non-patriarchal societies

[Aqualung]

Can anybody give me some examples of non-patriarchal societies? Does anybody know of any matriarchal societies?

 

[Nanda]

Does anybody know of any matriarchal societies?

My house.

Seriously, though, while many anthropologists say there aren't any, nor have there ever been, others say that the the Mosuo in China fit the bill, because they still practice matrilinearity and matrilocality. However, the political power still tends to fall into the hands of males, so it's not exactly a true matriarchy, it's more matrifocal. Here's an article on the Mosuo: Matriarchal/Matrilineal Culture

There are several other matrifocal societies, such as the people of the Western Sahara, the people of the Bolama archipelago in Guinea-Bissau, Guajiro tribes in South America, and the traditional Nair community in Kerala, South India.

In the animal kingdom, there are many matriarchal societies; ants, bees, bonobos, elephants, orcas, spiders, hyenas, and certain types of lizards, to name a few.

 

[Smoke]

Does anybody know of any matriarchal societies?

Matrilineal, yes. Matriarchal, no.

 

[angellous_evangellous]

Can anybody give me some examples of non-patriarchal societies? Does anybody know of any matriarchal societies?

No... but the ancient Greek historian Heroclitus found a matrilinial society in Asia Minor I believe. I'll see if I can find the name of it.

EDIT: I found it... it is the Lycian cities in Greece, recorded in Herodotus 1.173 and Plutarch, Moralia 428d. See also the discussion in Simon Pembroke, "List of the Matriarchs: A Study of the Inscriptions of Lycia," Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 8 no 3 (1965). Compare with Plutarch, Life of Lycurgus, 14-16.

Now Lycia was a matrilinial society... it does not mean that they were matriarchal... that women actually ruled.

The only women-ruling society that I ever heard of was an island nation... I'll see if I can find it in my notes. For the mean time:

Matriarchy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

While there are existing matrilinear and matrilocal societies, such as those of the Minangkabau or Mosuo, no matriarchal societies are known

 

[Inky]

I don't know of any modern ones, but it's thought that ancient hunter-gatherer cultures were not matriarchal or patriarchal, since the group/family leaders (marked out by burial decorations and such) were sometimes male and sometimes female.

 

[angellous_evangellous]

I don't know of any modern ones, but it's thought that ancient hunter-gatherer cultures were not matriarchal or patriarchal, since the group/family leaders (marked out by burial decorations and such) were sometimes male and sometimes female.

The society can be patriarchal and have many female leaders - or vice-versa.

 

[Inky]

The society can be patriarchal and have many female leaders - or vice-versa.

That's true nowadays, but when societies had no concrete authority or laws and no major transfer of resources from person to person (except for parents to children), the characteristics of the leaders are the only thing that could determine an "-archy", really.

 

[angellous_evangellous]

That's true nowadays, but when societies had no concrete authority or laws and no major transfer of resources from person to person (except for parents to children), the characteristics of the leaders are the only thing that could determine an "-archy", really.

With no 'concrete laws' and other major transfers of resources from person to person which can independently verify characteristics of leaders as imagined from tombs, drawing such broad conclusions which indicate an 'archy' from such slim evidence is a bit presumptuous.

 

[MaddLlama]

I would just like to point out how incredibly happy I am that nobody has mentioned Robert Graves. So incredibly elated.