[LAF] English Dictionary

Sun May 7 17:57:15 UTC 2006

the dolls: they are Matryoshka (in Cyrillic ???????? or ????????). that's also the word now used
for the new open source audio / video format of the same name: http://www.matroska.org/

as for the bits about definitions of patriarch / matriarchy - I can't say that I'm particularly
surprised that those who work on putting together dictionaries are hardly the most responsive to
how people change the meanings of words, in this case hopefully peeling away all sorts of stupid
assumptions about the roles of women.

as a note - one can distinguish matralineal / patralineal forms of kinship / tracking descent and
inheriting resources and what not as being distinct from patriarchy / matriarchy (distributions of
power in gendered ways). for instance there are groups in madagascar that are patrilineal and
appear on surface but to be very male dominated - but closer looking reveals that social power is
invested in "directions" given by the ancestors through preserved bones. curiously enough the
people who can interpret these messages from the ancestors are the elderly females! :) so you have
what appears to be a very patriarchal arrangement that is quite more complex. not to mention that
most societies are not one or the other but mix together different forms of gendered relations of
power (gets even more complex when you add in additional gender categories like the berdache)

but i'm not expert on this - perhaps go find a friendly radical anthropologist who can tell you
more - such as when david graeber comes to london at the end of this month.

cheers
stevphen

http://www.matroska.org/

> <html><div style='background-color:'><DIV class=RTE>My dictionary is Collins English Dictionary
> 21st Century Edition (published 2000).  I can't remember the name of those Russian dolls (I
> think it's something like Matroika or something or other) which are wooden dolls which nest inside
> each other.  I can't find it in the dictionary but whilst looking for the
> correct word I came across "matriarchy".  As matriarchy came up in our LAF meeting
> yesterday afternoon on anarchism, anarcho-feminism and other strands of feminism, I thought it
> might be of interest to send out this definition.</DIV>
> <DIV class=RTE> </DIV>
> <DIV class=RTE><STRONG>matriarchy</STRONG> 1. a form of social organization in which a female is
> head of the family or society, and descent and kinship are traced through the female line. 
> 2. any society dominated by women.</DIV>
> <DIV class=RTE> </DIV>
> <DIV class=RTE>So I wondered if they define patriarchy.  They do, as follows:</DIV>
> <DIV class=RTE> </DIV>
> <DIV class=RTE><STRONG>patriarchy</STRONG> 1. a form of social organization in which a male is
> the head of the family and descent, kinship and title are traced through the male
> line.  2. any society governed by such a system.</DIV>
> <DIV class=RTE> </DIV>
> <DIV class=RTE>Hmmmm.  I can't help noticing that definition number 2 of matriarchy is
> loaded, and definition number 2 of patriarchy is benign or at the very least neutral.  So I
> get out my old dictionary, Collins Universal Dictionary (published 1972).</DIV>
> <DIV class=RTE> </DIV>
> <DIV class=RTE><STRONG>matriarchy</STRONG> government exercised by a mother; descent or
> inheritance in the female line.</DIV>
> <DIV class=RTE> </DIV>
> <DIV class=RTE><STRONG>patriarchy</STRONG> government by the head or father of a tribe; the
> community under the rule of a patriarch.  [<STRONG>patriarch</STRONG> is defined in this
> dictionary as the father and ruler of a family.]</DIV>
> <DIV class=RTE> </DIV>
> <DIV class=RTE>One part of me says "well at least they've updated the definition of matriarchy
> since 1972 and they now show that it would be a bad thing because it would entail domination," but
> then I get interrupted by another part of me which says, "well how come they didn't 'update'
> patriarchy, then?  Look:  in the 1970s, the definition of patriarchy and matriarchy
> differ only in that matriarchy doesn't include ruling a community or a tribe but by
> 2000, the definitions differ in that suddenly matriarchy does include being head of society,
> and definition 2 of matriarchy states that this would be domination; whereas although
> patriarchy as defined in point 1 of the 2000 definition differs by including
> 'title' <U>as well as</U> descent and kinship, in definition 2 this is not only <U>not</U>
> defined as domination BUT the whole of definition 2
> is <U>benign</U>.  It is impersonal and only mentions a 'system' whereas definition 2 of
> matriarchy is personal and says that it is domination by women," and I immediately find myself
> answering my other self:  "well, because we're <EM>in</EM> a patriarchal society, naturally
> the compilers can see that matriarchy would be bad but they can't see patriarchy would be bad,"
> and then comes the rebuttal, "oh come off it Joy, you can't have it both ways, either the
> dictionary compilers don't realise we're in a patriarchal system throughout most of the world at
> the moment so it wouldn't occur to them to give a different definition to matriarchy and
> patriarchy, OR they DO know and are deliberately skewing the definition.  You can't see
> what's right in front of your face, Joy:  in 1972 the dictionary had a pretty benign
> definition of both dominator forms of societal
> organisation, but now in the 21st Century AFTER feminists pointed out that patriarchy is a
> dominator (rather than partnership) system of organising society the definition of
> patriarchy no longer includes the word 'rule' BUT, at the same time, definition
> 2 of matriarchy states, 'any society <U>dominated</U> by women.'  Joy stop
> apologising for the creators of the dictionary, they're taking the piss:  after the expose of
> patriarchy by 1970s feminists, the definitions of matriarchy and patriarchy are changed to show
> patriarchy as benign and matriarchy as malignant when they're both hierarchical power structures,
> whereas in the 1970s the definitions of the two words were similar except that patriarchy included
> the word 'rule'.  If anything, this smacks of revisionism, AND the continued
> mis-representation of women, AND the leaving out of women's
> history (in that feminists have shown patriarchy to promulgate inequality but the dictionary
> definition does not reflect that)."</DIV>
> <DIV class=RTE> </DIV>
> <DIV class=RTE>So anyway, as you can see, I'm suffering from a bad bout of cognitive dissonance
> and I STILL don't have the correct word for those Russian dolls.  Can anyone help? :)</DIV>
> <DIV class=RTE> </DIV>
> <DIV class=RTE> </DIV></div></html>
>
>
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