Once again. Anna Boyé is attracting media attention for her studies of matriarchal societies around the world. Anthropologist Anna Boyé has spent more than a decade seeking out and documenting life in these societies, where lineage is traced through women.
This time the Newspaper devotes the back page of its 2 May edition to her, with an extensive interview that begins with a statement:
Here is the full interview published in El Periódico:
- For example?
For example, I asked Quinta in Guinea-Bissau: "Tell me what you like about this man", and she said: "His sensitivity and his sex". See? It's all upside down!
- And him? Did you ask him?
- Yeah. And he said to me: «De Quinta I like his intelligence and his ability to organize».
Anthropologist and photojournalist Anna Boyé has spent a decade seeking out and documenting matriarchal societies around the world for her project “Matriarchies”. Her research has taken her to remote parts of Guinea-Bissau, China and Mexico, and more recently Indonesia. On Sumatra, she met the Minangkabau and made a documentary about them, “The Heiresses”, which premieres on the 25th at Casa Golferichs. She is also organising a trip to meet them in July.
- Let's start with the basics. What exactly do we mean by matriarchy?
- To begin with, a matriarchy is not the opposite of a patriarchy. Matriarchies share many characteristics, but the main one is that women hold non-coercive authority recognised by consensus.
– Women’s power.
– Hmm… Let me explain. Take the Minangkabau, for example. You ask them, “Are you powerful?” and they reply, “Powerful?”, looking puzzled. Then they explain that power means reaching agreements with men in every area of life so they can live better. Their ways of thinking are different from Western ones.
The Minangkabau in Sumatra © Anna Boyé
- And the men? What is their role?
In these societies, men and women complement one another. Men are not excluded, although in some cases they are treated like children. They are happy and accept the social structure naturally.
- What else do they have in common?
– Well, they are societies where being matters more than having. They share a respect for the earth and place great importance on the female body, linked to love and fertility. They are caring societies that look after the group’s wellbeing, where women have a dignity and depth rarely seen here.
- How do you see the West? How do you see the patriarchal model?
- They know it, but they are very happy as they are. In China, I told them, “In my society, men mistreat women”, and they were shocked. These are very peaceful societies where men prefer not to make decisions, so it surprises them greatly.
- Do you think we should learn from them?
- I have no doubt. Moreover, I believe they have much to teach us and could inspire significant social change. We sometimes think our Western, intellectual, capitalist and technological culture can do everything, but these matriarchal societies have a far more developed sense of life’s meaning.
- Almost nothing.
- They inspire admiration and respect in me. I return from these trips with my assumptions turned upside down.
– I suppose the way you share your work and your travels…
- Yes. ‘Matriarchies’ is partly an educational project. I feel a mission — although I am not sure that is the right word — to share these values. If I can contribute something, that is what I want it to be.
- The trip is part of that, of course.
- Yes. The idea is for people to share and understand, because theory is one thing and seeing it first hand is another. A trip like this has never been done before. It is clearly not a conventional tourist trip. There are 12 places, and the idea is travel like a clan. Like a family. To share.
As usual, Anna never stops. As well as maintaining her blog and website www.matriarcados.com, is now preparing for the release of a documentary entitled «The Heiresses’, filmed on the island of Sumatra and that will be released on the 25th at the Casa Golferichs.
➡ Trip information for Sumatra. The Minangkabau: a matriarchal community
➡All our trips to Indonesia.