The matrifocal family in Iberia: Spain and Portugal compared

Author(s): Gilmore, D. D.

Journal/Book: Ethnology. 1997; 36: Dept Anthropology, Pittsburgh, PA 15260. Univ Pittsburgh. 13-30.

Abstract: Although matrifocality has faded somewhat as a topic in cultural anthropology, interest in the concept has revived in Mediterranean studies. Recent work in the northwest corner of Iberia (north/central Portugal and Spanish Galicia) reveals a highly matrifocal family structure. This anomalous pattern seems linked in some yet-undefined way with a prevailing emphasis on female dominance in this part of the Mediterranean world. Yet in the rest of the Iberian peninsula matrifocal families do not correlate with female power; in fact, the opposite is true. For example, in southern Spain, matrifocality coexists with male dominance and machismo within an honor-and-shame value system. This paper compares a village in central Portugal with one in Andalusia in an attempt to gain insight into this Iberian conundrum.

Note: Article Brogger J, Norwegian Univ Sci & Technol, N-7034 Trondheim, NORWAY

Keyword(s): matrifocality; gender; family; Iberia; honor and shame; POWER

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