Quest for harmony
Subtitle: the Moso traditions of sexual union and family life
By: Chuan-kang Shih.
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Stanford, Calif
Language: eng
Number of pages: 329
ISBN-13: 9780804761994
Subjects: Naxi (Chinese people) -- Sexual behavior; Naxi (Chinese people) -- Kinship; Naxi (Chinese people) -- Social life and customs; Matrilineal kinship -- China, Southwest; Sex role -- China, Southwest
Description: This ethnography details the traditional social and cultural conditions of the Moso, a matrilineal group living on the border of Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces in southwest China. Among the Moso, a majority of the adult population practice a visiting system called tisese instead of marriage as the normal sexual and reproductive institution. Until recently, tisese was noncontractual, nonobligatory, and nonexclusive. Partners lived and worked in separate households. The only prerequisite for a tisese relationship was a mutual agreement between the man and the woman to allow sexual access to each other. This book explores this unique practice specifically, and offers a discussion of the people, history, and structure of Moso society.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: The people and their history; title: Political structure and cultural environment of traditional Moso society; title: Tisese : the primary pattern of institutionalized sexual union; title: Marriage : the secondary pattern of institutionalized sexual union; title: Matrilineal descent and matrilineal ideology; title: The Moso social organization : the domestic group and the descent group; title: Navigating through the web of social relations; title: Household life among the Moso; title: The unusual Moso gender system; title: Religions and rituals among the Moso.