competing interpretations of its political landscape. Some claimed that the newly formed Left Communist Party defeated the much stronger, nationally-ruling Congress Part...Communist rural councillors in Keralaarticle 1968 • Gough, Kathleen
Kerala • Asia > South Asia
In 1957 the newly-formed Kerala state had the first Communist government to win a popular election in India. This paper discusses some of the dilemmas Communist activists encountered performing their duties as elected rural councilors. At times, coun...Caste in a Tanjore villageessay 1969 • Gough, Kathleen
Tamil • Asia > South Asia
This is an outline study of the characteristics and functioning of the caste system in the Tanjore village of Kumbapettai. It includes relatively full information on the spatial distribution, occupational specialties, and relative ritual ranking of t...Brahman kinship in a Tamil villagearticle 1956 • Gough, Kathleen
Tamil • Asia > South Asia
This article explores the 'characteristics of the Brahman kinship system which differentiates it from that of the lower castes: first the Brahman occupations, means of subsistence, and position in the scale of ranked castes; and second, certain moral...