book chapter

The Marshall Islanders: life and customs, thought and religion of a South Seas people

[s.n.]2 (1) • Published In 1914 • Pages: HRAF ms: iii, 296 [original: xiv, 376 ]

By: Erdland, August, Neuse, Richard.

Abstract
This source is a classic example of the well organized, meticulously detailed ethnographies typical of German workers in the first part of the twentieth century. The author, a missionary, divides his study into four parts, the first of which is entitled 'Ergology, or Life and Work,' and deals primarily with the geography, history and natural environment of the islands, the population and physical characteristics, body decoration, clothing and ornament, dwellings, food, fishing, canoe building, weapons, and knowledge of weather, stars and waves. Part 2 is concerned with the social structure of the people, their laws and customs, and gives abundant data on Marshallese social and political structure, rights and special privileges of chiefs, kinship, marriage, position of women in the society, birth customs, status of children, sexual morality and individual character and psychology. Part 3 is almost entirely devoted to a study of Marshall Island mythology, with only incidental information being given on the language itself, poetry and proverbs. The concluding section of this source, part 4, deals with the religion and magic of the Marshall Islanders, and contains valuable data on the concept of the soul in life and death, care and treatment of the sick, and on the origin of the kin group and totemism.
Subjects
Community heads
Rule of descent
Classes
Real property
Verbal arts
Fishing
Ethnometeorology
Infant care
Life and death
Diet
Food preparation
Missions
Normal garb
Mats and basketry
Clothing manufacture
Acculturation and culture contact
culture
Marshallese
HRAF PubDate
2010
Region
Oceania
Sub Region
Micronesia
Document Type
book chapter
Evaluation
Creator Type
Missionary
Document Rating
5: Excellent Primary Data
Analyst
John Beierle ; 1961
Field Date
ca. 1900
Coverage Date
1900-1914
Coverage Place
Marshall Islands
Notes
August Erdland
Translation of: [Die Marshall-Insulaner, Leben und Sitte, Sinn und Religion eines Südsee-Volkes]
Partly translated from the German into English in 1942 for the Yale Cross-Cultural Survey, with the remainder being translated for HRAF by Richard Neuse in 1961
Appendices I and II, on Nauru Island and Civilization and Missions, have not been translated for this file
LCCN
14014886
LCSH
Marshallese
Ethnology--Marshall Islands