The Family System of the Paramaribo Creoles

343 Pages·1981·11.965 MB·English

by  Willem F. L. Buschkens (auth.)

THE FAMILY SYSTEM
OF THE PARAMARIBO CREOLES
TO ELLEN
VERHANDELINGEN
VAN RET KONINKLIJK INSTITUUT
VOOR TAAL-, LAND- EN VOLKENKUNDE
71
WILLEM F. L. BUSCRKENS
THE FAMILY SYSTEM
OF THE PARAMARIBO CREOLES
Springer-Science+Business Media, B.V.
The fieldwork for this study was carried out under a grant from
WOSUNA, the former Netherlands Foundation for the Advancement of
Research in Surinam and the Netherlands Antilles (at present WOTRO,
the Netherlands Foundation for the Advancement of Tropical Research).
The publication and translation were made possible by grants from
ZWO, the Netherlands Organization for the Advancement of Pure
Research, and from STICUSA, the Netherlands Foundation for Cul
tural Cooperation with Surinam and the Netherlands Antilles.
The original title was
Het Familiesysteem der Volkscreolen van Paramaribo.
The English translation was prepared by
MARIA J. L. VAN YPEREN
ISBN 978-94-011-7786-3 ISBN 978-94-011-7784-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-011-7784-9
CONTENTS
Page
1. INTRODUCTION . 1
1.1. General . . . . . 1
1.2. Social Research in Surinam 1
1.3. The West Indian Family System 3
1.3.1. Alternative Unions between Men and Women 3
1.3.2. Female-headed Households and Matrifocality 6
1.3.3. Theories of the Origin of the West Indian Family
System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.3.3.1. Poverty and the "West Indian" Family System. 18
1.4. The Situation in Surinam ....... 20
2. SURINAM. . . . 24
2.1. Geography . . . . 24
2.2. Political Development 25
2.3. History of Agriculture 28
2.3.1. Plantation Agriculture 28
2.3.2. Small-scale Agriculture 32
2.4. Other Sectors of the Economy 33
2.5. The Demographic Situation . 35
2.5.1. Religious distribution of the population 37
2.6. The Creoles. . . . . 38
2.6.1. The Lower-Class Creoles . . . . . 40
3. THE RESEARCH 42
3.1. The Place of Research . 42
3.2. The Method of Research 42
3.2.1. Observation and the Interview 43
3.2.2. The Survey. . . . . . . 44
3.2.3. The Investigation into the Desired Number of Children 47
3.2.4. The Investigation of the Archives . . . . . 48
4. THE INITIAL PERIOD OF SETTLEMENT OF
THE PLANTATION COLONY UP TO THE
ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE IN 1808 49
4.1. Population . . . . . . 49
4.2. The Organization of Slavery. . . . . . . . . 51
VI THE FAMILY SYSTEM OF THE FARAMARIBO CREOLES
Page
4.3. The Family Life of the Slaves 55
4.3.1. Alternative unions between men and women 55
4.3.2. The Instability of Relationships . 56
4.3.3. The Slave Household 63
4.4. Government, Private and Church Interference in the
Family Life of Slaves 65
4.5. The Family Life of the Masters and the free Mulattoes
and free Negroes 67
5. THE PERIOD FROM 1808 UP TO EMANCIPA-
TION IN 1863 74
5.1. Ckneral 74
5.2. The Dwindling Slave Force 74
5.2.1. The Unequal Sex Ratio 75
5.2.2. Malnutrition, Disease and Poor Housing among the
Slave Population 77
5.3. Measures for the Improvement of the Slaves' Family
Life and Reproductive Capacity . 80
5.3.1. Private Measures 81
5.3.2. The Activities of the Missions of the Various Churches 82
5.3.2.1. The Moravian Mission and the Slaves' Family Life 83
5.3.2.1.1. The Institution of the "Verbond" or "Alliance" 85
5.3.2.2. The Roman Catholic Mission and the Slaves' Family
Life. . 86
5.3.3. State Interference in Respect of the Family Life of
the Slaves 88
5.4. Man-Woman Relationships among the Slaves 96
5.5. The Family Life of the Free Population 101
5.5.1. The Family Life of the Europeans 102
5.5.2. The Family Life of the Free Mulattoes and Free
Negroes 102
6. THE POST-EMANCIPATION PERIOD 108
6.1. General 108
6.2. The Rural Exodus of the Creole Population 108
6.2.1. The State Supervision of Ex-Slaves (1863-1873) 108
6.2.2. The Period after State Supervision 110
6.3. The Creole as Gold Digger and Balata Bleeder 113
6.3.1. The Gold Industry 113
6.3.2. The Balata Industry. 115
6.4. Other Creole Occupations. 118
6.4.1. The Crafts 118
6.4.2. Bauxite 118
6.4.3. The Timber Industry 120
6.4.4. Other Occupations 120
CONTENTS VII
Page
6.4.4.1. Women's Occupations 120
6.5. Unemployment. 121
6.5.1. Emigration to the Antilles and the Netherlands 123
6.6. The post-Emancipation Family System 124
6.6.1. The Period of State Supervision 125
6.6.2. The Period following State Supervision 125
6.6.2.1. The Issue of the Abolition of the Alliance 127
6.6.2.2. Discrimination in Civil Marriages 129
7. THE SITUATION AFTER WORLD WAR II 132
7.1. General 132
7.2. Characteristic Features of the Sample Population . 133
7.2.1. West Indian Traits of the Households included in the
Sample 135
7.3. The Present Socio-Economic Conditions 136
7.3.1. Housing 137
7.3.1.1. Ownership of Houses 143
7.3.2. Economic Aspects of the Household 144
7.3.2.1. Unemployment, Unemployment Relief and Poor Relief 144
7.3.2.2. The Occupational Structure 146
7.3.3. The Family Income 150
7.3.4. The Pattern of Spending of the Household . 153
7.3.4.1. Expenditure on Food and Drinks . . . . . . 154
7.3.4.2. Expenditure on Rent, Electricity, Gas and Water. 155
