Chapter 8 - Life Without Fathers or Husbands

This week's reading, "Life Without Fathers or Husbands," by Clifford Geertz, related completely to the chapter reading in the Kottak book. The beginning of Geertz story concerns the structure of the society. There is a lot of sexual interaction between those who are "unrelated." This prevents incest from occurring in the society, as the society defines it. This tribe, the Na in China, concerns matrililineal descent. In other words, the children are claimed as the fruit of their mother's looms and join their mother's group. Children are considered the relatives of their mothers but not of their fathers. So, when a man sleeps with his daughter, he is not committing an act of incest. The Na see incest as an act of sex between two members of the same lineage, which they trace through their mother's side. More interesting is the lack of marriage. It does not exist. Instead, there are "visits" when a man comes to a woman to have sex. The purpose of sex is to procreate. And more unusual, to the very American me, is that these visits aren’t taboo. If the woman in question is of age than her visitor may simply enter her home. He can knock on the front door without any issues arising. I am not surprised, however, that a woman cannot visit a man. In so many societies, it seems that women are not pure or feminine if they actively seek out sex.

Then, Geertz discusses the “cultural revolution” that the Na experienced. “As early as 1656, the Manchurian Qing, troubled by succession problems among ‘barbarian’ tribes, decreed that the chiefs of such tribes, including the Na, must marry in the standard way” (81). The Na was forced to conform to the ideas of another culture. Those in the higher social classes, with property to maintain, married to protect their possessions and status. Those with nothing to lose continued to engage in “‘depraved,’ ‘backward’” (81) sex. As a result, 50% of adults have syphilis and many women are sterile. Later on, rules implemented by the government (such as, forcing women to marry the genitors of their children) proved “ruinous” (82) for the Na. The government later shifted its emphasis on educating the Na, rather than punishing them.

What I enjoyed more about this example than from the chapter 7 in the Kottak book, is that it discussed the way a society functioned. Kottak is limited because his examples are brief and used to explain concepts. Geertz’s chapter was a specific, extended example that was balanced. It explained the Na society and remained considerably neutral. It mentioned the dangers of such free sex. In America, I associate open sex with disease. But when reading about the Na, I did not once feel concerned for the people. I know multiple partners are dangerous but when reading, I didn’t even think twice about it. I also thought that the way the chapter ended was powerful. It documents the assimilation of a culture. Although the Na had, to me, unconventional ways, the loss of a culture is sad. I think Geertz captured that. This is my favorite reading thus far.