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The Circle of Mountains: A Basque Shepherding Community
The commune of Sainte-Engrace extends along a mountain valley in the southeastern corner of Soule, one of the three Basque provinces in France. In The Circle of Mountains, Sandra Ott examines the importance of cooperation and reciprocity as the essential basis for the main institutions within this community. These French Basques visualize their community as circle, and their vision of living in the "circle of mountains," rather than in a valley, reflects their perspective on the society in which they live.
The first half of the book incorporates material on history, ecology, and economy, and delves deeply into the domestic organization kinship, and neighborliness of this Basque community. In the second half of the book, the author introduces the males' customary roles as shepherds and cheesemakers. Following a detailed commentary on these vocations, Ott suggests that these seemingly prosaic activities represent the male attempt at symbolic fulfillment of the female procreative and nurturing roles.
In a new afterword, Ott discusses developments that have impacted life in the pastoral community of Sainte-Engrace since the original publication of this book - including the construction of roads to nearly every home and the acquisition of telephones.
The Circle of Mountains will be of interest not only to social anthropologists but also to those concerned with the Basque language and culture and to scholars and students of ethnology, international studies, and political science.
The first half of the book incorporates material on history, ecology, and economy, and delves deeply into the domestic organization kinship, and neighborliness of this Basque community. In the second half of the book, the author introduces the males' customary roles as shepherds and cheesemakers. Following a detailed commentary on these vocations, Ott suggests that these seemingly prosaic activities represent the male attempt at symbolic fulfillment of the female procreative and nurturing roles.
In a new afterword, Ott discusses developments that have impacted life in the pastoral community of Sainte-Engrace since the original publication of this book - including the construction of roads to nearly every home and the acquisition of telephones.
The Circle of Mountains will be of interest not only to social anthropologists but also to those concerned with the Basque language and culture and to scholars and students of ethnology, international studies, and political science.
- GenresAnthropology
258 pages, Paperback
First published July 16, 1981
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December 30, 2017
"What a faith they had in cheeses !"
When I was a graduate student in anthropology several decades ago, Levi-Strauss was close to God and structuralism was the most modern method yet created to perceive other societies. My fellow students and I dreamed of being able to apply structuralist principles to the societies we would research. Some of us did, others did not. Yet the fascination with discovering "underlying organizational principles" in any society still tickles all these years later. The anthropological world in general has moved on. I still have a sneaking admiration for somebody, like Sandra Ott, who could, in a relatively brief period of field work, uncover and document structural patterns in a society and language far from her own. One question, I believe, that young anthropologists of today might pose is, having discovered those principles, what do you do with them ? Culture, or just human life, is so complex, so diverse. Motivations are so multilayered. Is this the best method of description possible ? Especially since the society in question, one of the most isolated of French Basque villages in Soule departement along the Spanish border, has no doubt changed greatly in the 23 years between her research and when I read the book. Are those principles still operational ?
THE CIRCLE OF MOUNTAINS is a carefully-written, no, painstakingly-written volume which reveals an ethnographer of great skill. Although I would by no means recommend it to a casual reader, it is good anthropology. Like many lesser books of its type, it is full of incredible ethnographic detail, thickly studded with Basque terms and phrases, which will be useful only to Basques or to people who study them professionally. These terms also persuade readers that Ott knew her stuff, a definite plus for her academic supervisors, not so pleasant for others. Teachers of anthropology, if they are looking for a structuralist work, may find THE CIRCLE OF MOUNTAINS just the thing. If anthropology, structural or not, is the art of description and if capturing descriptions of disappearing worlds is important, then Ott's book is praiseworthy. Aldikatzia and üngürü, two Basque principles of social organization, found in many different contexts in the village society, are neatly defined and described. Aldikatzia or serial replacement "orders relationships and roles within systems" while üngürü or rotation "is a principle by means of which systems are ordered". The former is visible to all, the latter is more abstract. The village itself is seen as a circle, neighborly relations similary circular. In addition, there is a marvelous parallel drawn between conception and birth of children and the making of cheese. The Basques saw their special cheeses, made in the mountain huts by male shepherds while they cared for their flocks in the high pastures in summer, as similar in a wide variety of ways to the babies produced by women in the village below. The shepherds were inordinately proud of these mountain cheeses, which were strictly differentiated from cheeses made in the home proper. Rennet curdled milk to form a cheese, they thought, just as human semen "curdled" red blood to form an infant. The cheese maker up in the mountains was even called the "housewife" at the times when he made cheese. The analogy is continued in far greater detail. The men recreate the female reproductive role up in the shepherding huts, and re-enact the birth process by making cheeses. It is a reversal of roles, not unknown in other parts of the world, though the cheese/baby analogy was a first for me.
