The Negro Family in British Guiana

Family Structure and Social Status in the Villages

Raymond T. Smith

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9781136235733
• Subtopic: Sociology

This is Volume IX of eighteen in a collection on the Sociology of Development. Originally published in 1956 and using language of the time, this monologue looks at the family system in Guianese families.

SECTION II

a. A rice plough, see page 30

b. Threshing padi, see page 31

PLATE IV

CHAPTER II

THE HOUSEHOLD

THE household, consisting of a house and the group of people who live in it, is one of the most important functional units of the social system, and the locus of practically all the joint action of members of the domestic group. It is within the framework of some household group that each individual finds food and shelter, and the household group is a child-rearing unit. In a small building some twelve feet by twenty feet, one often finds upwards of ten people, and of that number the majority are invariably children. Households come into being through the association of men and women in some kind of conjugal relationship, though there are certain exceptions to this when a woman establishes a household without the co-operation of a male partner. Each household group normally ‘cooks one pot’ and all members are fed from it, none of the food being allocated to anyone who does not live in the house. There are exceptions to this rule, but they are not of frequent occurrence. To grow up in a particular household gives an individual certain customary rights, duties and obligations, which are often quite irrespective of exact ‘blood’ relationship, and this helps to emphasize the importance of ‘growing’ with someone, no matter what the legal considerations involved may be. The complete absence of corporate kin groups or even of hereditary offices or social positions, results in a lack of continuity between the household as a kin group and other social groupings. However, kinship does create ties and affective bonds between the members of different households, and the fact that in August Town particularly, the whole village is sometimes referred to as ‘all one family’ illustrates the importance of the generalized extension of the sentiments of solidarity which arise within the household group, and which find expression in a local setting.

The term often employed to describe the members of a household group, especially in August Town, is ‘house people’ and this designation is extended to include the spirits of the dead, as well as particularly intimate friends who can visit the house freely and make themselves at home in it. When a new bottle of rum is opened, a little is always thrown out on to the floor of the house or on to the ground in the yard if the drinking is taking place outside. It is characteristic of the system that these libations are for the dead ‘house people’, but at the same time the spirits of the dead are not personalized, and the same offering would be made in a new house in which no one had ever died as in an old house that had been the scene of many deaths. A non-member of the household will throw the rum as readily as a member.

In this chapter we shall describe the material aspects of the household before going on to a consideration of the composition of the household group and the internal relations of its members.

HOUSES

The design of houses is fairly uniform throughout the villages studied, but there are variations in size and construction which it is important to note, for there is some correlation with other factors. For example, it is usually the smaller houses that contain the largest number of persons.

The cheapest type of house to build is what is known locally as a ‘mud-trash’ house, and this is built almost entirely from locally procured materials. (See Plate IIIb.) Raised on low wooden blocks, about two to three feet from the ground, its framework is built from roughly trimmed poles cut from trees, or from the courida bush (1). The walls are wattled and filled in with mud, perhaps mixed with cow-dung to bind it, and then smoothed over with liquid mud both inside and outside. Roofing material varies according to locality, and whilst villagers in August Town use bundles of long grass, in Perseverance it is usual to use the leaves of the Troolie palm which grows in abundance in the river areas of the Essequibo Coast, and which are actually sold in the markets by persons who collect them in the more inaccessible reaches of the rivers. Mud-trash houses rarely exceed about twenty by ten feet in ground dimensions, and the most expensive item in the whole building will be the floorboards which are purchased from a saw-mill, or from a dealer in town. An internal partition divides the house into two rooms. Doors and shutters are made from wood and are usually put together by a carpenter, unless old ones can be procured ready made. Cooking may be done inside the house on a coal-pot which burns charcoal, but usually a kitchen is either built as a separate shelter outside, or as a lean-to attachment to the main building. A house such as the one described would be worth anything from fifteen to forty dollars in August Town, its value consisting mainly in the materials used and not in the house itself, for few people would trouble to buy a mud-trash house, except for the boards it contained. Unless regular repairs and maintenance are carried out deterioration is fairly rapid. A well kept mud-house is not unpleasant to live in, the thatch affording considerable protection from the sun and absorbing much less heat than corrugated iron. The mud will have to be replaced at least every year and as the frame becomes rotten sections will be replaced. A good thatch will last anything from five to seven years.

