The Meaning of Paternity and the Virgin Birth Debate

Abstract

The notion of paternity has been central to theoretical debates about the evolution and organisation of human society. These debates were intensified when it appeared that certain contemporary 'primitives' did not acknowledge paternity. Their procreative beliefs were classified, along with the Virgin Birth, as examples of a widespread theme of supernatural birth. In this article, I argue that it is the anthropologists who have not understood the meaning of paternity and thus have distorted the beliefs of others and obscured the implications of our own. Drawing upon fieldwork in Turkey, I show that paternity has meant begetting; it has meant the primary and creative role, while maternity has meant nurturing and bearing. This 'monogenetic' meaning of paternity is made explicit in Christianity and exemplified by the Virgin Birth but is consistent with the theological concept of monotheism. Similarly the procreative beliefs of the Trobriand Islanders and the Australian Aborigines are consistent with their cosmological beliefs. These are different systems, but both are integrated between intimate and ultimate concerns. Finally, it is asked why paternity has been of such fascination to theorists from the nineteenth century until the present.