3.05.Matriarchy.2014.pptx

Ego-centric characteristics of matriliny
This is a descent-based, unilineal, matrilineally traced natal 'family'
You belong to your mother's line whether you are a man or a woman
You are connected to everyone in this kind of family through a female
Differences for men and women
Are your children part of your own matrilineal family?
Your children WILL be in your matrilineal family only if you are a woman
If you are a man, your children WILL NOT belong to your matrilineal family; they will be members in their mother's matrilineal family
Are you a member of your own matrilineal family all your life?
If you are a woman, you BELONG YOUR WHOLE LIFE
If you are a man, you also BELONG ALL YOUR LIFE
'Longhouse' also a metaphor
Metaphor of longhouse
(1) of their kin-based society
(2)of their polity
Alliance ('confederacy') of
Five Nations (west to east)
Seneca: "Onodowahgah" (People of the Great Hill) or (Large Dark Door)
Cayuga: "Gayogoho:no" (People of the Great Swamp)
Onondaga: "Onoda'gega" (People of the Hills)
Oneida: "Onyota'a:ka" (People of the Upright/Standing Stone)
Mohawk: "Kahniakehake" (People of the Flint)
Became Six Nations (ca 1720)
Tuscarora: "Ska-Ru-Ren" (Shirt/Hemp Wearing People)
Haudenosaunee social organization
matriliny:
unilineal form of descent, traced through women, but always including men (sons & brothers)
matrilocality:
where newly married couples live with the wife's mother
matrilineal inheritance:
where important forms of property (including, often, titles and chieftainships) are inherited in the mother's line
Take all together, this makes the Haudenosaunee a matrifocal (or matricentric) society: where many aspects of adult life are organized by mothers
The question is: were they also a matriarchy?
That is, was theirs a system of formal politics in which senior women held all the authority because of their positions defined by 'motherhood' within these matrifocal forms.
Matrilineal matrilocal families lived in longhouses
That included
Senior clan mother
Her husband (part of the time)
Her unmarried children (both sons & daughters)
Her married daughters
Their husbands (part of the time)
Their unmarried children (both sons & daughters)
Their married daughters (etc)
Her married sons (as much of the time as possible)
NOTE that the matrilineal matrilocal family household always includes as many brothers and sons, as well as husbands, as possible
Matrilineal inheritance of property rights
Longhouses & lands
Inherited in matriline
LH Morgan: "Not the least remarkable among their institutions was that which confined transmission of all titles, rights & property in the female line..." (1901, I:79-80)
Managed collectively by senior women in matriline
And their brothers
NOTE: Sons & brothers always share property rights in matrilineal systems of inheritance

Matrifocality
Longhouses organized extensive agriculture
"Three sisters"
Corn, beans, squash
Archaeological evidence of cornfields = several hundred acres
Plus: apples, berries, maple sugar, wild rice, nuts...
Sullivan & Clinton (1779): destroyed one apple orchard of 1500+ trees
Haudenosaunee matriliny & matrilocality
Longhouses located kin
Physical residence for large extended matrilineal groups (parts of clans)
Separate sections & hearths for individual married daughters' nuclear families





DOOR
DOOR
storeroom
storeroom




Low platform for sitting and sleeping
Low platform for sitting and sleeping


Storage shelf
Storage shelf








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"Blue Clan" matrilineage
HEARTHS
"Blue Clan" Longhouse floor plan



In hands of "senior" women
worked collectively
Including intersexes/berdache
under leadership of clan "mothers"
produce & distribution under control of clan "mothers"
(Brown, J. 1975. Iroquois women: an ethnohistorical note.)
More DeBry engravings, 1591
Clan mothers were senior respected women within the matrilineage
"The rights of the women within a clan include:
"Descent of blood that determines citizenship.
"Possession of official titles for clan mothers, chiefs, faithkeepers, pine tree chiefs and war chiefs.
"Own the home and all of the furnishings.
"Children belong to her family.
"Use of clan lands.
"Food distribution .
"Right to nominate, confirm, and depose male chiefs
"Right to adopt foreigners or prisoners.
"Power to forbid brothers and sons from going to war.
"Power to grant life or death of prisoners.
"Power to maintain the national resources.
"Right to burial grounds for sons, brothers, daughters and sons."
From Six Nations' website: http://sixnations.buffnet.net/Culture/?article=roll_of_clan_mother
'People of the Longhouse'
What were longhouses like?
large:
25-125' long (some as much as 300' long)
approx 20' wide
15-20' high
doors at either end
divided into cubicles
long shelf above on sides
sleeping bench below
hearths in middle
one hearth for each 'family' (sublineage group)


