essay

Putting down sisters and wives: Tongan women and colonization

Women and colonization : anthropological perspectivesPraegerPublished In 1980 • Pages: 294-322

By: Gailey, Christine Ward.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This article is a summary of the second part of Gailey's larger work (see document no. 113) on gender and state formation in Tonga. It focuses on gender relations in the precontact and colonial periods. As Gailey argues here and elsewhere, sisterhood was a powerful dyadic relationship in the Tongan kinship system, which defined work groups, exchange networks, and wider kin group relationships. Gailey discuses how sisterhood came under attack from missionaries who emphasized the husband-wife dyad and laws that changed property rights in favor of men.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Acculturation and culture contact
Real property
Gift giving
External trade
Division of labor by gender
Status, role, and prestige
Gender status
Family relationships
Avuncular and nepotic relatives
Legal norms
Missions
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Tongans
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2006
RegionThe area the document pertains to
Oceania
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Polynesia
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
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
Ian Skoggard; 2004
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1986
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1600-1800
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Tonga
NotesAdditional notes
Christine Ward Gailey
Includes bibliographical references (p. 320-322)
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
79015318
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Tongans