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Birth on Ponape: Myth and Reality

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Die Geburt aus ethnomedizinischer Sicht
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Abstract

The aim of this paper is to compare the traditional customs of birth and related phenomena with their corresponding mythical images in the culture of the island of Ponape, Caroline Islands (Microne sia) and consider the nature of the relationship between myth and reality. In many ways the birth customs and myths about birth on Ponape resemble those of other small, non-literate societies, but we shall pay special attention here to those features of custom and myth which are relatively unusual or distinctive.

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Literature

  • FISCHER J.L. (1970):Semi-castration in Ponape. Proceedings, 7th International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, Held in Moscow, August 1964, vol. 8: 89–97.

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Authors

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Wulf Schiefenhövel Dorothea Sich

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© 1986 Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Braunschweig

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Fischer, J.L. (1986). Birth on Ponape: Myth and Reality. In: Schiefenhövel, W., Sich, D. (eds) Die Geburt aus ethnomedizinischer Sicht. Vieweg+Teubner Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-322-88780-1_21

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-322-88780-1_21

  • Publisher Name: Vieweg+Teubner Verlag

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-528-17916-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-322-88780-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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