Guardians of the Flutes, Volume 1: Idioms of Masculinity [Paperback]

Gilbert Herdt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 15, 1994 | ISBN-10: 0226327493 | ISBN-13: 978-0226327495

In the first systematic documentation of New Guinea rituals of manhood, Gilbert Herdt places the homosexual customs of the Sambia in their ecological and ideological contexts while exploring what they mean to the individuals who practice them. Raising a host of issues concerning gender identity, hostility between the sexes, and the relationships between myth, culture, and personal experience, Herdt provides a vivid and convincing portrait of how Sambia men experience their sexual development.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Herdt, a Stanford anthropology professor, lived with the Sambia people of Papua New Guinea for two years, a tribe noted for its practice of forcing boys to engage in homosexuality. The author "makes interesting observations about gender identity, symbolism and perception," PW commented.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 402 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (December 15, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226327493
• ISBN-13: 978-0226327495
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,255,851 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Response to "How Do We Know?", January 4, 2009

By 

LearnerGirl (CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Guardians of the Flutes, Volume 1: Idioms of Masculinity (Paperback)

I have not yet read this book, but I will be reading it in the coming semester for a college course.

I want to respond to the person below who believes that using a fake name for the tribe somehow implies that the author is lying. This is absolutely not the case. Readers must keep in mind that this book is an ethnography, and Herdt, the author, is an anthropologist. It is standard anthropological practice to disguise the names of groups and people involved in anthropological studies. Anonymity is extremely important in a study such as this one because it allows people to disclose potentially dangerous information without fear. The use of pseudonyms does not take away from the credibility of the work.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most important books ever written...., February 10, 2007

By 

Geoff Puterbaugh (Chiang Mai, T. Suthep, A. Muang Thailand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Guardians of the flutes: Idioms of masculinity (Paperback)

...about this subject.

One reviewer whines "How Do We Know?" and thereby implies directly that the author is a liar, and made up everything reported in this book.

While that person may choose to remain in darkness, this book was very well received among professionals, who realized at once that it added more detail (a lot more detail) to the generally known facts about sexuality in New Guinea. In fact, there are many other tribes, reported in the literature, who practice the same system of sexuality -- with the perhaps interesting exception that the sexuality is not oral but via the posterior route.

As for disguising the name of the tribe, it seems to me that Herdt has really done something quite remarkable: he has protected his sources. There is no tribe called the "Sambia" in New Guinea, but there is the tribe which Herdt studied, and one of the key elements in their system of male sexuality is that it must be kept SECRET.

In this, I must confess that by the age of 60 I have seen this sort of behavior all over the world: men can have all the sex they want together, but it is imperative not to scare the horses. DON'T let the women know.

If Herdt had published his book with the tribe's real name, he would have blown their cover. I congratulate him for not doing so.

As for what the Sambia are up to, I would suggest reading the book, and not counting on a book review to fill you in on all the details. But as a very high-level view, the Sambia have a superstitious belief that a young boy's development into a full-fledged male is a highly doubtful procedure -- not guaranteed by the spirits or the gods. So they practice "boy invigoration," which entails the young boy receiving regular doses of masculinity. When the boy reaches puberty, the magic has obviously worked, so it is time for him to reverse roles and begin helping the younger ones.

All in all, this is one of the most fascinating books I have ever read. It's true to say, "We're not in Kansas any more, Dorothy." No, we're in the steamy jungle islands of New Guinea and Papua New Guinea, and learning about some of the very flexible limits of human sexuality.

Highest possible recommendation!

4.0 out of 5 stars A double standard, December 26, 2011

By 

othoniaboys - See all my reviews

This review is from: Guardians of the Flutes, Volume 1: Idioms of Masculinity (Paperback)

Homosexual behavior is illegal in Papua New Guinea and especially if the younger partner is less than 17 years old. That of course means that all of the sexual behavior reported in this book was illegal. This is presumably why Herdt disguised the identity of the tribe. He didn't want to set the men up for arrest. Several reviewers have justified this by saying that it is standard anthropological practice to protect the sources. But it seems to me that here we have a blatant double standard. The Catholic church has practiced extensive coverups with regard to priests having sex with boys. The officials at Penn State did the same thing with Sandusky. This has provoked universal outrage. How are anthropologists exempt from having to report such behavior? Who has exempted them?