Matriculture, Shamanism, and the Authority of Women

This book is an edited collection of chapters featuring research into the history and contemporary expressions of matricultures in communities that include the Basque of northern Spain and southern France, the Mosuo of China, the Ahtna of southern Alaska, the Pangcah/Amis of Taiwan, and the Ho-chunk and Cherokee of the contiguous United States, as well as present-day settler American society. Based on Geertzian theory, matriculture is a term used here to encompass that entire cultural system present within every society pertaining to mothers, women, and the feminine; in other words, the various cultural worlds that women inhabit, voluntarily or involuntarily. Power, in this context, represents the authority that women wield or are denied in these worlds. This book, then, explores intersections between matriculture and power among a wide range of societies; contributors document the waxing and waning of matriculture across diverse realms of the spiritual/shamanic and the socio-political. By examining the powers that be, these contributions provide new avenues of analysis and throw light on the forces at work that support or suppress women’s authority, action, and agency. They point to the social benefits of a thriving matriculture, and to the conditions necessary for all members of a society to flourish.