| sprice@hsc.vcu.edu
Dear Patrick (if you haven't been spirited off to a computer-less island
run by dominatrices), I hope I didn't overstate the secrecy business - my
title included the words "intentional and otherwise" in order to emphasize
the speculative nature of the thoughts. And the formalized "secret
society" model of social organization is predominantly African, although
in informal terms it exists in just about every culture. And it isn't
exclusively male societies, even in Africa. There are hierarchical
societies of women in Sierra Leone, for example, and to ignore the role of
women in most western cultures is to confuse a formal patriarchical
structure with the reality of day to day family and village life. In most
of western, central, and southeast Asia textile work is the predominant
art form. The textiles are made by women so the art must be their
expression, not the men's. Interestingly, in Africa, where the formal
organization is mostly dominated by male societies, the men are the
weavers. But there is a Yoruba (Nigerian) proverb to the effect that the
hen lets the cock crow in the morning even though she knows the sun would
come up anyway. Regards, Steve Price |