Tabinaw
Tabinaw is a Yapese term for a group of nuclear families related in the patrilineal line, plus out-marrying female siblings of these males. In some instances it refers to members of an extended household. An individual tabinaw may consist of a single household in which reside a man, his wife, and their children. More often, members of several linked households share tabinaw lands.
The tabinaw define the protocols of access to estate resources. The term is taken to mean not simply a parcel of land, but a collection of parcels of land associated with a daef, or the stone platform upon which rests the central dwelling of the estate head
As explained by Sherwood Galen Lingenfelter in Yap: Political Leadership And Culture Change In An Island Society:
"...Tabinaw is the most basic concept in traditional Yapese leadership and sociopolitical organization. As an organizing principle for political and social relationships, it outlines reciprocal rights,obligations,an prestations between individuals of its various units. As defined in land, it assures continuity through time and a solid economic base in the community. As defined in kinshipu nits,it provides for the exercise of authority and political succession.
Defining the nature of tabinaw, however, is exceedingly complex. In the Yapese language, the word tabinaw is used with different meanings or references. This might be fairly easily resolved were it not that the Yapese also combine these meanings with dual principles of patrilineal and matrilineal descent, and several types of kinship groups."
Tabinaw is sometimes taken to mean or represent large systems of social and political organization on Yap, for which it may be considered the foundational building block.
Social Stratification
In Yap, the traditional unit of land is the "tabinaw," or estate, consisting of all land belonging to a single extended household. Relatedly, social stratification reached a peak in Yap with nine different social classes, outer islanders being relegated to a subordinate status.
While membership in the sib (kinship group) extends without reference to village rank or landed/landless caste distinctions, the membership of the sub-sib tends to fall into general caste and class boundaries. This is caused by the practice of marrying within caste lines, as in marriages between villages of equal or adjacent rank. Marriages across caste lines are prohibited because they would breakdown the reciprocal obligations of class and caste observed through the ties of solidarity and support expected of members of the sub-sib.
Caste
As Explained by Amanda Morgan in 1996:
"...Caste or rank was, and is, a complicated business on Yap, and only imperfectly understood by foreigners. In broad terms, status was hereditary and determined by village membership. Along with serving in war, producing several of the island's handicrafts, and helping in house and canoe building, lower caste people were responsible for burying the dead. Lower caste men could not marry into a higher rank, and were obliged to dress modestly and behave deferentially toward their social superiors. Also inland were the cemeteries, many near to lower-caste villages, various spirit shrines and apparently, at least in the mid-19th century, a good deal of unpopulated forest and grassland."
As explained in a 1974 TTPI-published "Welcome to Yap District" booklet:
"Yap was an island of villages which fought wars against each other. After each war, the stronger village ruled the weaker village. As a result an elaborate caste system developed. Other high villages in Gagil Mimicipality such as Gachpar and Wanyan had avery strong influence over the outer islands of Yap that became known as the Yap Empire.
...Traditionally, Yapese took the caste of their village. There were seven levels of caste, the two highest being chief's caste. Persons of low caste had obligations to higher cast villages and could not eat the same food and were not allowed to go certain places. Caste distinctions remain important to many Yapese, especially older persons and those from high caste villages, but Western ideas have done much to break down the caste system among young people. Sex, as well as caste, divided Yapese society. Women generally were regarded as lower than men and acted accordingly. Women were expected to walk behind men of equal caste and when forced to pass in front of a man, stooped nearly to the ground. Men had their assigned tasks -fishing, canoe making, house building, repairing nets, picking betelnut, picking coconuts, fighting, sailing for stone money. Women had theirs -growing taro, cutting grass gardening, making thatch, caring for children. Meals for men and women were generally cooked in separate pots and eaten separately.
...Caste distinctions remain important to many Yapese, especially older persons and those from high caste villages, but Western ideas have done much to break down the caste system among young people..."
Political Organization
Each district, or municipality, is ruled by a paramount chief, who is the highest ranking village chief of the district. The position is dependent upon the ownership and inheritance of particular houses and lands, to which the title attaches, The eight districts and their chiefs are arranged in a fixed order of rank, as follows: Tomill, Rull, Gagil Gillifitzl Nit, Kanif, Gorror, and Okau. The first three owe their predominant position primarily to the fact that they are the seats of three cult places of outstanding importance and wide renown, Succession is patrilineal a chief being followed in office most commonly by his eldest son, This rule contrasts sharply with that prevailing in Palau, the Eastern Carolines the Marshalls and the Marianas, where succession to the chieftaincy ordinarily follows the female line,
A 1944 US Navy manual explained:
"...The paramount chiefs of Yap are held in great respect. Subjects bow low when a chief passes; indoors they sit while he stands; in walking, he precedes and they follow, As feudal lords, the paramount chiefs receive from their subjects a share of all the products of fishing and agriculture, They have the power to preempt tortoises and valuables, They are autocratic patriarchs who can command obedience and punish deviations, but they commonly use their powers with moderation."
See Also
Cultural Persistence & Distinctiveness of Yap
References and Resources
Burton, Michael L., et al. “The Circulation of Children through Households in Yap and Kosrae.” Ethos, vol. 29, no. 3, Jan. 2001, pp. 329–56, https://doi.org/10.1525/eth.2001.29.3.329.
Descantes, Christophe. “Contained Identities: The Demise of Yapese Clay Pots.” Asian Perspectives, vol. 40, no. 2, Nov. 2001, pp. 227–43, https://doi.org/10.1353/asi.2001.0017.
Lingenfelter, Sherwood Galen. Yap: Political Leadership and Culture Change in an Island Society. The University Press of Hawaii, 1975, https://books.google.com/books?id=AVrGDwAAQBAJ&printsec=copyright#v=onepage&q&f=false.
Morgan, Amanda. “Mystery in the Eye of the Beholder: Cross‐Cultural Encounters on 19th‐Century Yap.” The Journal of Pacific History, vol. 31, no. 1, June 1996, pp. 27–41, https://doi.org/10.1080/00223349608572804.
Smith, Anita. “Mangyol Village, Yap: A Micronesian Social Landscape.” Routledge Handbook of Cultural Landscape Practice, edited by Steve Brown and Cari Goetcheus, Routledge, 2023, https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315203119-35.
Underwood, Jane Hainline. “Preliminary Investigations of Demographic Features and Ecological Variables of a Micronesian Island Population.” Micronesica, vol. 5, no. 1, 1969, pp. 1–24, https://micronesica.org/volumes/5.
