The Position of Men and Women in Truk and Ponape: A Comparative Analysis of Kinship Terminology and Folktales

Abstract

HE purpose of this paper1 is to explore the differences in kinship terminology of two genetically-related matrilineal societies in Micronesia, Truk and Ponape, and from this exploration to make some deductions about the differences in the typical family groupings which produced them, and the implied strength or weakness of male and female positions in these groupings. These deductions will then be checked against the characterization of male and female relatives in folktales. It is proposed that the strength of male and female statuses in the two societies will be reflected in differing competence of male and female characters in folktales. Truk and Ponape are both located in the eastern half of the Carolina Islands. Truk is a complex atoll consisting of a group of high islands in a large lagoon. Ponape is a single larger high island about 400 miles away. For this paper I assume that the modern differences in the two cultures are due mainly to local differentiation after geographical separation. A further premise is Murdock's conclusion that, at some time in the inferrable past, the ancestors of these people had a Hawaiian-type kinship terminology which had developed in varying degree toward a full-fledged matrilineal terminology at the time of discovery.2 For a study of the strength of male and female statuses it would be desirable to determine the actual composition of a good sample of households, observe actual family behavior and economy, and check the conclusions reached against other projective data in addition to folktales. Such a procedure is hindered by the problem of acculturation, especially on Ponape. Probably modes of behavior tend to change before either kinship terminology or traditional folktales. Therefore we may get a more accurate picture of family structure in the formative period of the kinship terminology by paying greater attention to the current kinship terms and to traditional tales, and less to the observation of current behavior.