Abstract
THE psychological study, of which Miss Landes gives the results in “The Ojibwa Woman”, was undertaken with the express purpose of pursuing the inquiry in conditions other than those, that is, of Western civilization, in which similar psychological investigations have usually been carried out. Her choice of the Ojibwa of western Ontario, among whom she spent seven months collecting material, was well judged. The conditions, which here form the background, were certainly both unusual and peculiar. In the Ojibwa society, which came under Miss Landes's observation, it is only the male half of the population and its activities which fall under traditional regulation. The female half is left to a spontaneous and confused behaviour. In consequence there is a wide range of development in the personalities and careers of the women. As the author says, “Some rival the most successful men in ambitions and honours received, but do not pursue them in systematic male fashion; others engage in both male and female pursuits; still others are reduced to an incompetence that continues until death”. This dictum is demonstrated in detail, and the resulting conduct and mentality of men and women are contrasted in youth, in marriage, in occupations and in abnormal manifestation. The force of the study is much enhanced by a free use of the actual words of the subjects under observation, and further ilium-mated by a number of life-histories.
The Ojibwa Woman
Ruth
Landes
By. Pp. viii + 247. (New York: Columbia University Press; London: Oxford University Press, 1938.) 15s. net.
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The Ojibwa Woman. Nature 143, 744 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/143744a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/143744a0