article
Marital instability among the Kpelle: towards a theory of epainogamy
American anthropologist • 65 • Published In 1963 • Pages: 552-573
By: Gibbs, James L..
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This study, based on 17 month's field work among the Kpelle of Central Liberia in 1957-1958, attempts to present a theoretical basis for an understanding of the apparent marital instability among these people. After a brief review of the Gluckman-Leach-Fallers hypothesis on marital instability, Gibbs turns to an alternative theory suggested by John Embree dealing with the duality of tightly and loosely structured social systems. In applying this polar concept to the analysis of his Kpelle data, the author coins the term 'epainogamy' as a reference to the condition of marriage which is societally supported, praised and sanctioned. In an epainogamous society, marriage is stable and divorce is rare, in contrast to a non-epainogamous society in which the opposite is true. The latter condition is obviously the case with the Kpelle for Gibbs concludes that marriage among members of this society '...is unstable because the norms which govern it are conflictful and ambiguous, while the attempt to conform to these norms cannot be effectively rewarded nor deviance from them adequately punished' (p. 569). To provide the background for such a conclusion, the author presents an abundance of cultural data on various aspects of marriage including practices related to betrothal, bride price, divorce, polygny, and woman's status in the household. Adultery and sanctioned forms of extramarital relations are also discussed.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Termination of marriage
- Family relationships
- Polygamy
- Basis of marriage
- Regulation of marriage
- Arranging a marriage
- Nuptials
- Mode of marriage
- Extramarital sex relations
- Secondary marriages
- Informal in-group justice
- Sex and marital offenses
- 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
- 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.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- John Beierle ; 1986
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1957-1958
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1950-1958
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Liberia
- NotesAdditional notes
- James L. Gibbs
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 572-573)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 17015424
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Kpelle (African people)