Taboo

For other uses, see Taboo (disambiguation).

A taboo is a vehement prohibition of an action based on the belief that such behavior is either too sacred or too accursed for ordinary individuals to undertake, under threat of supernatural punishment.[1][2] Such prohibitions are present in virtually all societies.[1] The word has been somewhat expanded in the social sciences to strong prohibitions relating to any area of human activity or custom that is sacred or forbidden based on moral judgment and religious beliefs. "Breaking a taboo" is usually considered objectionable by society in general, not merely a subset of a culture.

Etymology

The term "taboo" comes from the Tongan tapu or Fijian tabu ("prohibited", "disallowed", "forbidden"),[3] related among others to the Maori tapu, Hawaiian kapu, Malagasy fady. Its English use dates to 1777 when the British explorer James Cook visited Tonga. Describing the cultural practices of the Tongans, he wrote:

Not one of them would sit down, or eat a bit of any thing.... On expressing my surprise at this, they were all taboo, as they said; which word has a very comprehensive meaning; but, in general, signifies that a thing is forbidden.[4]
When any thing is forbidden to be eaten, or made use of, they say, that it is taboo.[5]

The term was translated to him as "consecrated, inviolable, forbidden, unclean or cursed".[6] Tabu itself has been derived from alleged Tongan morphemes ta ("mark") and bu ("especially"), but this may be a folk etymology (note that Tongan does not actually have a phoneme /b/), and tapu is usually treated as a unitary, non-compound word inherited from Proto-Polynesian *tapu, in turn inherited from Proto-Oceanic *tabu, with the reconstructed meaning "sacred, forbidden".[7][8][9] In its current use on Tonga, the word tapu means "sacred" or "holy", often in the sense of being restricted or protected by custom or law. On the main island, the word is often appended to the end of "Tonga" as Tongatapu, here meaning "Sacred South" rather than "Forbidden South".

Examples

Woodcut showing 12 people holding various human body parts carousing around an open bonfire where human body parts, suspended on a sling, are cooking.
Cannibalism, Brazil. Engraving by Theodor de Bry for Hans Staden's account of his 1557 captivity.

Sigmund Freud posited that incest and patricide were the only two universal taboos and formed the basis of civilization.[10] However, although cannibalism, in-group murder, and incest are taboo in the majority of societies, marriages between brothers and sisters occurred in Roman Egypt.[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]

Common taboos involve restrictions or ritual regulation of killing and hunting; sex and sexual relationships (primarily incest, necrophilia, miscegenation, adultery, fornication, pedophilia, homosexuality, intermarriage, bestiality, and masturbation); reproduction (abortion, infanticide); the dead and their graves; as well as food and dining (primarily cannibalism and dietary laws such as vegetarianism, kashrut, and halal) or religious (haram). In Madagascar, a strong code of taboos, known as fady, constantly change and are formed from new experiences. Each region, village or tribe may have its own fady.

Taboos often extend to cover discussion of taboo topics, resulting in euphemisms and replacement of taboo words.

The word "taboo" gained popularity at times, with some scholars looking for ways to apply it where other English words had previously been applied. For example, J. M. Powis Smith, in his "The American Bible" (editor's preface 1927), used "taboo" occasionally in relation to Israel's Tabernacle and ceremonial laws, including Exodus 30:36, 29:37; Numbers 16:37,38; Deuteronomy 22:9, Isaiah 65:5, Ezekiel 44:19 and 46:20.

Function

Communist and materialist theorists have argued that taboos can be used to reveal the histories of societies when other records are lacking.[19] Marvin Harris particularly endeavored to explain taboos as a consequence of ecologic and economic conditions.[20]

Modernity

Some argue that contemporary multicultural societies have taboos against tribalisms (for example, ethnocentrism and nationalism) and prejudices (racism, sexism, religious extremism).[21]

Changing social customs and standards also create new taboos, such as bans on slavery; extension of the pedophilia taboo to ephebophilia;[22] prohibitions on alcohol, tobacco, or psychopharmaceutical consumption (particularly among pregnant women); and the employment of politically correct euphemisms – at times quite unsuccessfully – to mitigate various alleged forms of discrimination.

