Polygyny and Fertility among the Shipibo of the Peruvian Amazon
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52980/revistaamazonaperuana.vi24.115Keywords:
Shipibo-Konibo, polygyny, women’s fertilityAbstract
In this third and final study, the author seeks to test the specific hypothesis that polygyny among the Shipibo limits women’s fertility at both the individual and community levels through postpartum abstinence and the lengthening of intervals between births, which are longer in a polygynous union. In this way, the effects of modernization are not necessarily associated with lower fertility but may even increase it insofar as modernization disrupts traditional cultural practices. However, the author himself cautions against generalizing the results of his study to the entire Shipibo ethnic group or to Indigenous populations in general.
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