essay
The social position of the woman among the Eastern Bororo
Ensaios de etnologia Brasileira, by Herbert Baldus • 101 • Published In 1937 • Pages: 112-162, 323-330 , 16 plates (9-24)
By: Baldus, Herbert, Lillios, Ivana.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This essay has two purposes. In terms of the data, it seeks to demonstrate the social equality of Bororo women. In terms of method, it attempts to point out that our interpretation of a situation may be faulty if it does not include how the natives understand it and their reasons for behaving as they do. Baldus discusses infanticide, sexual behavior, sexual division of labor, and mythology to demonstrate the falsity of the European conclusion of a slavelike female status. Using brief comparisons with other cultures, he points out for instance, that female infanticide may be interpreted in two ways. It may show that males are more valued (and hence increases their proportion) or that females are (the fewer there are, the greater their value). So the reasons must be understood. He also mentions that contrary to other statements, female infanticide is not a Bororo institution. Thus his essay is both a description of social relations among the Bororo bolstered by evidence from a number of areas (values, sex, labor and myth) and a cautionary essay on interpretation.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Birth statistics
- Ornament
- Division of labor by gender
- Gender status
- Clans
- Moieties
- Sexual intercourse
- Abortion and infanticide
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Bororo
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 1996
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- South America
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Eastern South America
- 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
- Martin Malone ; 1975
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1934-1935
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- not specified
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Eastern Bororo; Sao José, Sangradouro, Coraçao de Jésus, and Meruri, Mato Grosso Province, Brazil
- NotesAdditional notes
- by Herbert Baldus
- Translation of: A posiçao social da mulher entre os Bororo orientais.
- The original Portuguese text is not included.
- Male-female relations have been indexed for Gender Status (562).
- Translated from the original Portuguese for the HRAF files by Ivana Lillios
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Bororo Indians