Re: WANTED: A good ethnography on culture in the U.S.

Ruby Rohrlich (rohrlich@GWIS2.CIRC.GWU.EDU)
Thu, 25 Jan 1996 23:04:48 -0500

My knowledge of the Hodenausaunee seems not to be as extensive as yours
seems to be, for I cannot answer your question, but I would be interested
in your answer. However, the
egalitarianism of the League of the Iroquois has been asserted by many
anthropologists, beginning with Lewis Henry Morgan. Ruby Rohrlich

On Wed, 24 Jan 1996, thomas w kavanagh wrote:

>
> On Wed, 24 Jan 1996, Ruby Rohrlich wrote:
> <snip>
>
> > Although some anthropologists - Judith Brown, Eleanor
> > Leacock and I -- have taught and written about the egalitarianism of
> > American Indians, particularly the Iroquois Confederacy
> <unsnip>
>
> I am interested in how you consider the Hodenausaunee "egalitarian." As
> defined by Fried, an egalitarian society is one which "there are as many
> positions of prestige in any given age-sex grade as there are persons
> capable of filling them" (1967:33). This would seem not to apply to the
> Hodenausaunee, or at least to the formal political aspects of the
> "League," in which only certain specific clans and lineages in those clans
> had/have control of the council chief positions. Moreover, the Tuscarora
> have no representation in the formal councils. In what ways does the Clan
> Mother of a non-represented clan have the kind of authority that a
> represented Clan Mother has?
> tk
>