Book

Reason and passion: representations of gender in a Malay society

University of California PressBerkeley • Published In 1996 • Pages:

By: Peletz, Michael G..

Abstract
This book discusses socioeconomic changes that have occurred in one Negeri Sembilan Malayan village in the context of broader government policies implemented since the advent of colonialism in 1830. The focus is on the ways in which political, economic and religious changes affected the structure of prestige and various aspects of kinship, marriage, and sexuality (especially sexual impropriety). The central argument of the book is that Negeri Sembilan representations bearing on gender and kinship are in many respects contradictory where in official cultural rules vary from actual everyday practices. As a consequence, changes observed in gender relations and kinship structures have involved less a breakdown of longstanding cultural meanings than a series of highly selective modification of elements of the system.
Subjects
Drives and emotions
Social personality
Ethnopsychology
Gender status
Gender roles and issues
Revelation and divination
Religious experience
Theory of disease
Menstruation
Status, role, and prestige
Mode of marriage
Regulation of marriage
Childbirth
Kinship regulation of sex
Sex and marital offenses
Kin relationships
Rule of descent
Localized kin groups
Lineages
Real property
Inheritance
Family relationships
Ingroup antagonisms
culture
Malays
HRAF PubDate
2010
Region
Asia
Sub Region
Southeast Asia
Document Type
Book
Evaluation
Creator Type
Anthropologist
Document Rating
5: Excellent Primary Data
Analyst
Teferi Abate Adem; 2009
Field Date
1978-1993
Coverage Date
1830-1993
Coverage Place
Rembau district, State of Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
Notes
Michael G. Peletz
Includes bibliographical references (p. 375-394) and index
LCCN
94045698
LCSH
Malays (Asian people)--Kinship--Malaysia--Negeri Sembilan
Malays (Asian people)--Malaysia--Negeri Sembilan--Social conditions
Gender identity--Malaysia--Negeri Sembilan
Sex role--Malaysia--Negeri Sembilan
Matrilineal kinship--Malaysia--Negeri Sembilan
Negeri Sembilan--Social life and customs