Sex and Society: Studies in the Social Psychology of SexThomas, William Isaac
Science
Sex and Society: Studies in the Social Psychology of Sex
Thomas, William Isaac
Sex; Women -- Social and moral questions; Women -- Social conditions
The word _Nupa_ is without any exception applied
indiscriminately by men of a particular group to women of
another group, and _vice versa_, and simply implies a member
of a group of possible wives or husbands, as the case may be.
While this is so it must be remembered that in actual practice
each individual man has one or perhaps two of these _Nupa_
women who are especially attached to himself, and live with
him in his own camp. In addition to them, however, each
man has certain _Nupa_ women beyond the limited number
just referred to, with whom he stands in the relation of
_Piraungaru_. To women who are the _Piraungaru_ of a man (the
term is a reciprocal one) the latter has access under certain
conditions, so that they may be considered as accessory wives.
The result is that in the Urabunna tribe every woman is the
especial _Nupa_ of one particular man, but at the same time
he has no exclusive right to her as she is the _Piraungaru_
of certain other men who also have the right of access to her.
Looked at from the point of view of the man his _Piraungaru_
are a limited number of the women who stand in the relation
of _Nupa_ to him. There is no such thing as one man having the
exclusive right to one woman; the elder brothers, or _Nuthie_,
of the latter, in whose hands the matter lies, will give one
man a preferential right, but at the same time they will
give other men of the same group a secondary right to her.
Individual marriage does not exist either in name or in
practice in the Urabunna tribe. The initiation in regard to
establishing the relationship of _Piraungaru_ between a man
and a woman must be taken by the elder brothers, but the
arrangement must receive the sanction of the old men of
the group before it can take effect. As a matter of actual
practice this relationship is usually established at times
when considerable numbers of the tribe are gathered together
to perform important ceremonies, and when these and other
important matters which require the consideration of the
old men are discussed and settled. The number of a man's
_Piraungaru_ depends entirely upon the measure of his power
and popularity; if he be what is called "urku," a word which
implies much the same as our word "influential," he will have
a considerable number; if he be insignificant or unpopular,
then he will meet with scanty treatment. A woman may be
_Piraungaru_ to a number of men, and as a general rule the
women and men who are _Piraungaru_ to one another are to be
found living grouped together. A man may always lend his wife,
that is, the woman to whom he has the first right, to
another man, provided always he be her _Nupa_, without the
relationship of _Piraungaru_ existing between the two, but
unless this relationship exists no man has any right of access
to a woman.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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