Ruth S Freed
Biographic Data
| ID | 79770 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ruth S Freed |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ruth S |
| FAMILY NAME | Freed |
| SIGNATURE | FREED R S |
| AFFILIATIONS | American Museum of Natural History |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4170-1746 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 37 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 149 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 37 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1962 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1996 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Ghosts: Life and Death in North India
Ghosts: Life and Death in North India
Ghost illness in a North Indian village
Ghost illness of children in North India
This analysis of the relationship of infant and childhood illness and death to ghost beliefs is based on holistic fieldwork in the late 1950s and the late 1970s in Shanti Nagar (a pseudonym), a village in North India. Illness and the supernatural world are linked by the concepts of ghosts and Fever, the latter an index of ghost illness, deriving from a supernatural being. The links between ghosts, Fever, and ghost illness involve basic Hindu beli…
Beliefs and practices resulting in female deaths and fewer females than males in India
Capitalist Philanthropy and Russian Revolutionaries: The Jesup North Pacific Expedition (1897‐1902)
This review of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition, still the most important expedition in American anthropology, gives an idea of the goals and hazards of fieldwork around 1900, the pitfalls of international research, the tensions between anthropologists and host populations, the careers of early anthropologists, the role of private philanthropy, and the character of anthropology at the turn of the century. Franz Boas was the Expedition's linchpi…
Rites of Passage in Shanti Nagar
The domestic cycle in India: Natural History of a Will-O'-the-Wisp
The concept of the domestic cycle is evaluated by an analysis of the changes that domestic groups have undergone in the Indian village of Shanti Nagar during a 19-year period. Diversity of family histories precludes the existence of a single domestic cycle, or even of two or three dominant cycles. There are, however, significant regularities, such as the frequent evolution of nuclear families into lineal joint families. [India, social structure, …
Clark Wissler and the Development of Anthropology in the United States
Wissler receives scant notice today although he was a major figure in American anthropology. During the decades when the historical particularism of Franz Boas dominated American cultural anthropology, Wissler's theories provided a nomothetic alternative. His theories are in current use in various guises. The importance of Wissler has been obscured to some extent because he is often misclassified as a Boasian. However, he consciously worked outsi…
Cross-cultural Perspectives on Middle-aged Women [and Comments and Replies]
Several exploratory cross-cultural studies have suggested that positive changes take place in the lives of women in non-Western societies as they age beyond the childbearing years. They are freed from a variety of restrictions. They are given authority over certain specified kinsmen, and they are provided with opportunities for achievement and recognition beyond the household. The fact that such changes are more dramatic in some societies than in…
Bovine Sex and Species Ratios in India [and Comments and Reply]
Despite religious sanctions against the slaughter of cattle, bovine age, sex, and species ratios in all India and Kerala are systematically adjusted to demographic, technological, economic, and environmental conditions. While it is not denied that the apotheosis of cattle has influenced the management of India's bovine stocks, religious beliefs cannot account for the most important regional and local variations in the utilization of these animals
Changing Family Types in India
Studies of the Indian family have been strongly affected by the common assumption of social science, based largely on Western experience, that industri? alization, urbanization, and modernization lead inevitably to a transition from the extended family to the nuclear family. The Indian form of the extended family, commonly called the family, is usually patrilineal and patrilocal and/or virilocal. It emphasizes filial and fraternal solidarity and,…
Sacred Cows, Sacred Places: Origins and Survivals of Animal Homes in India
Psyche and Society: Explorations in Psychoanalytic Sociology. Robert Endleman
On Ethnography and the Sacred-Cow Controversy
Sacred Cows and Water Buffalo in India: The Uses of Ethnography [and Comments and Reply]
