essay
The politics of polygyny in Mende education and child fosterage transactions
Sex and gender hierarchies • Cambridge, [england] • Published In 1993 • Pages: 170-192
By: Bledsoe, Caroline H..
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This article discusses dynamics of gender relations among polygamous Mende households. It shows that co-wives in rural Mende fiercely compete among themselves over a wide variety of issues including household resources, labor and the future of children. By documenting specific strategies women of various backgrounds employ in this competition, the author challenges previous perceptions of the West African extended family as a harmoniously functioning social unit where men and women manage their own budgets.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Polygamy
- Family relationships
- Gender status
- Education system
- Students
- Competition
- Division of labor by gender
- Ingroup antagonisms
- Inheritance
- Social relationships and groups
- Kin relationships
- Sorcery
- Labor supply and employment
- Accumulation of wealth
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Mende
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2010
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Africa
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Western Africa
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Anthropologist
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Teferi Abate Adem; 2008
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1980-1990
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1980-1990
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Sierra Leone
- NotesAdditional notes
- Caroline Bledsoe
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 190-192)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 91044144
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Mende (African people)