And while this
matrifocality creates some space for women's leadership and decision-making (Arscott-Mills, 2001) it does not rid the household of other patterns of patriarchy, particularly with respect to domestic violence and the disciplining of children.
Homer epitomizes the "natural rebel", that is, one that acts as a "cultural icon whose central location within the community of the enslaved-the politicized space- is derived from the ascribed
matrifocality of the African social legacy." (11) In this regard, Homer embodies the Queen Nanny archetype of the postcolonial Maroon narrative, a powerful roots woman with a distinctive ability to inspire and lead others.
Her argument is threefold: (1) that the dearth of research on Caribbean middle classes has produced a flattened view of class dynamics within the Caribbean; (2) that the logics of neoliberalism resonate with long-standing tropes within Anglophone Caribbean societies normally associated with working-class people, such as "reputation," "occupational multiplicity," and "
matrifocality," and that these have now become "upwardly mobile" as a result of middle-class entrepreneurs' desire to move "outside of the established channels of upward mobility" (p.
"Motherly landscapes:
Matrifocality, Marriage, Islam and the Change of Generation in Post Conflict Post-Tsunami Aceh".
reinforcing the stereotype of
matrifocality. (57) In other cases,
Paradoxically, one can deduce that working-class men became reliant on peer groups for status confirmation purposes in the very same studies that concluded wage labour was responsible for the increasing incidence of
matrifocality in Jamaica.
As is well known, this sociology (Frazier) versus anthropology (Herskovits) context would have a great impact on the debate on the causes for the
matrifocality of many black families as well as on the relationship between poverty and culture in the black population in the US.
Traditions of
matrifocality encouraged African Americans to embrace a conjugal form that did not vest disproportionate authority in men's hands.