Average number of persons per mud-thatch house

August Town 5.57; Perseverance 6.00; Better Hope 0.

Proportion of mud-thatch to total number of houses

August Town 22.1 per cent; Perseverance 9.25 per cent;

Better Hope 0

The standard house in the rural areas of British Guiana is a wooden building, raised anything from three to eight feet on wooden piles set on concrete or wooden blocks. (See Plate Ia.) Constructed from local woods prepared in saw mills and sold by the foot as dressed boards, or from softer imported woods, it is usually about twenty feet by fourteen feet in ground plan and is roofed with corrugated iron sheets or shingles made from local wood. Divided internally into two rooms it may have a kitchen built on as an attachment, or cooking may be done in a separate small kitchen on the ground outside. Access to the house is by permanent wooden steps. The quality of this kind of house can vary considerably, not only according to the state of repair, but according to the general finish and whether glass windows or shutters are used. In August Town the value of such a house could vary between 100 and 1,000 dollars depending on the state of repair etc., but the cost of building a simple two-roomed house, with an attached kitchen was in the region of 750 to 800 dollars at the time of the study, and costs were rising daily. Owing to the difficulty of finding enough capital to pay the total sum involved in building a house all at once, most houses are built in stages, often covering a period of years. Materials are first purchased as money is available, and then a start will be made on the actual building. As soon as cash runs out, work stops and the frame of the house may be left for months before any further work can be done. (See Plate II.)

Once the main body of the house is complete it is habitable, but an ambitious owner can easily extend the size of the house by adding a front and a back gallery as he is financially able. A house with both these additions will have two or three bedrooms, a dining recess, and a-front lounge as well as the main living-room. This represents the ultimate development in size of the normal rural house, but there are one or two larger houses to be found in most villages, usually incorporating a shop of some kind. Various modifications such as building a lower room or a kitchen underneath the house are possible, and this is sometimes done when the danger of flooding is not too great. In Better Hope one finds a number of tenements, which are long buildings, divided into not more than three separate dwellings, inhabited by three separate domestic groups, with at least two of them paying rent. This type of dwelling is very common in Georgetown of course, but is not found in either Perseverance or August Town. In August Town there are a couple of cases of persons renting a section of a house (a lower flat in both cases), but this is hardly a permanent arrangement.

Average number of persons per two-roomed board house

August Town 5.13; Perseverance 6.33; Better Hope 3.63.

Proportion of two-roomed board houses to total number of houses

August Town 52.7 per cent; Perseverance 61.1 per cent;

Better Hope 49.4 per cent.

Average number of persons per house with more than two rooms

August Town 4.28; Perseverance 6.66; Better Hope 4.71.

Proportion of houses with more than two rooms to total number of houses

August Town 25.2 per cent; Perseverance 21.3 per cent;

Better Hope 40.0 per cent.

In Perseverance a considerable number of wooden houses are roofed with Troolie Palm and although these have been included with the other two-roomed board houses it should be noted that they are less valuable. Also in Perseverance one finds a few houses with split manicole (2) wooden walls rather than wattle and mud, but they are of the same general pattern as the mud-walled houses and certainly no more valuable. Both Perseverance and Better Hope have a number of one-roomed dwellings, and we have already referred to the tenements in Better Hope which usually consist of one room only. In Perseverance 8.35 per cent of the total number of houses are very poor one-roomed dwellings containing as many as nine individuals in one case, and 38 per cent of all houses in Perseverance are thatched with Troolie Palm rather than having the more valuable corrugated-iron roof.

Each house stands on a precisely defined lot, or piece of ground, and the owner of the house is usually also the owner of the lot on which it stands, though this is not always the case as we shall see presently. Houses can be, and often are, moved from one lot to another without dismantling them, and such a move is quite a communal affair, usually being carried out on a moonlit night with the co-operation of a large number of men who slide the house on skids from one spot to another. The whole proceeding is supervised by a carpenter who ‘ties’ the house by nailing strengthening supports inside it. Traditional house-moving songs and ‘boasts’ are sung during the actual pulling of the house. At least this is the case in August Town, though a house-moving was never observed in the other villages. One house-moving witnessed in August Town was carried out because the owner's daughter was being troubled by a spirit, and he had been advised by an Obeah-man to move the house to another spot. Reluctant at first, he was finally persuaded by friends, and the house was moved about 250 yards to the opposite side of the public road.

