Hide and secrete: women's sexual magic in belize.

Abstract

The study is an interpretive descnption of certain kinds of magic or dirt sorcery used by women in Belize (fonnerly British Honduras) to preserve mantal and common-law unions. Relations between the sexes are briefly described, pnmarily in economic terns, and suggestions are made as to the possible functions of the magical methods of attachment, which may serve as stabllizing influences in a society where marriage is quite brittle. This paper is a descriptive analysis of certasn mwical practices associated with relations between the sexes in Belize (formerly British Honduras) which I uncovered while engaged in arlthropological field work there (funded by NIH grant MH 48830). These practices were occasionally mentioned in connection with the genesis of psychiatric disorder and indeed, after further inquiry, appeared to constitute a fairly important part of the cultural content of inter-sex behavior. The purpose of this report is to present a detailed description of a rather unique sexually-related belief and action system and to offer some possible explanations as to how this system is related to other aspects of socio-cultural organization, especially the position of women. To place this information in a larger perspective a few facts about Belize are in order. The absolute smallness of the country, both in area and population, has been an important factor in the development of the present society as are the location and economy. With a total area of 8666 miles and a population of 140,000 (1973 estimates), it is very small in scale. The ethnically diverse population is concentrated in the fotmer capitol, Belize City, with the remaining persons scattered in the surrounding rural areas. Located as Belize is on the cultural and geographic border between Latin America and the Caribbean, there is a blending of West Indian and Ibero-American life styles which gives the small colony a distinctive ambience and atmosphere. However, Belize has not prospered greatly in the past; and, due to social, political, geographic, and historical factors,