Abstract
The diversity of ways in which anthropologists of Amazonia and Melanesia have deployed the generic terms “parent” and “child” prompts an exploration of moments where gender distinctiveness may or may not be foregrounded. Certain aspects of the life of cultivated plants, in this case people’s principal food crops, and the vegetative reproduction commonly attributed to them, turn out to offer fresh expositional possibilities. Whereas much of the analysis is presented “through” (a small number of) ethnographic illuminations, on the Melanesian side the author also allows herself some speculative formulations.
Keywords:
Amazonia; Melanesia; Cultivars; Gender relations; Plant life; Procreation; Death; Kinship; Cloning