Women and the ancestors: Black Carib kinship and ritual

Kerns, Virginia

Book

Women and the ancestors: Black Carib kinship and ritual

University of Illinois Press • Urbana • Published In 1983 • Pages:

By: Kerns, Virginia.

Abstract
This work is a study of the position of women (i.e., 'mature' women) in Garifuna society in particular reference to their central role in households, extended families, and in the management and preservation of the ceremonial components of their culture despite rapid changes in the society. This central theme dominates this source. The first two chapters provide introductory material on the author's aims and goals, and on the historical background of the Garifunas. Chapter 3 provides a summary description of Belize (formerly British Honduras) as the national setting of this study and identifies some of the salient differences in employment opportunities for men and women, a topic which is continued throughout chapter 4. The next three chapters (5-7) deal with various aspects of social life, as for example property ownership and exchange, interpersonal conflict, age and gender, and kinship. Chapter 8 is primarily concerned with the subject of Garifuna households and extended families. Chapter 9 outlines the sequence of rituals for the dead, while chapter 10 identifies the various participants in these rituals. The final chapter (11) summarizes the author's conclusions, and presents some 'informed speculations' about the part women have played '...in perpetuating ritual and other conventions of kinship...' (p. 8).

Theoretical orientation in research and its results

Magical and mental therapy