book chapter
The Marshall Islanders: life and customs, thought and religion of a South Seas people
[s.n.] • 2 (1) • Published In 1914 • Pages: HRAF ms: iii, 296 [original: xiv, 376 ]
By: Erdland, August, Neuse, Richard.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This source is a classic example of the well organized, meticulously detailed ethnographies typical of German workers in the first part of the twentieth century. The author, a missionary, divides his study into four parts, the first of which is entitled 'Ergology, or Life and Work,' and deals primarily with the geography, history and natural environment of the islands, the population and physical characteristics, body decoration, clothing and ornament, dwellings, food, fishing, canoe building, weapons, and knowledge of weather, stars and waves. Part 2 is concerned with the social structure of the people, their laws and customs, and gives abundant data on Marshallese social and political structure, rights and special privileges of chiefs, kinship, marriage, position of women in the society, birth customs, status of children, sexual morality and individual character and psychology. Part 3 is almost entirely devoted to a study of Marshall Island mythology, with only incidental information being given on the language itself, poetry and proverbs. The concluding section of this source, part 4, deals with the religion and magic of the Marshall Islanders, and contains valuable data on the concept of the soul in life and death, care and treatment of the sick, and on the origin of the kin group and totemism.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Community heads
- Rule of descent
- Classes
- Real property
- Verbal arts
- Fishing
- Ethnometeorology
- Infant care
- Life and death
- Diet
- Food preparation
- Missions
- Normal garb
- Mats and basketry
- Clothing manufacture
- Acculturation and culture contact
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Marshallese
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2010
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Oceania
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Micronesia
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- book chapter
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Missionary
- 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 ; 1961
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- ca. 1900
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1900-1914
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Marshall Islands
- NotesAdditional notes
- August Erdland
- Translation of: [Die Marshall-Insulaner, Leben und Sitte, Sinn und Religion eines Südsee-Volkes]
- Partly translated from the German into English in 1942 for the Yale Cross-Cultural Survey, with the remainder being translated for HRAF by Richard Neuse in 1961
- Appendices I and II, on Nauru Island and Civilization and Missions, have not been translated for this file
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 14014886
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Marshallese
- Ethnology--Marshall Islands