ANTH 100A Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Feminist Anthropology, Matriarchy, Patrilineality
Document Summary
Feminist anthropology interested in gender practices across different cultures. Particular is about difference, universal is in regard to everyone. Just because you have a goddess doesn"t mean all the women are treated the same way. Female presence is positive in an ideal context, but actual practices constrain women. We can talk about individual experience, but that doesn"t mirror the prevailing ideology. Matriarchy: a social system in which women head both family and state/government. Patriarchy: a social system in which men head both family and state/government. Matrilineality and patrilineality both refer to lineage. Kinship systems in which group membership is passed exclusively through female/male lines of descent respectively. However, lines of descent do not necessarily determine forms of governance. Egalitarianism: equal society, gender does not determine who gets roles of power. Social definition based on kinship: group identity is passed bilaterally through both parents equally. Political definition: people of all genders have equal access to power in all social domains.