OUTSIDE
INSIDE
Haudenosaunee scholarly legacy
Influence on social theory & American anthropology
Lewis Henry Morgan (1901) League of the Ho-de-no Sau-nee
Became model for influential theories of social evolution
Which explored the relationships among three aspects of society:
kinship (esp forms of descent and marriage)
'arts of subsistence' (later 'cultural ecology')
political organization
Influenced later work, especially
F. Engels Origin of family, private property and the state
And later Marxist social theory
Haudenosaunee political legacy
"Confederacy"
In which administrative/judicial, military and religious branches of government were kept strictly separate
Model for American federal government?
Inspiration for idea of "Separation of Powers"
Albany Plan of Union based upon their political forms
Example of a secular civil government (unlike then- prevalent European forms of divine right monarchy)
see
Grinde. 1977. The Iroquois & the Founding of the American Nation
Johansen. 1982. Forgotten founders: Benjamin Franklin, the Iroquois and the rationale for the American revolution.
Grinde & Johansen. 1990. Exemplar of liberty: Native America and the evolution of democracy
Systemic challenges to matriliny
A woman's fertility is limited
Doesn't matter how many husbands she has
Needs other ways to expand matrifamily membership
Adoption
Keeping sons & brothers involved, and
Drawing in husbands
Formal matrilineal family photos
Tlingit family portrait
Pacific northwest of US
Who is in this photo?
Specifically: what is the relation between the group of men on one side and the women on the other?
(ans: they are sisters and brothers)
Note also: Raven totem at center of 'family'
E.W. Merrill American Museum of Natural History, Neg #328732)
Pacific Northwest of US
Systemic strengths of matriliny
"Disadvantage for recruiting by birth" (Douglas 1969:124)
Depends on how many (or if) women in line give birth
Must draw in members by means other than birth
Keep brothers' and sons' loyalties, and also
Try to win husbands' energy
Characteristics attributed/observed of matrilines
Genealogically shallow
"Openness" in descent groups
Intergroup alliances strong
Great latitude for personal achievement in securing positions of leadership
The historical "Iroquois"
At contact with Europeans, the Iroquois were:
Extensive, impressive & complexly organized
They were:
Matrilineal
Matrilocal
Matrilineal inheritance
Often described as "matriarchal"
Today: their kin, house & political organization at the time of contact
Caughnawaga in the 1750's from a contemporaneous ink & watercolor sketch
Matrilocal residence
Matrilocality means that husbands move after marriage to live in their wives' mother's extended family household
Uxorilocality means that husbands move to live with their wives near (but not in the same household with) their wives' mother.
Note that in all cases of matrilocality sons & brothers remain important in their natal families & households (going back & forth)








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They called themselves:
Haudenosaunee
(means) 'People of the Longhouse'
(Or) Ongwehonweh
(means) 'First people' or 'Original people'
http://www.peace4turtleisland.org/
Museum diorama
Historical Haudenosaunee lands
Very extensive territory (& expanding at contact)
Hudson River, north into Canada, west into Ohio, south in the Carolinas
Total = 24,894,080 acres
1995:
86,716 acres (0.034% of original holdings)
Pop = 74,518 (16,754 in NY State)
Very ancient polity & military
Antiquity debated: certainly by 1539
Earlier evidence: Body of Law ratified by Senecas (last nation to do so) 8/31/1142
Site now a football field in Victor, NY (Mann & Fields IN George- Kanentiio 1995)
Web resources
http://www.ratical.org/many_worlds/6Nations
http://sixnations.buffnet.net/Culture/
http://www.wampumchronicles.com
Matrilineal family



























