Review

Reviewed Work(s): Divorce and after by Paul Bohannan

Review by: Satadal Dasgupta
Source: American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 76, No. 1 (Mar., 1974), pp. 104-105
Published by: Wiley on behalf of the American Anthropological Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/674929
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 104 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [76,1974

Hemingway seduction The articles (pp.

scene are organized
71-72)in five and
sections.
"documented" in part The
by introductory section includescasual
the author's an article
observations, such as: "I have
in which encountered
Jessie Bernard sees a continuation
only a few women who of possess
a high rate ofwhat
divorce inI North
would American
society due mainlyor
classify as first-class scientific to the increasing ease
theoretical
minds" (p. 50). with which a divorced woman can solve her
The book is filled with condescension: economic and emotional problems, and to
Don't men defer to women in public and an emerging conception of marriage empha-
indulge their tastes in fashion (p. 103)? The sizing companionate and interactional
chapters are headed by cute literary quota- aspects in interspouse relationships rather
tions and illustrated with caricatures of wom- than the legal and institutional.
en hardhats and the like. The last chapter re- Section II dealing with the "process" of
lates the author's longing for the days of mas-divorce includes two articles, one by Bohan-
culine heroes, days when Clark Gable con- nan and the other by Arthur Miller, a
vinced Joan Crawford that "it was better to psychiatrist. Bohannan identifies six distinct
have a good man than a good job" (p. 143). but interrelated aspects of the process of
McCracken does point to the excesses of divorce which he refers to as "six stations."
the Liberationists, and few would argue with He states that divorce is still a complex and
a reasoned attempt to dispute the fallacies painful personal experience because "these
associated with any social movement. Butsix todifferent experiences of separation"
approach the subject with a lengthy ex- happen at once and cannot be properly
hibition of fallacy-envy falls rather short of
handled. The process starts with the
the author's stated objectives. "emotional divorce" which centers around a
deteriorating marriage as the couple starts
References Cited growing apart without always being con-
sciously aware of the real reasons. The agony
Murdock, George Peter is multiplied in "legal divorce" as the couple
1949 Social Structure. New York: The
Free Press.
goes through the frustrating process of trans-
Service, Elman R.
lating the subtle and intangible reasons into
1962 Primitive Social Organization: An concrete legal terms. The "economic" and
Evolutionary Perspective. New York: "co-parental divorces" are extensions of
Random House. legal divorce whereby claims on property
and custody of children are settled in court.
Not too infrequently the attitude of "mak-
Divorce and After. PAUL BOHANNAN, ed. ing the bastard pay" on the part of the
Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1970. vi + ex-wife in alimony settlement with the
301 pp., figures, tables, chapter notes, ex-husband is extended in their fight
references, index. $6.95 (cloth). "through children" to obtain custody. The
"community divorce" involves change in
Reviewed by SATADAL DASGUPTA friends and communities on the part of the
University of Prince Edward Island, Canadadivorcees and fighting the resulting loneli-
ness. The "psychic divorce," according to
The number of scholarly studies on Bohannan, is the most difficult of all,
divorce and its processes is indeed very involving separation of self from the person-
meager. W. J. Goode's book, After Divorce ality of the ex-spouse. In many ways, Bohan-
(1956), P. H. Jacobson's American Marriage nan's article is one of the best available
and Divorce (1959), and W. Waller's The discussions of divorce as a process, and
Family: A Dynamic Interpretation (1951: perhaps the most important article in the
Chaps. 23, 24) almost exhaust the list of book. Arthur Miller's article is a psychologi-
available scholarly discussion on the subject.cal interpretation of "Reactions of Friends
Thus, Paul Bohannan's volume, Divorce and to Divorce," emphasizing the parts the
After, is a welcome addition. friends play in the "plot" contributing to
Divorce and After is a multidisciplinary the occurrence and form of the divorce and
volume in the sense that it includes articles the behavior of the divorcees.
written by authorities in anthropology, Three articles are included in Part III,
psychology, sociology, law, and medicine. Aftermath. Paul Gebhard presents data on

