Guardians of the Flutes, Volume 1: Idioms of Masculinity by Gilbert Herdt

Guardians of the Flutes, Volume 1: Idioms of Masculinity Reviews

• 
  Juliana Philippa

  We read this book for one of my summer classes and I found it extremely interesting and enjoyed it much more than Malinowski's
  The Sexual Life of Savages, which we read right before.
  
  The Guardians of the Flute is an ethnography on the Sambia in Papua New Guinea and their understandings and constructions of masculinity and sexuality presented to us by Herdt are absolutely fascinating (IMHO). Masculinity for the Sambia is not something that men are born with, but can only be achieved through rituals and the rituals that boys must undergo actually make it so that heterosexuality/masculinity can only be achieved through homosexuality between the youngest initiates and the older ones.
  
  The female voice is notably absent in this book and Herdt's chapter entitled "Femininity" should be retitled "Masculine View of Femininity," which would have been more of an apt description. Very noticeable was that the many quotes in that chapter were all by men and not a single time was a woman's voice recorded. Herdt was not really able to speak to many Sambia women because of the view of women as a polluting power and to give Herdt credit, he prefaces that chapter by admitting that it is more about the male understanding of women than women themselves.
  
  BOTTOM LINE: Extremely interesting book and very easy and engaging to read.
• 
  Ginger

  This book is about the Sambia men in New Guinea. This tribe practices a Rite Of Passage which would really challenge the American perception of Gender roles. In order to be considered a man in the society, each young boy must go through a series of preparations including physical attacks, homosexual activities, and verbal attacks as well. All of these rituals are done in secret, and it is forbidden for women to know about the rite of passage. I think that what was most interesting was the whole concept of masculinity and what it truly means to "be a man". I realized that what we perceive to be right in this country is not necessarily always true to each society.