Women and the Family in Rural Taiwan

Margery Wolf

Published by Stanford University Press 1972

Women and the Family in Rural Taiwan

Margery Wolf

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780804780780

Overview
Contents

About this book

Studies of Chinese society commonly emphasizze men's roles and functions, a not unreasonable approach to a society with patrilineal kinship structure. But this emphasis has left many important gaps in our knowledge of Chinese life.

This study seeks to fill some of these gaps by examining the ways rural Taiwanese women manipulate men and each other in the pursuit of their personal goals. The source of a woman's power, her home in a social structure dominated by men, is what the author calls the uterine family, a de facto social unity consisting of a mother and her children.

The first four chapters are devoted to general background material: a brief historical sketch of Taiwan and a description fo the settings in which the author's observations were made; the history of a particular family; the relation of Chinese women to the Chinese kinship system; and the interrelationships among women in the community. The remaining ten chapters take up in detail the successive stages of the Taiwanese woman's life cycle: infancy, childhood, engagement, marriage, motherhood, and old age. Throught the book the author presents detailed information on such topics as marriage negotiations, childbirth, child training practices, and the organization of women's groups.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
1 Some History and Some Geography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2 The Ongs of Peihotien Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	14
3 Uterine Families and the Women's Community Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	32
4 Friends and Neighbors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	42
5 Little Girls Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	53
6 Older Girls Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	80
7 Engagement Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	100
8 Marriage Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	128
9 Waiting Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	142
10 Taking Charge Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	158
11 Girls Who Marry Their Brothers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	171
12 Girls Who Have No Brothers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	191
13 Filial Daughters Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	205
14 The Rewards of Old Age Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	231

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Copyright year: 1972
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 236
Illustrations
- Other: illus
Keywords: Asian Studies; Anthropology -- Asia; Anthropology -- Race, Class, and Gender

eBook

Published: June 1, 1972
ISBN: 9780804780780