Symbolic Inaction in Rituals of Gender and Procreation among the Garifuna (Black Caribs) of Honduras

Abstract

The concept of the accompanies the development of anthropology since its beginnings. As such, it provides us with a case study of ethnological interpretation over one century. As the anthropologist's creation, the concept couvade provides us with a mirror in which to examine our discipline. This paper first reviews the wide range of practices to which the term has referred. It then briefly outlines the history of explanation of these practices, giving emphasis to the position, held by various researchers from 1861 to the present, that the is a form of maternity simulation. Taking the case of the Garifuna (Black Caribs) of Honduras, I argue, instead, that examination of meaning in parent rituals among the Garifuna reveals that the is not merely a representation