[Glorantha] Matriarchy

> From: Orlanth Umathi <orlanth.umathi_at_blueyonder.co.uk>
> Subject: Re: [Glorantha] Re: Grandmother, a patriarchal concept?
> To: The Glorantha Digest <glorantha@rpglist.org>
> Message-ID: <44AA7DD6.7080800@blueyonder.co.uk>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
> Still in thinking time (apologies for the confusing question but this is
> how it came out. I will try and rephrase soon.
>
> But, I will break silence to comment on a couple of things
>
> Donald Oddy:
> Except there will be people who don't know their mothers, maybe

>> they were orphaned or abandoned and taken in by strangers. The
>> rarer this is in a society the less status and security such
>> people have. I can see Esrolian society being particularly harsh
>> on such unfortunates - "You don't know who your great grandmother
>> was! She must have been a slave or stickpicker to abandon her
>> child".

>> How is Mother a Patriachal concept? People are born of a mother and
>> they know who is their near kin. So they measure kinship in terms of
>> maternal siblings (born to the same mother - if someone knows the
>> proper term or a better term then I'll use it). So, kinship probably
>> includes, not necessarily in the order of importance, the following:
>>  Maternal siblings (born to the same mother)
>>  Mother
>>  Mother's Maternal Siblings
>>  Mother's mother and so on ....
>>  Sisters' children
>>  Aunts' Children
>>  Great Aunts' Children and so on ...

    What you're describing here is matrilineal descent, not matriarchy. A culture can trace its ancestry, transmission of property, and so on via the mother's family without being matriarchal, that is, transmitting family/political power to a woman. For example, Judaism is matrilineal; Jewishness is dependant on one's mother being Jewish, while the religious affiliation of one's father is irrelevant. There is some evidence (though not real solid evidence) that the Picts, who were, so far as we know, patriarchal, were at the same time matrilineal. There have been quite a number of matrilineal cultures historically, while matriarchy has been quite difficult to demonstrate, because it is often confused with matrilineality.

    Esrolia is a matriarchy. Whether it's matrilineal remains to be discovered by the list or revealed by Greg. There's no inherent reason why it would necessarily be more accepting of orphans. Esrolian culture could very plausibly penalize those whose mothers aren't from good families. The most obvious Gloranthan matriarchy, uz culture, scorns uz females who have given birth to trollkin. The concept of bastardy is unlikely to develop, since one normally knows who one's mother was, and Esrolian culture might therefore not stigmatize a woman who has a child outside of marriage. They might have an inverted double standard about marriage--men are expected to be faithful, while women are permitted to take extra lovers.

    The Esrolians may also be matrilocal, that is to say, the husband marries into the wife's family, moves to her family property, and adopts the worship of her family gods and spirits.

Andrew E. Larsen
(unlurking briefly) Received on Wed 05 Jul 2006 - 12:56:20 EEST