Procreation Metaphors in Rural Cyprus and Greece
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Abstract
Some social scientists have been tempted to make wide ranging comparisons of whole societies, or cultures, using key metaphors as the units of comparison. Carol Delaney in her monograph on a Turkish village and subsequent wide-ranging paper suggested that concepts of bio-social procreation could be generative of wider and deeper cosmological, theological and gender ideas, for the Abrahamic religions. This idea was ‘tested’ using data from older people in Greek Cypriot villages and in Greece who had been less exposed to medical and bio-scientific discourses during higher education. The findings were both suggestive, of similarities, but also did not support Delaney’s wider and wilder imaginative constructions. This paper suggests we need to work closer to specific regions and identifiable social cohorts, and that we need to pay more attention to successive folkloric texts, rather than theology to understand these issues empirically.
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Keywords
Carol Delaney, key metaphors, procreation beliefs, Geertz
References
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Barnes, J.A. (1973) ‘Genetrix: Genitor: Nature: Culture?’, in Goody, J. (ed.), The Character of Kinship. London: Cambridge University Press, pp. 61–74.
Bloch, M. (1977) ‘The Past in the Present and the Past’, Man, n.s. Vol. 12, pp. 278–292.
Bourdieu, P. (1977) Outline of a Theory of Practice. London: Cambridge University Press.
Campbell, J. (1964) Honour, Family and Patronage: A Study of the Institutions and Moral Values in a Greek Mountain Community. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Delaney, C. (1986) ‘The Meaning of Paternity and the Virgin Birth Debate’, Man n.s. Vol. 21, pp. 494–513.
Delaney, C. (1991) ‘The Seed and the Soil: Gender and Cosmology’, in Turkish Village Society. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 369–428.
Dimitriou, S. (1988) ‘Gender Roles and Symbolic Systems on an Aegean Island’. PhD Thesis, University of London. School of Oriental and African Studies. Department of Anthropology and Sociology, UK.
du Boulay, J. (1974) Portrait of a Greek Mountain Village. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
du Boulay, J. (1984) ‘The Blood: Symbolic Relations between Descent, Marriage, Incest Prohibitions and Spiritual Kinship in Greece’, Man n.s., Vol. 19, pp. 553–556.
du Boulay, J. (1991) ‘Cosmos and Gender in Village Greece’, in Loizos, P. and Papataxiarchis, E. (eds), Contested Identities: Gender and Kinship in Modern Greece. Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 47–78.
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Gell, A. (1992) The Anthropology of Time: Cultural Constructions of Temporal Maps and Images. Oxford: Berg.
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Herzfeld, M. (1983) ‘Interpreting Kinship Terminology: The Problem of Patriliny in Rural Greece’, Anthropological Quarterly, Vol. 56, No. 4, pp. 157–166.
Kantsa, V. (2011) ‘“Late”, “Early”, “Never”: Time, Gender and Technology in Assisted Reproduction’, in Moravec, M. (ed.), Motherhood Online. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp. 200–201.
Kantsa, V. (ed.) (2013) I Mitrotita sto Proskinio. Sinchrones Erevnes stin Elliniki Ethnographia [Motherhood in the Forefront. Recent Research in Greek Ethnography]. Athens: Alexandria Publ. [in Greek].
Leach, E. (1969) ‘Virgin Birth’ (first published [1966] in Proceedings of the Royal Anthropological Institute, pp. 39–49) reprinted in Genesis as Myth and other essays. London: Cape, pp. 25–83.
Loizos, P. (1975) The Greek Gift: Politics in a Greek Cypriot Village. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Loizos, P. (1981) The Heart Grown Bitter: A Chronicle of Cypriot War Refugees. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Loizos, P. (1998) ‘How Might Turkish and Greek Cypriots See Each Other More Clearly?’ in Calotychos, V. (ed.), Cyprus and Its People: Nation, Identity and Experience in an Unimaginable Community 1955–1997. Colorado: Westview Press, pp. 35–51.
Loizos, P. and Heady, P. (eds) (1999) Conceiving Persons: Ethnographies of Procreation, Fertility and Growth. London: Athlone.
MacCormack, C.P. (1982 [1994]) Ethnography of Fertility and Birth, 1st and 2nd editions. Prospect Heights: Waveland Press.
McNeill, W.H. (1978) The Metamorphosis of Greece since World War II. Chicago: Chicago University Press/Oxford: Blackwell.
Ott, S. (1979) ‘Aristotle among the Basques: The “Cheese Analogy” of Conception’, Man, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 699–711.
Pina-Cabral, J. (1986) Sons of Adam, Daughters of Eve. The World View of the Alto Minho. Oxford: Clarendon.
Spiro, M. (1968) ‘Virgin Birth, Parthenogenesis and Physiological Paternity: An Essay in Cultural Interpretation’, Man, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 242–261.
Stewart, C. (1991) Demons and the Devil: Moral Imagination in Modern Greek Culture. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press.
Stonehouse, J. (1994) Idols to Incubators: Reproduction Theory through the Ages. London: Scarlet Press.
