Shih Chuan-kang, Quest for Harmony. The Moso Traditions of Sexual Union and Family Life

Abstract

This is a comprehensive ethnographic study about the Moso, a matrilineal group in Southwest China, whose unique traditions are bound to change accepted notions of marriage, kinship, the family, and gender relations. The people and their history -- Political structure and cultural environment of traditional Moso society -- Tisese: the primary pattern of institutionalized sexual union -- Marriage: the secondary pattern of institutionalized sexual union -- Matrilineal descent and matrilineal ideology -- The Moso social organization: the domestic group and the descent group -- Navigating through the web of social relations -- Household life among the Moso -- The unusual Moso gender system -- Religions and rituals among the Moso.