essay
Concerning Trobriand clans and the kinship category TABU
developmental cycle in domestic groups • (1) • Published In 1971 • Pages: 120-145
By: Leach, Edmund Ronald.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Leach demonstrates in this paper that some of the conclusions reached by Malinowski regarding the concepts of clans and the kinship category TABU, are incorrect. To clarify his position on the matter and to substantiate his criticism of Malinowski, Leach explores the rationale behind the existence of the four Trobriand clans, then discusses the nature of the word TABU with all its implications, and concludes by tying in these concepts with the origin myth '…whereby various original ancestors are made to emerge from holes in the ground conveniently situated at known sites on ancestral property' (p. 121). During the process of investigation, Leach re-examines and partly reinterprets some of Malinowski's basic views regarding the nature of Trobriand rules of incest and exogamy.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Reviews and critiques
- Theoretical orientation in research and its results
- Regulation of marriage
- Kinship terminology
- Kin relationships
- Lineages
- Clans
- 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
- essay
- 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)
- Papua New Guinea
- NotesAdditional notes
- [by] E.R. Leach
- Bibliography: p. 145
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 78160087
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Trobriand Islanders