Partible Paternity and Anthropological Theory: The Construction of an Ethnographic Fantasy [Paperback]

Partible Paternity and Anthropological Theorydiscusses the conception partible paternity within Amazonian Indian communities. Partible paternity is the idea that several sexual acts are necessary to produce a fetus and that the mother may have these with several men, who in turn have several sexual partners as well. Victorian anthropologists viewed this situation as group marriage, a hypothetical state in which individual marriage and the family did not exist and which, presumably, once characterized Western society. The notion of group marriage was demolished by 1920, when it was shown that individual marriage and the family exist nearly everywhere. More recently, however, the idea has been resurrected by Stephen Beckerman and Paul Valentine in their bookCultures of Multiple Fathers.This book argues that Beckerman and Valentine are completely wrong-in Amazonia, the family exists everywhere, and the occasional trysts which result in shared paternity are subject to male sexual jealousy.Warren Shapirois emeritus professor of anthropology at Rutgers University. He has written on kinship and anthropological theory for over four decades; his works include three other books and dozens of articles in both professional and popular journals and magazines.

In this small but impressive volume, Shapiro critiques the notion of partible paternity using an approach informed by ethnographic inclusiveness and a carefully measured application of fate from biosocial research.  Paul Heyer, Wilfrid Laurier University

He pulls no punches and minces no words, but his hard-hitting essay makes important points about human social behavior and current academic attitudes. Herbert Lewis, emeritus professor of anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison

The clarity and balance of presentation of various views will greatly facilitate the readers' comprehension and stimulate lively discussion in the classroom. Harold Scheffler, professor of al3×