The law stipulates that each house must have a pit-latrine, and in fact most houses do have one on the same lot, though some households share a latrine, or use the bush on the outskirts of the village. It is not considered improper to micturate anywhere outside the house, provided one is not seen, and few people would trouble to go to a latrine for this purpose after dark. Once the house has been closed up for the night (and it really is closed up with all the windows shut tight), it is unusual for anyone to go outside, and practically every house has a chamber pot. One informant said that this is the first thing a woman will acquire when she sets up house, and she will always make sure that it is kept scrupulously clean: cleaner in fact than her cooking pots.

Most villagers take great care over personal cleanliness, and it is usual for everyone to bathe at least once every day. Some house-lots carry a small shelter which is used as a bathroom, where one bathes from a bucket using a calabash to pour the water. Alternatively persons will bathe when it is dark, early in the morning or late at night, whenever they can find sufficient privacy. Children bathe openly in the yard, or in one of the drainage trenches.

Small kitchen gardens, animal and fowl pens are also found on many house lots, though the presence of pigs, goats and sheep wandering uncontrolled in the dwelling area makes it difficult to maintain a kitchen garden unless constant attention is paid to the fencing. A fence is erected around the whole lot if the owner can afford it, but the majority of lots remain unfenced. In Better Hope the movements of animals in the dwelling area are much more effectively controlled, more lots are fenced, and the cultivation of kitchen gardens is more feasible. Some households have a rice storeroom built on the lot, and here padi for household consumption will be stored. Such rooms are kept locked and are guarded at night by the dogs which are to be found in every village. Even the poorest household will keep a dog, which is usually terribly emaciated, since dogs are fed very little and there is practically nothing for them to prey upon.

Furnishings inside the house vary from practically nothing, except a few empty rice bags to sleep upon, to quite a considerable number of chairs, tables, cabinets, beds, wardrobes, etc., and the houses of many of the school-teachers and village upper-class group are quite expensively furnished. The majority of houses will have at least one bed, even if it has a board bottom and a home-made mattress filled with grass or leaves. Apart from this the bedroom is usually bare, except for a chest or box in which clothes can be stored, and occasionally one finds a wash-stand with a basin and water jug. This latter is very rare in Perseverance and August Town except in the homes of the more wealthy villagers. In the living-room it is very common to find an old settee or settle, with or without upholstery, which can be used as a bed at night. Most houses have at least one table, a number of chairs, and a few boxes which can be used as seats. The centre piece of all except the very poorest homes is a cabinet on top of which glasses and dishes are displayed. It would seem that these are quite definitely for display, and a good housewife will keep them clean and shining. In one house with six inhabitants the total furnishings and household effects were as follows:—

1 table	2 flat irons	3 knives
2 chairs	3 iron cooking pots	5 enamel cups
1 couch	1 frying pan	8 enamel plates
2 beds	1 cutlass	1 stew pot
1 small water tub	4 spoons	3½ dozen glasses

The total value of the whole lot was estimated by the wife of the head of the household at $45.00. In this particular case there was no cabinet in the house, but the glasses were stacked on a shelf in the living-room.

It was noticeable that in Perseverance much less care was taken over the cleanliness of houses than in either of the other two villages. Whereas in August Town and Better Hope it is customary to scrub out the house at least once every week, in Perseverance it was clear that many houses had not been scrubbed for much longer than this. The majority of houses in all three villages remain unpainted, and quite often the inside walls are papered with old newspapers and magazines which help to keep out draughts and cover up cracks as well as being decorative.

Wood collected from the bush is the normal fuel for cooking and it is burned on an open hearth set on a shelf at convenient working height in the kitchen. This shelf is in a little recess, the hearth is surrounded by bricks covered with mud and cow-dung, and the pots are supported on iron bars. (See Plate Va.) Occasionally a more elaborate stove is built with an enclosed fire space and a series of holes in the top over which the pots are placed. One rarely finds cupboards in the kitchen though some houses will be equipped with a mesh-covered meat safe. Generally there is little cause for storing food since it is consumed soon after it is obtained. A bunch of plantains may be hung from the roof, or a supply of cassava may be stored in ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Full Title
• Copyright
• CONTENTS
• FOREWORD BY MEYER FORTES
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• SECTION I
• SECTION II
• SECTION III
• NOTES
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• INDEX