The Haudenosaunee: a "matriarchy"?
Yes (according to Murdock) "Indeed of all the people of the earth, the Iroquois approach most closely to that hypothetical form of society known as the matriarchate" (1934:32)
Because: there was substantial formal political authority in hands of clan mothers in their capacity as 'mothers' within the institution of the matrilineage
DeBry 1591
Hence (title of influential article) "Matriarchy or mistake?" (1957)
Tendency to dismiss idea that Haudenosaunee politics were based on matriarchy because all sachem were men
Thus the great question
And Richards 1957 title: "Matriarchy or mistake?" Proceedings of the American Ethnological Society's Annual Spring Meeting, Ithaca NY, pp. 36-45
That is: Did the Iroquois have a real 'matriarchy' or were we 'mistaken' to imagine they did?
But, what this question really asks is 'Was there ever a form of political organization that exactly mirrored patriarchy, but with women as mothers absolutely in power?'
Political balance: the removal of sachem-s
Sachems could be impeached ('de-horned')
(According to Parker) "... he shall be warned three times in open council: first, by the women relatives; second, by the men relatives; and finally by [his own lineage sachems]. If the offending [sachem] still be obdurate he shall be dismissed by the War Chief of his Nation for refusing to conform to the laws of the Great Peace" (Sec 25).
Hewitt (Tuscarora ethnologist) with other prominent Iroquois ?sachem-s ca 1903-28
Sachem-s in council, 1910 (photo: A.C. Parker?)
Haudenosaunee social organization
Matriliny, matrilocality, matrilineal inheritance and matriarchy
Do not result in the absolute domination of clan mothers
Which would be a 'mirror image' of patriarchy
Instead, they result in a complex system of checks & balances
with patterns of alliance between men & women
esp. brothers & sisters
Suggests we need to recognize an independent definition of 'matriarchy' (and not just one derivative of 'patriarchy') just as we need to understand that matriliny is not an exact 'mirror image' of patriliny.
Pre- and Colonial Native American have many tales of very powerful women
Like Zereviah Gould Mitchell (top left) descendant of Lydia Tuspaquin & Massasoit
So that many of the European women captured by the Indians did not want to return home when they were found
Like Mary Jemison (story, right)
And women's powers did not abuse or exclude men or berdache
Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address
This translation of the Mohawk version of the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address was developed, published in 1993, and provided here, courtesy of:
Six Nations Indian Museum and the Tracking Project
All rights reserved.
Thanksgiving Address: Greetings to the Natural World
English version: John Stokes and Kanawahienton (David Benedict, Turtle Clan/Mohawk)
Mohawk version: Rokwaho (Dan Thompson, Wolf Clan/Mohawk)
Original inspiration: Tekaronianekon (Jake Swamp, Wolf Clan/Mohawk)
http://www.peace4turtleisland.org/pages/Thanks.htm

Audio: Floyd Red Crow Westerman The land is your mother
Today's audio
Feather River Singers Beautiful world (women's traditional) and Women warriors of the 507th (honoring song)
Beaver Chief Grandmother's song
Joanne Shenandoah Mother of nations and We are the Iroquois
Floyd Red Crow Westerman The land is your mother
Native American Drums Iroquois celebration drums
Charlie Wayne Mother earth, father sky
Owsley Matriarch (of the family)
Matriliny
Everyone is born into the natal family of their mother (and mother's mother's mothers)
Unilineal descent traced in the mother's line
Mothers
line
Matri
liny