In 1958-59 and in 1977-78, we undertook holistic ethnographic studies of a village in northern India. Profound technoenvironmental change occurred in the 18-year period between the two studies. With regard to cattle, the principal change was a shift from bullock power to machinery. This provided the basis for a test of the two principal positions that have been taken in the sacred-cow controversy: (1) technoenvironmental determinism, which denies…
Rites of Passage in Shanti Nagar
Shanti Nagar: The Effects of Urbanization in a Village in North India
Applied Anthropology: Dissent, Protest, and Reform in Indian Civilization . S. C. Malik
The Great Universe of Kota: Stress, Change, and Mental Health in an Indian Village . G. M. Carstairs and R. L. Kapur
Traditional and cosmopolitan medical systems in Asia and in the world today
Charles Leslie, ed. Asian Medical Systems: A Comparative Study
Human Fertility in India: Social Components and Policy Perspectives. David G. Mandelbaum
The study of a region: An exercise in taste, temperament, and training
Brenda E. F. Beck. Peasant Society in Koñku: A Study of Right and Left Subcastes in South India. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1972. xix + 354 pp. Diagrams, tables, appendixes, glossary, bibliography, and index. $16.50
Status and the Spatial Range of Marriages in a North Indian Area
From the hypothesis advanced by Miller (1954) that a highly ranked caste will display greater spatial range of intracaste relations than a lowly ranked one, Gould (1960) inferred that the former should establish marital alliances in more distant villages than the latter. He tested this inference in Sherupur, a north Indian village, and concluded that his data supported Miller's hypothesis. We have tested the hypothesis with data from Shanti Nagar…
Religion: The Rites of the Twice-Born. Margaret SINCLAIR STEVENSON
Spirit Possession as Illness in a North Indian Village
This paper examines spirit possession as a form of illness in a North Indian village. The authors argue that spirit possession is not simply a psychological phenomenon, but is also deeply embedded in the social and cultural context of the village. They describe the various types of spirits that are believed to possess individuals, the symptoms of possession, and the rituals that are performed to exorcise the spirits. The authors also discuss the …
Cross-cultural Perspectives on Middle-aged Women [and Comments and Replies]
Several exploratory cross-cultural studies have suggested that positive changes take place in the lives of women in non-Western societies as they age beyond the childbearing years. They are freed from a variety of restrictions. They are given authority over certain specified kinsmen, and they are provided with opportunities for achievement and recognition beyond the household. The fact that such changes are more dramatic in some societies than in…
Clark Wissler and the Development of Anthropology in the United States
Wissler receives scant notice today although he was a major figure in American anthropology. During the decades when the historical particularism of Franz Boas dominated American cultural anthropology, Wissler's theories provided a nomothetic alternative. His theories are in current use in various guises. The importance of Wissler has been obscured to some extent because he is often misclassified as a Boasian. However, he consciously worked outsi…
Sacred Cows and Water Buffalo in India: The Uses of Ethnography [and Comments and Reply]
In 1958-59 and in 1977-78, we undertook holistic ethnographic studies of a village in northern India. Profound technoenvironmental change occurred in the 18-year period between the two studies. With regard to cattle, the principal change was a shift from bullock power to machinery. This provided the basis for a test of the two principal positions that have been taken in the sacred-cow controversy: (1) technoenvironmental determinism, which denies…
Sacred Cows, Sacred Places: Origins and Survivals of Animal Homes in India
Ghost illness in a North Indian village
Calendars, Ceremonies, and Festivals in a North Indian Village: Necessary Calendric Information for Fieldwork
Beliefs and practices resulting in female deaths and fewer females than males in India
The domestic cycle in India: Natural History of a Will-O'-the-Wisp
The concept of the domestic cycle is evaluated by an analysis of the changes that domestic groups have undergone in the Indian village of Shanti Nagar during a 19-year period. Diversity of family histories precludes the existence of a single domestic cycle, or even of two or three dominant cycles. There are, however, significant regularities, such as the frequent evolution of nuclear families into lineal joint families. [India, social structure, …
Ghost illness of children in North India
