Publication Information
Author:
Campbell,
John Kennedy
Title:
Honour, family and patronage: a study of
institutions and moral values in a Greek mountain community
Published By:
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964. 11, 393 p.: ill.,
map
By line: by J. K. Campbell
HRAF Publication Information: New Haven, Conn.:
HRAF, 2003. Computer File
Culture:
Greeks (EH01)
Subjects:
Pastoral activities (233);
Cooperative organization (474);
Ethics (577);
Mode of marriage (583);
Arranging a marriage (584);
Nuptials (585);
Kin relationships (602);
Cousins (605);
Kindreds and ramages (612);
Abstract:
This is a socio-functional study of the
moral/social values of the Sarakatsani, a group of pastoral nomads living in the
Epirus region of Greece, in relation to kinship institutions, family structure,
patronage, prestige, and religious beliefs. It was hoped that through a study of
this nature, parallels could be drawn throughout the Mediterranean area which
would thus help to contribute to a study of the social structure of the entire
region. The author begins his analysis with a study of the interaction of
kinship institutions, and the structure of the family, showing how an
individual's moral obligations are concentrated within the extended family and
kindred groups in virtual exclusion of all non-kin, for as the author shows
repeatedly throughout the text families not connected by kinship of marriage
(i.e. affines) view one another with intense distrust. Associated with the above
'institutions' is a system of social values and attitudes based on concepts of
honor, pride, and strength which together guide the conduct of the Sarakatsani
in their communal life. Campbell points out that inevitably these institutions
and values severely restrict the forms of economic and civic cooperation
possible in the community as well as the basic character of the relation between
the '... community of mutually opposed family commonwealths and the rest of
Greek society.' Thus, the end result is the development of a system of social
and political patronage. Among many points of substantive interest in this
source is the author's meticulous description of the Sarakatsani kindreds and
their function in the society, the concepts of honor and prestige and their
relationship to social ideals, relations of the nomadic Sarakatsani and with the
sedentary villagers of the area, the organization and function of the 'stani' or
'company,' a group of related families functioning as a body in the management
of the sheep herds, and the interrelationship of moral/social values with
religious beliefs and ideals. The author, a social anthropologist and research
fellow of St. Anthony's College, Oxford, studied primarily one particular
community of Sarakatsani in central Zagori to which he has given the fictitious
name of Neochori and from which most of the material in this source was derived.
Neighboring communities, however, were studied to some extent, and this
information is incorporated into the report. It should be noted here that
shortly after the author began his fieldwork, during the period of 1954-1955,
feelings over the Cyprus issue were running high, and as a result the author's
relations with the local authorities were always difficult. Campbell believes
that without the support of the then deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Panayiotis
Canellopoulos, he would not have been allowed to remain, and as it later turned
out, within a week of the deputy Prime Minister's leaving office, he was asked
to leave, thus bringing his fieldwork to an end.
Document Number:
11
Document ID: eh01-011
Document Type:
Monograph
Language:
English
Note:
Includes bibliographical
references (p. 365) and index
Field Date:
no date
Evaluation:
Social Anthropologist-5
Analyst:
John Beierle ;
1966
Coverage Date:
1954-1955
Coverage Place:
Sarakatsani, Zagori
District, Epirus,
Greece
LCSH:
Sarakatsans/Greece