Incest itself has been pulled both ways, with some seeking to normalize consensual adult relationships regardless of the degree of kinship[23] (notably in Europe[24][25]) and others expanding the degrees of prohibited contact (notably in the United States[26]).

In medicine, professionals who practice in ethical and moral grey areas, or fields subject to social stigma such as late termination of pregnancy, may refrain from public discussion of their practice. Among other reasons, this taboo may come from concern that comments may be taken out of the appropriate context and used to make ill-informed policy decisions.[27][28]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Encyclopædia Britannica Online. "Taboo." Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Retrieved 21 Mar. 2012
  2. ↑ Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary, 11th Edition. "Taboo."
  3. ↑ Dixon, Robert M. W. (1988). A Grammar of Boumaa Fijian. p. 368. ISBN 978-0-226-15429-9.
  4. ↑ Cook & King 1821, p. 348
  5. ↑ Cook & King 1821, p. 462
  6. ↑ (Cook & King 1821)
  7. ↑ Online Etymology Dictionary. "Taboo."
  8. ↑ "Online dictionary". Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. Retrieved 2007-06-05.
  9. ↑ Biggs, Bruce. "Entries for TAPU [OC] Prohibited, under ritual restriction, taboo". Polynesian Lexicon Project Online. University of Auckland. Retrieved 9 September 2012.
  10. ↑ Freud, Sigmund. Totem and Taboo.
  11. ↑ Jones, Ashley. "Incest in Ancient Egypt" (PDF).
  12. ↑ Strong, Anise (2006). "Incest Laws and Absent Taboos in Roman Egypt". Ancient History Bulletin 20.
  13. ↑ Lewis, N. (1983). Life in Egypt under Roman Rule. Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-814848-8.
  14. ↑ Frier, Bruce W.; Bagnall, Roger S. (1994). The Demography of Roman Egypt. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-46123-5.
  15. ↑ Shaw, B. D. (1992). "Explaining Incest: Brother-Sister Marriage in Graeco-Roman Egypt". Man, New Series 27 (2): 267–299. JSTOR 2804054.
  16. ↑ Hopkins, Keith (1980). "Brother-Sister Marriage in Roman Egypt" (PDF). Comparative Studies in Society and History 22 (3): 303–354. doi:10.1017/S0010417500009385.
  17. ↑ remijsen, sofie. "Incest or Adoption? Brother-Sister Marriage in Roman Egypt Revisited" (PDF).
  18. ↑ Scheidel, W. "Brother-sister marriage in Roman Egypt" (PDF).
  19. ↑ Marta Dyczok; Oxana Gaman-Golutvina (2009). Media, Democracy and Freedom: The Post-Communist Experience. Peter Lang. p. 209. ISBN 978-3-0343-0311-8.(subscription required)
  20. ↑ Marvin Harris, India's Sacred Cow (PDF)
  21. ↑ Putnam, Robert D. (June 2007). "E Pluribus Unum: Diversity and community in the twenty-first century". Scandinavian Political Studies (Wiley) 30 (2): 137–174. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9477.2007.00176.x. The 2006 Johan Skytte Prize Lecture.
  22. ↑ S. Berlin, Frederick. "Interview with Frederick S. Berlin, M.D., Ph.D.". Office of Media Relations. Archived from the original on June 23, 2011. Retrieved 2008-06-27.
  23. ↑ Johann Hari (2002-01-09). "Forbidden love". The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-04-11.
  24. ↑ Hipp, Dietmar (2008-03-11). "German High Court Takes a Look at Incest". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 2008-04-12.
  25. ↑ DONALDSON JAMES, SUSAN. "Professor Accused of Incest With Daughter". ABC Nightline. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
  26. ↑ Joanna Grossman, Should the law be kinder to kissin' cousins?
  27. ↑ Harris, Lisa (2008). "Second Trimester Abortion Provision: Breaking the Silence and Changing the Discourse" (PDF). Reproductive Health Matters 16 (31): 74–81. doi:10.1016/S0968-8080(08)31396-2. Retrieved 29 October 2015.
  28. ↑ O'Donnell, Jenny; Weitz, Tracy; Freedman, Lori (November 2011). "Resistance and vulnerability to stigmatization in abortion work". Social Science and Medicine 73 (9): 1357–1364. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.08.019.

Bibliography

Look up taboo in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, April 21, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.