Abstract
Size of Family in Tikopia RAYMOND FIBTH continues his study of the seasonal rites of Tikopia (“The Work of the Gods in Tikopia”, Vol. 2. By Raymond Firth. Monographs on Social Anthropology, No. 2. Published for the London School of Economics and Political Science. Pp. v + 189-378+ 8 plates. London: Percy Lund, Humphries and Co., Ltd., 1940. 7s. Qd.) by completing his record of the monsoon ceremonies and following on with rites of the trade-wind which do not take place in the monsoon., In opening with the text and explanation of a fono or public address or proclamation formerly delivered at Rarokoka, he directs attention to a remarkable injunction on population which is included as its closing section. The problem of population seems to have exercised the minds of the people considerably, migration as a means of regulating overflow was barred by size and situation, and this led to a clear apprehension of the dangers of over-population and also to definite types of social mechanism for its prevention. In the fono the tendency, owing to human weakness, to over-population was recognized by an exhortation in indirect but clear language to practise certain methods in sexual intercourse to avoid conception, and the size of the ideal family was hammered home, namely, “one male and one female. That is the plucking of the coconut and the filling of the water-bottles”. This was an allusion to the allocation of duties in a household in native theory of four individuals, husband and wife, with a son and a daughter, making for correct economic adjustment, without imposing too heavy a strain on food resources. The boy assists the father, doing the more energetic jobs such as climbing trees for coconuts, cutting thatch, etc., the girl helps the mother, especially in keeping the family water-bottles full. If the family is much larger there is an increase in consumption without a corresponding increase in the value of labour power. The alternative to family restriction appears in the fono as a query “will the person go and steal?”
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Research Items. Nature 146, 404–405 (1940). https://doi.org/10.1038/146404a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/146404a0