essay

Courtship and marriage on Yap: Budweiser, U-drives, and rock guitars

business of marriage : transformations in oceanic matrimony • (14) • Published In 1993 • Pages: 149-174

By: Lingenfelter, Sherwood G..

Abstract
In this study, Lingenfelter examines changes in courtship, marriage, and marital relations among th Yapese during the American administration period (1946-1983). His thesis is that men have gained power relative to women through their disproportionate participation in the cash economy, which has changed the dynamic in marital transactions and relationships. Traditionally the marriage transaction was seen as a balanced exchange between a man's land and a woman's labor, on which the fertility of land and women were dependent. The landholding patrilineage needed women to work the land and the matrisib needed men to make fertile their women, and raise and support their young. Women were the economic backbone of the estate, producing the staple taro. Education and wage employment has changed the traditional equation of reciprocity. Through the cash economy men have ready access to basic foodstuffs and are able to become the main providers in the household, undermining the wife's role and source of prestige. The wife's response has been to enter into the cash economy herself in order to buy food for the household, or to continue growing taro and reject the substitute staple of rice her husband brought into the home. Education has also had an impact on domestic relations. Educated men tend to reject traditional domestic chores and responsibilities, whereas educated women are more insistent in controlling the household budget.
Subjects
Gender status
Basis of marriage
Arranging a marriage
Household
Family relationships
Education system
culture
Yapese
HRAF PubDate
2000
Region
Oceania
Sub Region
Micronesia
Document Type
essay
Evaluation
Creator Type
Ethnologist
Document Rating
4: Excellent Secondary Data
5: Excellent Primary Data
Analyst
Ian Skoggard ; 2005
Field Date
1979-1980
Coverage Date
1945-1980
Coverage Place
Yap State, Federated States of Micronesia
Notes
Sherwood G. Lingenfelter
Includes bibliographical references (p. 173-174)
LCCN
93001008
LCSH
Yapese (Micronesian people)/Yap (Micronesia)