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Hutterite perceptions of psychophysiological characteristics
J. Social Biol. Struct. 1984 7, 1-8
Hutterite perceptions of psycho. physiological characteristics Karl Peter and lan Whitaker • Department o f Sociology and Anthropology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6
The aim of this paper is to present and analyse preliminary information relating to an unusual form of psycho-physiological differentiation which Hutterites ascribe to inheritance, and which we have encountered during anthropological fieldwork among them. This sect comprises members who are descended from original adherents of the Anabaptist movement, which emerged in Southern Germany and Austria during the Reformation. Following settlement in Moravia from 1527 to 1622, they moved in a number of stages through Eastern Europe, and were then located in Russia for over a century. In the 1870s the 400 surviving Hutterites moved to North America, and since that time have lived in colonies, primarily agricultural, in western Canada and the United States. At this time there are some 250 colonies, with a total population of about 25,000. Hutterites are distinguished from the religiously similar Mennonites through their communal living arrangements incorporating the sharing of property.? Our attention was drawn to the particular form of differentiation with which we are here concerned, during fieldwork among one of the three main divisions of the Hutterites, the Dariusleut, although we have since confirmed that the phenomenon is present in the other two sections of the sect, the Schmiedeleut and Lehrerleut. In the course of conversations, conducted in the South German dialect used by Hutterites, which originated in the Tyrol and Carinthia, but which has been augmented by loanwords acquired during the successive wanderings of the sect through Eastern Europe and Russia, we encountered the term Sabdt, the use of which we have so far not been able to detect any written example. The term, the precise etymology of which remains obscure, is apparently not found in Russian, but there are some indications that it might be related to the archaic German word Schabab (from schab ab, 'go away, pull away') defined by Luther as, among other things, a 'Person with whom one wishes to have nothing to do'. § The term is only used by Hutterites in relatively private circumstances when speaking among themselves, and usually is not employed in direct conversation with persons who are being differentiated by the ascription of characteristics associated with a particular Sab6t. After our discovery of the term we encountered some marked reluctance in identifying or explaining the word itself, as well as the underlying tFor general descriptions of Hutterite society see Bennett (1967) and Hostetler (1974). We have discussed recent developmentsin Hutterite culture in Peter & Whitaker (1982a, b; 1983). §Cf. Zieglschmid (1943: 1008). 0140-1750/84/010001 + 08 $03.00]0
© 1984 AcademicPress Inc. (London) Limited
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K. Peter & L Whitaker
concepts a~sociated with its use. The term has not been noted by other writers describing the Hutterites, and is, we believe, totally absent from the now substantial literature relating to this sect. The term Sab6t denotes diverse groups of individuals who are designated by names such as Tatela, Stuhna, Juba, Jana, Fritzen, Franzen, Ben/aminita, etc. t Again these names do not appear in written form, with the single exception of Tatela, a variant of which appears in an early list of Hutterite immigrants to North America derived from a list o f passengers on a boat, and is included almost like a nickname of an individual male. The Sab6t designates a group of individuals who are believed to bear common physical and psychological characteristics which they have inherited. Among the physical traits are such features as height, complexion, growth o f hair especially the beard (or alternatively baldness), habitual posture, body morphology, susceptibility to disease, facial features and voice patterns. It should be noted that these characteristics are only noticed when several of them are present in the same individual, and are recognized in this combination. It must also be observed, however, that not all Hutterities will be perceived as bearing any recognizable combination o f these features, and therefore such persons will not be labelled as belonging to any Sab6t. At the same time as the Sab6t is defined in terms o f common physical traits there is also an attribution of common personal.ity characteristics. Thus different Sab6t will be said to be identified as outgoing, or outspoken or aggressive. Some Sab6t will be seen to provide leaders, whilst others will comprise followers; some will be seen to be secretive, whilst others are said to be sly. However, the same personality characteristic that is defined negatively by non-members, will be construed positively by people who identify themselves as belonging to the Sab6t; thus a group known generally to the community as 'sly' will describe themselves as 