article

Sacrifice at the bridge of Arta: sex roles and the manipulation of power

Journal of modern Greek studies1 (1)Published In 1983 • Pages: 173-183

By: Mandel, Ruth.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
In this paper, Mandel provides a structural analysis of a Greek ballad to argue that women play a mediating role in Greek society between 'culture' and 'nature', and 'insider' and 'outsider' kinship status. 'The Bridge of Arta' is a tale about a woman who is buried in a bridge foundation, in order to give the bridge a soul and insure its longevity. According to Mandel, the bridge is a liminal construction between two places. Similarly, a married woman spans two family groups, but belongs to neither one. Women's creative powers and sexuality (nature) are used for procreation and the reproduction of the husband's family (culture).
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Verbal arts
Gender status
Cosmology
Sexuality
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Greeks
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2003
RegionThe area the document pertains to
Europe
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Southeastern Europe
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
article
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Ethnologist
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
4: Excellent Secondary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
Ian Skoggard ; 2002
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
not specified
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
not specified
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Greece
NotesAdditional notes
Ruthe Mandel
Special Issue: Women and men in Greece: a society in transition
Includes bibliographical references (p. 182-183)
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
84642094
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Greece