This analysis of the relationship of infant and childhood illness and death to ghost beliefs is based on holistic fieldwork in the late 1950s and the late 1970s in Shanti Nagar (a pseudonym), a village in North India. Illness and the supernatural world are linked by the concepts of ghosts and Fever, the latter an index of ghost illness, deriving from a supernatural being. The links between ghosts, Fever, and ghost illness involve basic Hindu beli…
Rites of Passage in Shanti Nagar
Unity in Diversity in the Celebration of Cattle-Curing Rites in a North Indian Village: A Study in the Resolution of Conflict1
An epidemic of cattle disease led to a dispute between orthodox and reform Hindus over the holding of Akhta, a traditional cattle-curing rite that involved a number of features in conflict with the reform teachings of Arya Samaj. The dispute was rather easily resolved, and the ceremony was held. We suggest that this happened principally because of the existence of a few cultural themes of great antiquity held in common by all villagers. In additi…
Changing Family Types in India
Studies of the Indian family have been strongly affected by the common assumption of social science, based largely on Western experience, that industri? alization, urbanization, and modernization lead inevitably to a transition from the extended family to the nuclear family. The Indian form of the extended family, commonly called the family, is usually patrilineal and patrilocal and/or virilocal. It emphasizes filial and fraternal solidarity and,…
A N ote on R egional V ariation in N avajo K inship T erminology 1
Analysis of genealogies collected from ninety‐four Navajo respondents living in two widely separated areas of their reservation revealed significant regional variation in kinship terminology. Considerable individual variability in the terminologies from one of these regions suggests that the kinship terminology in this region may be changing. The reasons for this possible change are unclear, but we note that the kinship terminology in this region…
Urbanization and Family Types in a North Indian Village
This research, based on data collected in a north Indian village, is an analysis of the relationship of family types to a number of variables: caste, type of house, ownership of land, and the urbanization, type of employment, age, and education of the family head. There is no statistically significant difference in family types between families headed by urban-oriented men and those headed by village-oriented men. Type of house, education, and ty…
Two Mother Goddess Ceremonies of Delhi State in the Great and Little Traditions
Status and the Spatial Range of Marriages in a North Indian Area
From the hypothesis advanced by Miller (1954) that a highly ranked caste will display greater spatial range of intracaste relations than a lowly ranked one, Gould (1960) inferred that the former should establish marital alliances in more distant villages than the latter. He tested this inference in Sherupur, a north Indian village, and concluded that his data supported Miller's hypothesis. We have tested the hypothesis with data from Shanti Nagar…
Religion: The Rites of the Twice-Born. Margaret SINCLAIR STEVENSON
Utilitarian Pottery Manufacture in a North Indian Village
Two Mother Goddess Ceremonies of Delhi State in the Great and Little Traditions
Utilitarian Pottery Manufacture in a North Indian Village
Spirit Possession as Illness in a North Indian Village
This paper examines spirit possession as a form of illness in a North Indian village. The authors argue that spirit possession is not simply a psychological phenomenon, but is also deeply embedded in the social and cultural context of the village. They describe the various types of spirits that are believed to possess individuals, the symptoms of possession, and the rituals that are performed to exorcise the spirits. The authors also discuss the …
Calendars, Ceremonies, and Festivals in a North Indian Village: Necessary Calendric Information for Fieldwork
Unity in Diversity in the Celebration of Cattle-Curing Rites in a North Indian Village: A Study in the Resolution of Conflict1
An epidemic of cattle disease led to a dispute between orthodox and reform Hindus over the holding of Akhta, a traditional cattle-curing rite that involved a number of features in conflict with the reform teachings of Arya Samaj. The dispute was rather easily resolved, and the ceremony was held. We suggest that this happened principally because of the existence of a few cultural themes of great antiquity held in common by all villagers. In additi…
Comments and Replies
Stratification: Patterns of Caste Tension: A Study of Inter‐caste Tension and Conflict. K. K. Singh. Foreword fay Hadley Cantril
Urbanization and Family Types in a North Indian Village
