article
Cultural patterns in Trukese suicide
Ethnology • 23 (3) • Published In 1984 • Pages: 193-206
By: Hezel, Francis X..
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This is a study of suicide among the Chuuk, based on data collected by the Micronesian Seminar, a church-sponsored research institute, and other public records. By interviewing relatives and friends of suicide victims, Hezel was able to corroborate and enrich the data. In the period between 1971 and 1983, there were 129 suicides in Chuuk. Ninety-three per cent of the victims were male, and 70 per cent were between the ages of 15 and 30. According to the Chuuk, suicides are motivated by anger. Hezel sees this anger rooted in oppressive familal relationships and the prohibition against displaying negative feelings towards kin elders, especially parents. Hezel sees suicide as an exteme form of AMWUNUMWUN, a strategy of self-abasement intended to compel parents or others to repair the harm they have done. In the case of suicide, the intended goal is to affect family reconciliation with the memory of the victim. According to Hezel, suicide is not a deviant act, nor a vindinctive one, but is based in the 'continuing regard for the family and an acknowledgement of the preciousness of family bonds.'
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Alcoholic beverages
- Ingroup antagonisms
- Family relationships
- Suicide
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Chuuk
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 1999
- 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
- article
- 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.
- 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 ; 1997
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- not specified
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1971-1983
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Chuuk State, Federated States of Micronesia
- NotesAdditional notes
- Francis X. Hezel, S.J.
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 206)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 64005713
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Trukese (Micronesian people)