Book

The symbolic role of women in Trobriand gardening

University of South AfricaPretoriaPublished In 1984 • Pages: viii, 123

By: Brindley, Marianne.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Brindley is concerned with the status of women and especially the position of Trobriand women with reference to gardening. Gardening, especially in terms of growing the small yam (TAYTU), is one of the most important economic activities in the Trobriand Islands, and therefore was selected as the primary focus of this work. In studying the position of Trobriand women in horticultural activities, the Brindley considers not only the physical labor involved, but also the symbolism that dominates gardening and women's relationship to it, including a structural analysis of the language of ritual and the terminology of gardening. The position of women in gardening is then correlated with the position of women as a whole in the society by considering certain dominant cultural themes and the interrelationships with different aspects of the culture (p. 3).
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Tillage
Vegetable production
Gift giving
Division of labor by gender
Gender status
Family relationships
Magic
Magicians and diviners
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Trobriands
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
1995
RegionThe area the document pertains to
Oceania
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Melanesia
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
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
John Beierle
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
no date
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
not specified
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Omarakana village, Kiriwina Island, Papua New Guinea
NotesAdditional notes
[by] Marianne Brindley
Revised version of a dissertation for the M.A. degree at the University of South Africa, 1977
Includes index.|Bibliography: p. 106-118
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Women in agriculture/Trobriand Islanders