This research, based on data collected in a north Indian village, is an analysis of the relationship of family types to a number of variables: caste, type of house, ownership of land, and the urbanization, type of employment, age, and education of the family head. There is no statistically significant difference in family types between families headed by urban-oriented men and those headed by village-oriented men. Type of house, education, and ty…
A N ote on R egional V ariation in N avajo K inship T erminology 1
Analysis of genealogies collected from ninety‐four Navajo respondents living in two widely separated areas of their reservation revealed significant regional variation in kinship terminology. Considerable individual variability in the terminologies from one of these regions suggests that the kinship terminology in this region may be changing. The reasons for this possible change are unclear, but we note that the kinship terminology in this region…
A Technique for Studying Role Behavior
Cattle in a North Indian Village
Status and the Spatial Range of Marriages in a North Indian Area
From the hypothesis advanced by Miller (1954) that a highly ranked caste will display greater spatial range of intracaste relations than a lowly ranked one, Gould (1960) inferred that the former should establish marital alliances in more distant villages than the latter. He tested this inference in Sherupur, a north Indian village, and concluded that his data supported Miller's hypothesis. We have tested the hypothesis with data from Shanti Nagar…
Religion: The Rites of the Twice-Born. Margaret SINCLAIR STEVENSON
General and Theoretical: A Handbook of Method in Cultural Anthropology. Raoul Naroll and Ronald Cohen
The study of a region: An exercise in taste, temperament, and training
Brenda E. F. Beck. Peasant Society in Koñku: A Study of Right and Left Subcastes in South India. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1972. xix + 354 pp. Diagrams, tables, appendixes, glossary, bibliography, and index. $16.50
Human Fertility in India: Social Components and Policy Perspectives. David G. Mandelbaum
The Great Universe of Kota: Stress, Change, and Mental Health in an Indian Village . G. M. Carstairs and R. L. Kapur
Traditional and cosmopolitan medical systems in Asia and in the world today
Charles Leslie, ed. Asian Medical Systems: A Comparative Study
Shanti Nagar: The Effects of Urbanization in a Village in North India
Applied Anthropology: Dissent, Protest, and Reform in Indian Civilization . S. C. Malik
Sacred Cows and Water Buffalo in India: The Uses of Ethnography [and Comments and Reply]
In 1958-59 and in 1977-78, we undertook holistic ethnographic studies of a village in northern India. Profound technoenvironmental change occurred in the 18-year period between the two studies. With regard to cattle, the principal change was a shift from bullock power to machinery. This provided the basis for a test of the two principal positions that have been taken in the sacred-cow controversy: (1) technoenvironmental determinism, which denies…
Rites of Passage in Shanti Nagar
Cross-cultural Perspectives on Middle-aged Women [and Comments and Replies]
Several exploratory cross-cultural studies have suggested that positive changes take place in the lives of women in non-Western societies as they age beyond the childbearing years. They are freed from a variety of restrictions. They are given authority over certain specified kinsmen, and they are provided with opportunities for achievement and recognition beyond the household. The fact that such changes are more dramatic in some societies than in…
Bovine Sex and Species Ratios in India [and Comments and Reply]
Despite religious sanctions against the slaughter of cattle, bovine age, sex, and species ratios in all India and Kerala are systematically adjusted to demographic, technological, economic, and environmental conditions. While it is not denied that the apotheosis of cattle has influenced the management of India's bovine stocks, religious beliefs cannot account for the most important regional and local variations in the utilization of these animals
Changing Family Types in India
Studies of the Indian family have been strongly affected by the common assumption of social science, based largely on Western experience, that industri? alization, urbanization, and modernization lead inevitably to a transition from the extended family to the nuclear family. The Indian form of the extended family, commonly called the family, is usually patrilineal and patrilocal and/or virilocal. It emphasizes filial and fraternal solidarity and,…
Sociology (26 works) · History (25 works) · Geography (15 works) · History (15 works) · Anthropology (12 works) · Philosophy (11 works) · Political science (10 works) · South Asian Studies and Conflicts (10 works) · Law (9 works) · Law (8 works)