Book
Co-wives and calabashes
University of Michigan Press • Ann Arbor • Published In 1993 • Pages: xxxi, 224
By: Price, Sally.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
In this book, Price examines Saramakan gender relations and art forms. She describes the making, and designing of calabash utensils, clothing, and songs, mostly by women. She discusses how these art forms are interrelated, and their relationship to gender relations. Samarakan culture is marked by gift exchange between couples. Men who work on the coast, sometimes for years at a time, return with gifts for their wives, lovers, and other family members. Women reciprocate with carved calabash bowls and laddles, and embroidered capes. Women's work is more finely wrought than that of men's. According to Price this is because women have more time on their hands, and are more dependent on men: The Saramakans are polygamous and most men have wives whereas women at times are without husbands. Women's dependency on men, and the tensions within the polygamous household and patrilocal village are expressed in their songs and dance. Price discusses the changes in design elements over time, which she relates to changes in both imported materials and Saramakan social relations, particularly those with the outside world. She notes a standardization of art forms over time, with less tolerance for individual variation.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Clothing manufacture
- Woodworking
- Utensils
- Music
- Visual arts
- Gender roles and issues
- Interlinear translations
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Saramaka
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 1999
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- South America
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Amazon and Orinoco
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- Book
- 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 ; 1997
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1966-1978
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1870-1970
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Suriname
- NotesAdditional notes
- Sally Price. 2nd ed., with a preface by the author
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 213-218) and index
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 92043700
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Saramacca (Surinam people)