Douglass' book on Basques, "Death in Murelaga" will not satisfy many readers, even dedicated anthropologists. Kurlansky's "A Basque History of the World" is readable, but lightweight and diffuse. Perhaps for those seeking knowlege about the Basques, Ott's book, in the tradition of Goldilocks, is "just right", though it may prove too detailed and narrowly-focussed for general readers. 4 stars for anthropology, 3 stars for readability.
When I was a graduate student in anthropology several decades ago, Levi-Strauss was close to God and structuralism was the most modern method yet created to perceive other societies. My fellow students and I dreamed of being able to apply structuralist principles to the societies we would research. Some of us did, others did not. Yet the fascination with discovering "underlying organizational principles" in any society still tickles all these years later. The anthropological world in general has moved on. I still have a sneaking admiration for somebody, like Sandra Ott, who could, in a relatively brief period of field work, uncover and document structural patterns in a society and language far from her own. One question, I believe, that young anthropologists of today might pose is, having discovered those principles, what do you do with them ? Culture, or just human life, is so complex, so diverse. Motivations are so multilayered. Is this the best method of description possible ? Especially since the society in question, one of the most isolated of French Basque villages in Soule departement along the Spanish border, has no doubt changed greatly in the 23 years between her research and when I read the book. Are those principles still operational ?
THE CIRCLE OF MOUNTAINS is a carefully-written, no, painstakingly-written volume which reveals an ethnographer of great skill. Although I would by no means recommend it to a casual reader, it is good anthropology. Like many lesser books of its type, it is full of incredible ethnographic detail, thickly studded with Basque terms and phrases, which will be useful only to Basques or to people who study them professionally. These terms also persuade readers that Ott knew her stuff, a definite plus for her academic supervisors, not so pleasant for others. Teachers of anthropology, if they are looking for a structuralist work, may find THE CIRCLE OF MOUNTAINS just the thing. If anthropology, structural or not, is the art of description and if capturing descriptions of disappearing worlds is important, then Ott's book is praiseworthy. Aldikatzia and üngürü, two Basque principles of social organization, found in many different contexts in the village society, are neatly defined and described. Aldikatzia or serial replacement "orders relationships and roles within systems" while üngürü or rotation "is a principle by means of which systems are ordered". The former is visible to all, the latter is more abstract. The village itself is seen as a circle, neighborly relations similary circular. In addition, there is a marvelous parallel drawn between conception and birth of children and the making of cheese. The Basques saw their special cheeses, made in the mountain huts by male shepherds while they cared for their flocks in the high pastures in summer, as similar in a wide variety of ways to the babies produced by women in the village below. The shepherds were inordinately proud of these mountain cheeses, which were strictly differentiated from cheeses made in the home proper. Rennet curdled milk to form a cheese, they thought, just as human semen "curdled" red blood to form an infant. The cheese maker up in the mountains was even called the "housewife" at the times when he made cheese. The analogy is continued in far greater detail. The men recreate the female reproductive role up in the shepherding huts, and re-enact the birth process by making cheeses. It is a reversal of roles, not unknown in other parts of the world, though the cheese/baby analogy was a first for me.
Douglass' book on Basques, "Death in Murelaga" will not satisfy many readers, even dedicated anthropologists. Kurlansky's "A Basque History of the World" is readable, but lightweight and diffuse. Perhaps for those seeking knowlege about the Basques, Ott's book, in the tradition of Goldilocks, is "just right", though it may prove too detailed and narrowly-focussed for general readers. 4 stars for anthropology, 3 stars for readability.
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