7.3.4.3. Expenditure on Clothing and Shoes 157
7.3.4.4. Costs of Illness and Funerals . 157
7.3.4.5. Other Expenses. 162
7.3.5. The Degree of Poverty . 162
8. THE NATURE OF UNIONS AND THE HOUSE
HOLD STRUCTURE 164
8.1. General 164
8.2. Alternative Unions between Men and Women 164
8.2.1. The Choice of one or other of the Alternative Unions 165
8.2.1.1. Age of the Partners and Nature of the Union 165
8.2.1.2. Socio-economic Status of Married Persons and of
Persons living in Concubinage 166
8.2.1.3. The Way in which Unions are Realized 167
8.2.1.4. Views on Marriage 173
8.2.2. The Stability of Unions 175
8.2.2.1. The Duration of the dissolved Marriages and Con
cubinages . 177
8.2.2.2. Reasons for terminating Unions 178
8.2.3. Illegitimacy of Births 185
8.2.3.1. The Marriage Act for Asians and the Creoles 187
VIII THE FAMILY SYSTEM OF THE FARAMARIBO CREOLES
Page
8.2.3.2. Aspects of Illegitimacy among the Lower-class Creoles 189
8.3. The Structure of Households . 194
8.3.1. The Prevalent Types of Household 195
8.3.1.1. Type A: Male Head with Legal Wife 196
8.3.1.2. Type B: Male Head with Common Law Wife. 197
8.3.1.3. Type C: Male Head without Legal or Common
Law Wife 198
8.3.1.4. Type D: the Single Man 199
8.3.1.5. Type E: the Female Head with Legal Husband 199
8.3.1.6. Type F: Female Head with Common Law Husband 199
8.3.1.7. Type G: Female Head without Legal or Common
Law Husband . 200
8.3.1.8. Type H: the Single Woman 202
8.3.2. The Inter-connectedness of the Different Household
Types 202
8.3.2.1. Smith's Cycle Theory 203
8.3.2.2. The First Phase of the Household . 205
8.3.2.3. The Second Phase of the Household . 209
8.4. Unmarried Women and Women not Living in Con
cubinage and their Children 217
9. THE FUNCTIONING OF THE FAMILY SYSTEM 219
9.1. General 219
9.2. The Desire for Children . 219
9.3. Birth Control 227
9.4. Traditional Practices in Connection with Pregnancy
and Childbirth . 232
9.5. Childhood 237
9.5.1. Social Relations During Childhood . 243
9.5.1.1. With the Parents . 243
9.5.1.2. With Brothers and Sisters 244
9.5.1.3. With Other Persons . 244
9.6. Adulthood 246
9.6.1. Man-Woman Relationships 246
9.6.2. Homosexual Relations between Women 247
9.6.3. Contacts with Other Persons 251
9.7. Old Age 252
9.8. Death 252
9.8.1. Description of the Customs observed in Connection
with Death 254
9.8.2. The Memorial Gathering on the Eighth Day 260
10. FINAL REMARKS . 263
10.1. General 263
10.2. The West Indian Family System of Paramaribo as an
Adaptation Model. 265
CONTENTS IX
Page
APPENDIX 1. Letter of Introduction explaining the Nature
of the Research . 271
APPENDIX 2. The Questionnaire 272
APPENDIX 3. Tables A-R not inserted in the text 283
APPENDIX 4. Interview Scheme B.O.G. Sample. 305
BIBLOGRAPHY 307
INDEX ... 317
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. Household Type A or B, the latently matrifocal house-
hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Figure 2. The household in the period of transition from types
A or B to type G. . . . . . . . . .. 208
Figure 3. Household type F, female head with common law
husband . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Figure 4. Household type G, female head without legal or com-
mon law husband. . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
variant 1: without visiting male
variant 2: with visiting male
PHOTOGRAPHS
1. Manifest matrifocal household. Female head, her
daughter and five grandchildren. . after page 144
2. An example of the poorest yards . · after page 144
3. Lower-lower class house . · after page 144
4. Upper-lower class houses · after page 160
5. A very simple funeral · after page 160
6. In the kitchen · after page 160
x
THE FAMILY SYSTEM OF THE FARAMARIBO CREOLES
Page
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. Share in the total agrarian output of large-scale and
small-scale agriculture respectively, expressed in per
centages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Table 2. Composition of the population of Surinam at the end
of March, 1964 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Table 3. Distribution of the population in percentages, excluding
those living in tribes. . . . . . . . . .. 37
Table 4. Population growth, excluding those living in tribes 37
Table 5. Religious distribution of the population of Surinam
in 1964 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Table 6. The Composition of the population of Surinam (not
including Amerindians and Bush Negroes) 1651-1811 50
Table 7. The population of Surinam, excluding those living in
tribes (in percentages) . . . . . . . . 53
Table 8. The slave population of Surinam (1830-1863) 76
Table 9. The slave population of Paramaribo in 1863, classified
according to sex and age . . . . . . . . . . 76
Table 10. Slave population (4,321) of Paramaribo in 1863, clas
sified according to relationship to the senior member
(male or female) of the household (in percentages) 99
Table 11. Households set out according to the number of gener-
ations . . . . 100
Table 12. Slave households in Paramaribo in 1863, classified
according to the sex of the senior member and the
number of members. . . . . . . . . .. 100