雅美人食物的分類及其社會文化意義

THE SOCIO-CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE OF YAMI FOOD CLASSIFICATIONS

瞭解雅美人的食物分類是瞭解雅美文化的第一步，本文嘗試從「食物符碼」（food code）的角度，來剖析朗島雅美人的食物分類；從食物的分類入手以表達雅美人在性別分工、社會交換關係以及性別意識的社會文化意義。本文除前言、結論外共分六節，第二節先從食物的分類加以介紹，雅美人最重要的食物分類是主食kanen及副食yakan兩類，副食項下又有更進一步的區分；第三節描述食物分類與兩性在食物生產分工上的關係；第四節討論食物在雅美社會交換中的重要性，以及男女兩性在家庭生活中的互助互賴；第五節總括前數節的資料，「解讀」出雅美人對女性的性別意象（gender representations），從兩種並不一致的意象及與之相配合的社會文化制度的關聯，或許對於雅美文化的瞭解有所幫助。

The Yami distinguish roughly two categories of food: kanen (staples) and yakan (supplements). These two terms (and other terms for subcategories of yakan) are 'key words' (Evans-Pritchard 1962: 80) to understanding Yami culture. The division of labor in Yami food production is that the women play the major role in 'getting kanen' and herding pigs, while the men play the major role in 'searching for yakan' and taking care of goats. While Yami men may from time to time farm their family gardens and feed pigs, Yami women never fish in the sea, nor do they tend goats. The Yami believe that women are physically weaker than men, and hence they cannot handle the physically more demanding tasks performed by men. In social exchange, although yakan is more emphasized than kanen, both categories of food are indispensable. A husband and wife have to work together to produce enough food to hold new boat or new house inauguration ceremonies, where lots of taro, pork, and/or goat meat will be given away. A single or widowed man will have no way to produce enough food to pay back his social debt. Although he may not cease to be given, his social status will gradually fall because he cannot return what he has taken. In brief, there are two contradictory views of femaleness: women are thought physically inferior, but socially valued. In terms of these gender representations, we can make sense of the contradictions of female status in different social contexts. For example, Yami women are excluded from inheriting family property (land, house, domestic animals, etc.), while maternal and paternal kin are of similar importance.