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 GENERAL AND THEORETICAL 105

Folklore and Psychoanalysis.

the incidence of post-marital coitus PAULO DE
among
the widowed and the divorcees. CARVALHO-NETO. Jacques Margaret
M. P. Wil-
Mead's article on "Anomalies in American son, trans. Foreword by Alan Dundes.
Post-Divorce Relationship," dealing withPreface to Spanish edition by Roger
structural obsolescence of the American Bastide. Coral Gables, FL: University of
Miami Press, 1972. 211 pp., bibliography,
family system which, she maintains, contri-
butes both to a high rate of divorce andindex. $7.95 (cloth). [Translated from
anomalies in postdivorce relationships, second
is ed., Folklore y Psicoandlisis,
interesting and thought-provoking. In the Editorial Moritz, Mexico, 1968. ]
third article, Bohannan discusses the emer-
gence of pseudokinship structures in North Reviewed by CARL E. BATT
America through divorce and remarriage. University of the Americas
Part IV, Divorce around the World,
provides the reader with a cross-cultural The author's stated objective is to sys-
perspective of divorce. Max Rheinstein'stematize the relationship of folklore and
article on "Divorce Law in Sweden" is a psychoanalysis (p. 16). The book delivers
rather tedious historical study of the very little of this rather large promise. Aside
evolu-
tion of divorce law in Sweden. Ernest from a few useful compilations--a table of
Burch's comparison between "Marriage Freudian
and symbols frequently occurring in
Divorce among the North Alaskan Eskimos" folklore (pp. 65-66) and a table of cor-
and those among other North Americans respondences
is between elements of the
highly analytical and perceptive. In his Oedipus complex and certain aspects of
article, "Brittle Marriage as a Stable System:totemic rituals (p. 138)-little if anything is
The Kanauri Case," Ronald Cohen discusses added toward understanding the problem.
how the Kanauri social structure responds The real contribution of the book lies rather
successfully to its high rate of divorce andin reporting, quite secondarily, a modest
body of mostly Brazilian folklore, largely
argues in favor of a similar structural transi-
tion in North American society. recorded by the author's teacher, Arthur
In the two concluding articles, included Ramos (p. 16).
in Part V entitled Reform, Herman Kay Carvalho-Neto's work suffers from a
discusses the family court approach in deal- mechanical application of a simplistic and
ing with divorce and related issues, and outmoded version of psychoanalytic theory.
Bohannan urges reforms in legal and psy- Ironically, he spends nearly half of his book
chological spheres of divorce. reviewing the literature but never evaluates it
Divorce and After is a highly readable andnor develops his own point of view; and in
informative book on the subject. Students approaching the folklore itself he appears to
interested in divorce as a process, and the ignore most of the theory that he bothered
problem of postdivorce adjustment will find to report at such length. We are left with a
this book to be valuable. For detailed psychoanalytic approach to folklore contain-
statistical information, however, they ing exactly
will the stuff that has given psycho-
have to consult other sources. A weakness of analysis a bad name; a literal acceptance of
the book which is worth mentioning is its Freudian allegories substituting for real
lack of a central unifying essay around analysis; evolutionary speculations and
which the articles should have been in- survivals substituting for a true psychoana-
tegrated. lytic explanation of contemporary phenom-
ena; a presentation of man in the abstract,
References Cited ignoring cultural and institutional contexts;
a metapsychological analysis of hypothetical
Goode, W. J. mental structures and hypothetical mental
1956 After Divorce. Chicago: Free energies, obscuring the psychoanalytic the-
Press.
ory of motivation; and an id psychology
Jacobson, P. H.
1959 American Marriage and Divorce. ignoring the ego psychology present in
New York: Rinehart & Co. psychoanalysis from the start, and pre-
dominant after 1914.
Waller, W.
1951 The Family: A Dynamic Interpre- The author's theoretical approach to folk-
tation. Dryden. lore is a constant distraction and disappoint-

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