article
Separation and indivduation in an African society: the developmental tasks of the Gusii married woman
Psychiatry • 45 • Published In 1982 • Pages: 61-75
By: LeVine, Sarah, Pfeifer, Gary.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
In this article the authors apply a psychoanalytically informed perspective to understand psychosocial adaptation and self-development in a group of married Gusii women living in southwestern Kenya. LeVine and Pfeifer describe the institutional context of Gusii life, the psychological tasks of a woman's adult life course, and the progress of three particular women, each at a different stage in her childbearing career. The predominant theme running through the data concerns the process by which all Gusii women leave, forever, their natal homes and attempt to establish themselves in what they may initially perceive as a foreign and often inhospitable place -- their husband's homestead. The extremeness of their situation, however, provides an opportunity to explore a set of particular adaptations to what may well be a universal task in human development, the process of separation-individuation (p. 61).
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Adjustment processes
- Personality development
- Social personality
- Life history materials
- Gender status
- Mode of marriage
- Arranging a marriage
- Family relationships
- Polygamy
- Parents-in-law and children-in-law
- Conception
- Gender roles and issues
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Gusii
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2000
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Africa
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Eastern Africa
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator TypesThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- Psychologist
- 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
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- John Beierle ; 2005
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1974-1976, 1979
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1970-1979
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- southwestern Kenya
- NotesAdditional notes
- Sarah LeVine and Gary Pfeifer
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 74-75)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 40007255
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Gusii (African people)