Theodossopoulos, D. (2003) Troubles with Turtles: Cultural Understandings of the Environment on a Greek Island. Oxford: Berghahn.
Theodossopoulos, D. (2007) (ed.) When Greeks think about Turks: The View from Anthropology. London: Routledge.
Barnes, J.A. (1973) ‘Genetrix: Genitor: Nature: Culture?’, in Goody, J. (ed.), The Character of Kinship. London: Cambridge University Press, pp. 61–74.
Bloch, M. (1977) ‘The Past in the Present and the Past’, Man, n.s. Vol. 12, pp. 278–292.
Bourdieu, P. (1977) Outline of a Theory of Practice. London: Cambridge University Press.
Campbell, J. (1964) Honour, Family and Patronage: A Study of the Institutions and Moral Values in a Greek Mountain Community. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Delaney, C. (1986) ‘The Meaning of Paternity and the Virgin Birth Debate’, Man n.s. Vol. 21, pp. 494–513.
Delaney, C. (1991) ‘The Seed and the Soil: Gender and Cosmology’, in Turkish Village Society. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 369–428.
Dimitriou, S. (1988) ‘Gender Roles and Symbolic Systems on an Aegean Island’. PhD Thesis, University of London. School of Oriental and African Studies. Department of Anthropology and Sociology, UK.
du Boulay, J. (1974) Portrait of a Greek Mountain Village. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
du Boulay, J. (1984) ‘The Blood: Symbolic Relations between Descent, Marriage, Incest Prohibitions and Spiritual Kinship in Greece’, Man n.s., Vol. 19, pp. 553–556.
du Boulay, J. (1991) ‘Cosmos and Gender in Village Greece’, in Loizos, P. and Papataxiarchis, E. (eds), Contested Identities: Gender and Kinship in Modern Greece. Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 47–78.
Evans-Pritchard, E. (1962 [1932]) ‘Heredity and Gestation as the Azande See Them’, reprinted in his Essays in Social Anthropology. London: Faber, pp. 400–414.
Geertz, C. (1993[1973]) The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays. London: Fontana.
Gell, A. (1992) The Anthropology of Time: Cultural Constructions of Temporal Maps and Images. Oxford: Berg.
Goody, J. (1983) The Development of the Family and Marriage in Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Herzfeld, M. (1983) ‘Interpreting Kinship Terminology: The Problem of Patriliny in Rural Greece’, Anthropological Quarterly, Vol. 56, No. 4, pp. 157–166.
Kantsa, V. (2011) ‘“Late”, “Early”, “Never”: Time, Gender and Technology in Assisted Reproduction’, in Moravec, M. (ed.), Motherhood Online. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp. 200–201.
Kantsa, V. (ed.) (2013) I Mitrotita sto Proskinio. Sinchrones Erevnes stin Elliniki Ethnographia [Motherhood in the Forefront. Recent Research in Greek Ethnography]. Athens: Alexandria Publ. [in Greek].
Leach, E. (1969) ‘Virgin Birth’ (first published [1966] in Proceedings of the Royal Anthropological Institute, pp. 39–49) reprinted in Genesis as Myth and other essays. London: Cape, pp. 25–83.
Loizos, P. (1975) The Greek Gift: Politics in a Greek Cypriot Village. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Loizos, P. (1981) The Heart Grown Bitter: A Chronicle of Cypriot War Refugees. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Loizos, P. (1998) ‘How Might Turkish and Greek Cypriots See Each Other More Clearly?’ in Calotychos, V. (ed.), Cyprus and Its People: Nation, Identity and Experience in an Unimaginable Community 1955–1997. Colorado: Westview Press, pp. 35–51.
Loizos, P. and Heady, P. (eds) (1999) Conceiving Persons: Ethnographies of Procreation, Fertility and Growth. London: Athlone.
MacCormack, C.P. (1982 [1994]) Ethnography of Fertility and Birth, 1st and 2nd editions. Prospect Heights: Waveland Press.
McNeill, W.H. (1978) The Metamorphosis of Greece since World War II. Chicago: Chicago University Press/Oxford: Blackwell.
Ott, S. (1979) ‘Aristotle among the Basques: The “Cheese Analogy” of Conception’, Man, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 699–711.
Pina-Cabral, J. (1986) Sons of Adam, Daughters of Eve. The World View of the Alto Minho. Oxford: Clarendon.
Spiro, M. (1968) ‘Virgin Birth, Parthenogenesis and Physiological Paternity: An Essay in Cultural Interpretation’, Man, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 242–261.
Stewart, C. (1991) Demons and the Devil: Moral Imagination in Modern Greek Culture. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press.
Stonehouse, J. (1994) Idols to Incubators: Reproduction Theory through the Ages. London: Scarlet Press.
Theodossopoulos, D. (2003) Troubles with Turtles: Cultural Understandings of the Environment on a Greek Island. Oxford: Berghahn.
Theodossopoulos, D. (2007) (ed.) When Greeks think about Turks: The View from Anthropology. London: Routledge.
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“Procreation Metaphors in Rural Cyprus and Greece”. 2017. Cyprus Review 25 (1): 25-36. https://cyprusreview.org/index.php/cr/article/view/119.