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| Figure 1: The Tiwi |
Today’s blog post is about the Tiwi, an indigenous group
that resides on the Tiwi Islands along the coast of Australia (Figures 1 &
2). The Tiwi culture has changed quite a
bit due to the presence and influence of Western people and cultures, so this
blog post will largely focus on traditional versus modern Tiwi life,
specifically their distinctive marriage practices.
The Tiwi live on two small islands off the north coast of
Australia, the Melville and Croker Islands.
These are lush tropical eucalypt and rainforests, which contrast the
barren desert environment of most of Australia.
The Tiwi lived on these islands for centuries prior to contact with
European groups, starting with Dutch traders in the 17th
century. They later came in contact with
British, Japanese, and Portuguese traders throughout the next several
centuries, all of whom had some (small to large) effect on the Tiwi and their
culture.
Traditional Tiwi culture consists of small patrilineally
based bands that lived in small pockets of land that were owned and managed by
the band’s patriarch. Women in Tiwi
culture did hold equal status within the group.
Men may have owned the land, but women controlled wealth through the
collection of food and resources for the family. This created a balance in power between the
sexes and equality within the household.
This equality was further reinforced by individuals recognizing clan
memberships to both their mother’s and father’s clan.
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| Figure 2: Tiwi Islands |
The Tiwi practiced polygyny,
meaning the marriage of a man to more than one woman. Polygyny is common practice among several
different cultures globally, but the polygyny practiced by the Tiwi is rather
unique. Upon the birth of a daughter the
parents set out to find her a spouse that she would marry upon reaching an appropriate
age (typically during puberty). This
practice involved older men marrying younger women, and the young brides would
be educated in the practices of collecting food and resources to sustain the
family. This allowed the men to accumulate
wealth. If a husband passed away prior
to the daughter becoming of age and marrying him another suitor was quickly
found a marriage contract discovered. Upon
a husband’s death the widowed wives would marry a much younger man.
This practice was looked down upon by Western missionaries
(and may seem strange to you, the reader), and it was quickly abolished by the
Westerners as a result. Despite the
strangeness of the practice the marriage practices among men and women (of all
ages) served specific purposes in the Tiwi culture, which was primarily based
in the Tiwi belief about pregnancy and how it happened. The Tiwi believed that women could become
pregnant at any time, but in order for the pregnancy to be successful the woman
had to be married. The woman’s husband
would go on a spirit quest while he slept and seek out the spirit of the unborn
child that he would send to his wife, thereby successfully impregnating
her. Since the Tiwi believed that girls
and women could become pregnant at any time but the pregnancy could not be
successful without a marriage newborns were contracted for marriage as soon as
possible. This is just part of the
reason for this marriage practice, though.
Another more practical reason lay in the relationships to land and
wealth. Because men owned land and women
collected and controlled wealth marriages were encouraged to allow the Tiwi
economic and social systems to continue.
Men who owned land but did not have wealth were undesirable, so young
men would marry older widows who would assist them in acquiring wealth to allow
them to take on younger brides. Older
men married younger women to protect them from miscarriages and to provide them
access to learning how to properly collect resources for themselves and the
family.
It is important to note that it is believed that Tiwi women
often did have extramarital affairs with young men that they favored (and the
same for older Tiwi men with women they favored), but extramarital affairs were
not encouraged or accepted within the culture.
If a married Tiwi woman married it was assumed that her husband was the
father as he was the only one who could successfully provide access to a spirit
baby and a successful pregnancy.
So while this practice may seem very bizarre remember the primary
principle of anthropology: cultural
relativism. What may seem strange to
you and your culture makes perfect sense to the Tiwi based on their own
cultural beliefs. The Tiwi no longer engage
in this marriage practice, but that is because of changing cultural values due in
part to repressive practices and adoption of new cultural traditions. So even if you cannot find yourself reaching
a completely culturally relativistic stance on this matter remember that it is
a thing of the past. This should not
diminish the importance of their traditional cultural practices or values; it’s
just something to keep in mind if you ever meet a Tiwi.
References
Peters-Golden, H. (2011). Culture Sketches: Case Studies in Anthropology. 6th Edition. Mc-Graw Hill Education.
