The Meaning of Woman: Introducing matriculture, the many cultural systems of women

Abstract (English)

Matriculture refers to the cultural system that brings together all cultural aspects informing the lives of mothers, usually women, of a given society, and by extension, the lives of women. The concept was developed in 2016 by senior Canadian anthropologist Marie-Françoise Guédon to provide an interdisciplinary forum for those who are working from the theoretical stance of matriculture as a Geertzian cultural system. Talking about matricultural systems allows us to consider as primary the cultural context of a given society as perceived, constructed, and lived by its women. Similar to other cultural systems such as art, religion, or mathematics, employing the heuristic of matriculture allows for, among other things: cross-cultural comparisons; fresh insights into the social roles of women, men, otherwise identified, children, and the entire community of humans, animals, and the environment; and/or renewed understandings of historically mis-labelled cultures. With Guédon’s work in mind, then, and based on Geertzian principles, the concept of matriculture is both a model of reality by rendering the structure of matricultures apprehensible and a model for reality, where psychological relationships are organized under its guidance. This presentation will introduce the concept and highlight its utility with several examples, including peoples from the Northern Northwest Pacific Coast people, central Africa, and northern Spain. In essence, diverse meanings of terms like 'woman,' 'mother,' or 'feminine' create the cultural framework within which social norms are exercised.