Trobriand Patrilineal Ties
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The Trobrianders’ way of life seems to revolve around the mother significantly more than almost every other culture. For example, children are claimed as part of the matrilineage meaning that they are claimed on their mother’s side of the family. To someone who is not familiar with their culture, it may seem as though the fathers of the children have no rights or obligations to care for and raise their children. Even some people who have studied the Trobrianders have failed to see the importance that fathers play in a child’s life.
Even before a child is born, the father has important roles and duties to fulfill in his child’s life. The first thing that the father helps to do is to develop the fetus and also nurture the fetus by way of intercourse. The Trobrianders believe that through frequent intercourse, the baby will help develop and nurture it. Another thing that the father does to help his child even before it is born is to pass on his matrilineal belongings. For a child, this can mean access to farming land, access to family spells, and even a family’s wealth or status can be passed on. This is very important to the Trobrianders as they are a very political group of people.
When a Trobriand child is born, it is a very private event. The baby is born in the wife’s mother’s hut with only the wife’s mother and her mother’s sister in attendance. After the child is born, the mother and baby must stay secluded for two months. It would seem from the information given that the father is being shut out from the child’s life right from the beginning. However, this is not true at all. The father still has great responsibility for the baby and the mother even when they are living with the mother’s side of the family. For example, the father is still required to bring his wife and newborn baby food while they are away from home. Furthermore, the father begins feeding the baby things such as yams and fish before the baby has stopped nursing.
In addition to having to provide food for his wife and his newborn baby, the father also gets to provide a name for his child from his matrilineal side. This is the name that the child will be called by for his or her lifetime. When he or she passes away, the name is then given back to the father’s side of the family and cannot be passed down. Only names from the mother’s matrilineal side of the family can be passed from generation to generation.
After a short time, the child begins to become weaned from its mother. This is accomplished by leaving the child with a group of people for a few days. In the mother’s absence, the child starts developing the teachings of the father by starting to eat more and more solid foods. This will end the child’s urge to feed from its mother, and when the child returns home, it will no longer sleep with the mother, it will from now on, sleep with its father.
The bond between father and child continues to grow stronger as the child gets older. Not just fathers, but all men in the Trobriand culture care for children while the women are working. Fathers especially spend much of their time with their children. It is not abnormal for a father to watch after his children while he is working to provide for his family. Watching their children is a responsibility that fathers are expected to share as much as everyone else in the tribe. As previously mentioned a father will watch his while working, this shows that fathers are determined to be an influential part of their children’s lives.
Fathers are also responsible for maintaining economic stability for his family much like we expect in our culture. The Trobrianders do not require the fathers to work hard to provide for their family, but if the father is observed being lazy by the other villagers, it is frowned upon. The father’s work ethic to provide for his family shows that he is dedicated to providing a solid future for his family. There are many different types of work that a father can do to support his family such as: make wood carvings for to sell to the tourists, he can help farm and cultivate the land, he could also fish to provide for his family. If he doesn’t work hard, it could have political