Book
Catching sense: African American communities on a South Carolina sea island
Bergin & Garvey • Westport, Conn. • Published In 1996 • Pages:
By: Guthrie, Patricia.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This is a very readable account of Gullah community life. Guthrie discusses how social identity is derived from the actual experience of growing up, specifically ages 2 thru 12, a process locals call 'catching sense.' Guthrie goes on to show how this designation defines rights to land, residence, and household membership. She makes a case that this particular kind of identity formation, one not based exclusively on kinship, had its roots in the slave era when families were uprooted and separated, for example children of slaves given away as house presents. Instead of kinship, learning communal values and relationships became the criteria of group membership.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Cultural identity and pride
- Settlement patterns
- Real property
- Slavery
- Household
- Community structure
- Informal in-group justice
- Congregations
- Transmission of cultural norms
- Majority
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Gullah Geechee
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2000
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- North America
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Regional, Ethnic and Diaspora Cultures
- 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.
- 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
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Ian Skoggard ; 2005
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1975-1992
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1920-1994
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- St. Helena Island, South Carolina, United States
- NotesAdditional notes
- Patricia Guthrie
- Includes bibliographical references (p. [125]-135) and index
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 94036623
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Sea Islanders/African Americans--South Carolina--Saint Helena Island--Social life and customs/Saint Helena Island (S.C.)--Social life and customs/Gullahs