Matrifocal (also sometimes called matricentric)
Matrilineal descent (determines birth group membership)
Matrilocality (determines place of residence after marriage)
Matrilineal inheritance (of important forms of property)
?is this MATRIARCHY?
Formal political authority in the hands of (senior) women by virtue of their motherhood (as it is defined in that society)
MATRIFOCALITY, MATRIARCHY & THE HISTORICAL CASE OF THE HAUDENOSAUNEE
Kathryn S. March
Cornell University
To honor the original keepers of these lands upon which we stand today.
Audio: Joanne Shenandoah We are the Iroquois
But: Clearly a scary idea to colonists
Political balance: in council meetings themselves
Women had rights to "advise and admonish" in open council
LH Morgan: "In the councils of the nation, which were of frequent occurrence, all business of national concernment was transacted; and although the questions moved on such occasions would finally be settled by the opinions of the sachems, yet such was the spirit of the Iroquois system of government that the influence of the inferior chiefs, the warriors, and even of the women would make itself felt" (1901, I:66, emphasis mine).
Parker's Sec 52: also conferred this right to "advise & admonish" upon women in council meetings
Gendered political balance:
selecting sachem-s
Reconstruction of the Haudenosaunee "constitution" by Parker IN Grinde (1977) The Iroquois & the Founding of the American Nation.
Selection process for sachem
Had to be from designated (sachem-holding) matrilineage
Had to be found "trustworthy, of good character" (Sec 53)
Nominated by senior women in lineage
Accepted by candidate
Ratified by senior men in lineage
Confirmed by sister lineages' senior clanswomen
Installed by other sachems














The prevailing definition of matriarchy
Matriarchy is usually imagined as the 'mirror opposite' of patriarchy
Formal political authority in hands of senior fathers
Rubin (1975) says that patriarchy can be best understood by envisioning the authority of the 'patriarchs'
Abraham (Judeo-Christian) and others like him in other parts of the world
With absolute authority over wives, sons, daughters, herds
Perhaps shared (in the end) with father's widows/elderly mothers…
Does this definition fit the historical Haudenosaunee?
Yes: women powerful as clan mothers
And no: women share power with brothers
Haudenosaunee politics: "Matriarchy or Mistake?"
(Richards' 1957 article title)
What were Haudenosaunee politics like?
Specifically: what was the formal political authority of clan mothers? how/was it related to that of fathers/brothers/men?
There was a clear "separation of powers" with systematic "checks and balances" of:
Religious leadership
Civil/secular government leadership & diplomacy
Military leadership
There was also a similar separation and checks/balances between:
Men and women
See A. C. Parker (1968) Parker on the Iroquois. Syracuse NY: Syracuse Univ Press, JNB Hewitt (1932) Status of women in Iroquois polity before 1784. Wash DC: Smithsonian, MH Foster (1995) "Lost women of the matriarchy: Iroquois women in the historical literature." American Indian culture and research journal 19(3): 121-140
Religious leaders
'Keepers of the Faith'
Half were men, half were women
Organized agricultural cycle rituals
And bereavement rituals

List of calendrical rituals
DeBry 1591
Military leaders
'War Chiefs'
opportunity for younger men
including those without influential family (matriline) positions
to display valor and achieve position of importance
Rising in importance as conflict with colonists increased
Red Jacket
Seneca
warrior
Political/administrative leaders
Sachem or Hoyaneh ('chiefs')
47-50 titled sachem-ships
Perpetual position (like 'Senator')
Purely legislative & equal in rank
not territorial (NOT like 'Senator')
Based in matrilineage
chosen from within matrilineages
from among the members of that line
to represent its lineage in Council
and legislate the civil political affairs of the Haudenosaunee
All sachem-s were men (or almost all)
Maple cane mnemonic for remembering all the sachem titles & their clans
Sachem Ninigret
"Checks and balances"
"Separation of powers"
Between religion and a secular state
"Checks and balances"
among 'branches' of government (military, legislative & religious)
but also between men and women
This was the part that Ben Franklin and the Albany Plan of Union "didn't get."
Evidence esp Adams
Early representations of "Iroquois" woman & man
Economic balance
Brown's (1975) argument about Iroquois economics
men: hunting, war, trade & diplomacy
women: agriculture, kin & community
DeBry 1591
Political balance: provisioning council meetings
The importance of provisioning council meetings
from clan sisters: [Women of the clan of a sachemship] "shall elect two women of their family as cooks... It is not good for a [sachem] to allow his people whom he has called to go hungry" (Sec 50).
or again from wives: "When a [sachem] holds a conference in his home, his wife, if she wishes, may prepare food.... This is an honorable right which she may exercise and an expression of her esteem" (Sec 51).
De Bry 1591
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