essay

Abortion and depopulation on a Pacific Island

health, culture, and community ; case studies of public reactions to health programs • New York • Published In 1955 • Pages: 211-235

By: Schneider, David Murray.

Abstract

The author was one of four anthropologists who spent nine months on Yap during 1947-1948 to study the problem of depopulation. The work was sponsored by Harvard University and the National Research Council. This particular paper concentrates on the problem of abortion on Yap and its relation to the allocation of responsibility and prestige in the society. Up to the age of about thirty, Yap men and women are still considered to be 'youths' whose chief occupation is to engage in intricate love affairs. This period of protracted youth is related to the fact that Yap is a stratified society where positions of prestige, responsibility and high rank, few in number as they are, are reserved for members of the older generation. Thus, freed of the responsibilities thrust upon men and women in other societies shortly after physiological maturity, young men and women on Yap can afford to preoccupy themselves with love making, which makes the long wait for status and prestige, coming as it does with full adulthood, more tolerable. The author believes that this preoccupation with love affairs has a significant bearing on the practice of abortion on Yap as well as on the possible prevalence of venereal infection. The author concludes his paper with a proposed program of birth control to eliminate the necessity for abortion.

HRAF PubDate

2000

Region

Oceania

Sub Region

Micronesia

Document Type

essay

Evaluation

Creator Type

Ethnologist

Document Rating

5: Excellent Primary Data

Analyst

John Beierle ; 1965

Field Date

1947-1948

Coverage Date

1947-1948

Coverage Place

Yap State, Federated States of Micronesia

Notes

David M. Schneider

Includes bibliographical references (p. 235)

LCCN

55010583

LCSH

Yapese (Micronesian people)/Yap (Micronesia)