Book

Women and marriage in Kpelle society

Stanford University PressStanford, Calif.Published In 1980 • Pages:

By: Bledsoe, Caroline H..

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This book examines the ways in which economic and political opportunities for men and women influence marriage patterns among the Kpelle. The author describes what she dubs a 'wealth in people' system, which binds people to their status superiors in ties of marriage, clientship, and filial obligation, and shows how the Kpelle manipulate the system to their own personal advantage, trying to sever their ties with superiors while at the same time attempting to keep subordinates bound to them through ties of obligation. Substantial quantitative data on Kpelle marriage and divorce is included, most of which is summarized in table in the appendix, pp. 193-202.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Basis of marriage
Mode of marriage
Mode of marriage
Gender status
Social relationships and groups
Sodalities
Kin relationships
Lineages
Household
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Kpelle
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2009
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
Book
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Ethnographer
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.
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
David Sherwood ; 1984
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1973-1978
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1900-1980
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Liberia
NotesAdditional notes
Caroline H. Bledsoe
A revision of the author's thesis, Stanford University
Includes bibliographical references (p. [203]-212)and index
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
78066170
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Kpelle (African people)--Marriage customs and rites/Kpelle (African people)--Economic conditions/Kpelle (African people)--Social conditions