First, you expressed your dismay at seeing Mosuo adults treat children as if they had "no soul." I can relate to that. I experienced the same cultural shock in West Africa. I think a key to finding a broader context in which to understand that attitude is in investigating what initiation is. Originally, in so-called primitive societies, initiation was the beginning of personhood, not just adulthood or membership in a defined group. "Childhood," as just an aspect of being human, is a rather recent concept. Starting from induction into the human, a.k.a. adult, community, initiation evolved by specializing in priest/healer training, then preparation for other specialties. Today, in our "developed" societies, initiation is fragmented into myriads of school rituals, sports rituals, military rituals, diplomas, licenses, ranks, clubs, orders, fellowships and professional associations. I think it is fair to say that the closer a culture is to the "one time only, major transition into full personhood" model, the more you will observe adults treating children in ways that are "appalling" from our "children are persons too" perspective.
I don't dispute at all that different environments, circumstances, and cultures will cause vastly different perspectives; and although this seemed rather strange/shocking to me at first, I also see benefits from it. As I explained earlier, the Mosuo tended to have high infant mortality rates in the past, and this could serve as a valuable coping tool to deal with that. In addition, Mosuo families will sometimes "trade" children if one family has too many males, and another too many females. Again, this idea that the child is not a full "human" makes such exchanges easier, and helps maintain a relatively equal gender balance within a family. Keep in mind, with the Mosuo system, if a particular generation of children were all male, there would be no further offspring within that family.
Do you have any additional information on initiation in the Mosuo culture?
This is not an area I have a great deal of expertise in, and am hesitant to say much because I know it may be wrong; I try to only cover those topics I've discussed with the Mosuo in detail, and where I feel I'm representing them accurately. However, it is certainly an area that I plan to explore more in future; at that time, will provide more information here.
Second comment. You wrote about the traditional priest:
"Thus, his actual understanding of "medicine" is rather comical (from our perspective)...his view on it is that medicine is basically just another religious means of doing what he does: that is, defeat evil spirits with the judicious application of the appropriate ceremonies."
Actually, at the scale of global human history, his view is correct. The separation of the roles of priest and healer of the body started in recent times and in relatively small geocultural areas. To be specific, it is largely an effect of the roman catholic church's ruthless effort to wipe out traditional healing in Europe and concentrate the authority over all things spiritual in its own hands. The scientifically trained doctor may have become the standard of the healing profession, but he is still a descendant of the priests and shamans of our animist ancestors.
While I see your point, I would tend to disagree with you somewhat. It is arguable, certainly, that our 'modern' practice of medicine grew out of older religious roots; but equally arguable that much of the modern medical development came about in an entirely secular environment, with "medicine" growing as an offshoot of "science" rather than as an offshoot of any religious roles.
But this is a debate that would have reasonable points on either side, and is rather peripheral to the central issue; that is, how to get people to seek meaningful medical care, instead of relying on getting rid of evil spirits or appeasing angry ancestors. For example, there was a non-profit organization who came through the area performing free eyes surgeries for those who had reversible blindness. A number of people, particularly children, did not take advantage of this because their local Daba told them that it was not an auspicious time for doing this. As a result, quite a few children who could have had their blindness cured will instead go through life without sight. While I try to remain sensitive to local culture, religion, etc., this is a problem that I personally have big issues with.
Hi wolfman,
very cool thread, and best of luck with the complexities you face. Some of the cultural questions and issues seem very similar to those faced by some of the tribes in the US Southwest. The Arizona village of Supai is only accessible by a 10 mile trail of foot/horse/mule -- and helicopter. The impact on business, culture and the people is fascinating to observe.
I'd agree completely -- except that the Mosuo have not yet had their culture decimated in the way that Native Americans have. A large part of my hope in this regard is to help them avoid that particular fate.
One of my favorite books is a book of poetry from Chinese women ('The Orchid boat')- who were mostly concubines or otherwise matriarchal society. I am curious if the Mosuo have a similar tradition of stories or poetry that has been documented?
First, I should clarify that "The Orchid Boat" is not written by women from a matriarchal culture (and the concubine system is completely patriarchal); it is, rather, a collection of poetry written by Chinese women from different times in China's history.
In regards to the Mosuo, as noted earlier, they have no written language, so everything is passed on orally. Certainly, they have stories and legends; and they love to sing, and have many beautiful songs. But documentation, without a written language, is extremely difficult. In the long term, I'd certainly like to do something like this, though.