'smart'. There is a strong indication that the verbal descriptions which Hutterites give relative to the psychological characteristics of any Sab6t are rather incomplete. Such terms as 'secretive' or 'sly', which are used to describe the psychological characteristics of a particular Sab6t, are only a shorthand version o f a complex and holistic personality structure which is spontaneously recognized and understood. The basis of this understanding is found in the lifelong experience that a Hutteritie individual has with people o f a particular Sab6t. It would appear that Hutterite informants have some difficulty in describing the full personality structure o f each Sab6t, which may in part be due to their unfamiliarity with different terms relating to human personality, but is, we believe, also due to some reluctance to breach the principle o f group solidarity by discussing what may be perceived as negative characteristics with persons who are not members o f the sect. In any case the result o f this hesitancy is Ihat only a few adjectives can be elicited to cover the complexity that seems to be associated with each Sab6t. Some o f the characteristics, such as the habitual posture of individuals of a given Sab6t, will have been perceived at a subconscious level, and will not have been generally discussed in conversations. Hutterites who were asked how they would be able to recognize the particular Sab6t o f a given member o f the sect whom they had never met before, would respond that recognition would come as a spontaneous reaction to appearance, speech, voice-patterns and mannerisms. It must be said that even to the relatively untrained eye of the investigators, not fully attuned to Hutterite cultural experience, there are nonetheless certain physical characteristics including the lower physiognomy, patterns of obesity, etc., which are strikingly similar tThere are some minor variations in the current Hutterite pronunciation of these names, so that the forms we give here are approximations rather than a precise phonetic transcription.
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between various members of the sect. This process of impressionistic recognition obtains some creditibility by the fact that Hutterite informants also claim vehemently that certain individuals whom they encounter are not classifiable in this sense at all. The origins of these perceived psycho-physiological patterns in at least half the Sabdt we observed are traced by Hutterites to specific ancestors who showed these characteristics in a somewhat pure form, and seem to have been celebrated for them. Stuhna, for example, are traced to a female ancestor named Justina. The same is true with respect to the Tatela and the Fritzen. There is no suggestion that one must be a direct descendent of these specific individuals in order to display these characteristics and to be attributed to a particular Sab6t. However these characteristics are popularly associated with a particular family name, which was also borne by the eponymous ancester, and therefore an individual displaying these traits, and who is described as belonging to the Sab6t in question, will be descended either in the male or female line from some recent ancestor bearing that family name. We should observe that since some of the Sabdt are to be found in all three Leut, which have not generally intermarried during the past century, it may be assumed that these Sab6t probably go back as a recognized grouping to well before 1870, and that the traits so distinguished were already identifiable at that time, even though the person from whom the Sabdt presently derives it name was not yet alive at the time of the separation into Leut. One o f the major functions of the concept of the Sabdt seems to be in the area o f selfidentification. Individual Hutterites identify themselves with the characteristics recognized in the group labelled by such names as Stuhna, Franzen, etc., and this identification is always positive. Even generally negative characteristics such as a susceptibility to illness meet a great degree o f tolerance and do not incur any feeling of guilt, on the part o f the person so afflicted. In this sense the Sabdt offers role-models for behaviour. This system of role-models seems to be superimposed on the existing set of qualities present in an individual who provides an example for emulation. Schludermann and Schludermann (1975) have shown that Hutterities are likely to model themselves on parents or on other individuals who possess certain characteristics or ideals. However, any single individual who might be chosen as a model for emulation will necessarily only possess a number of the qualities which are highly valued in Hutterite society. The identification with a Sabdt offers an opportunity to add a combination of characteristics with which the individual might choose to identify. The labelling o f an individual as belonging to a particular Sab6t is by no means purely a matter of choice. Indeed in a father/son or mother/daughter relationship, where there is some resemblance between the generations, it is impossible for the individual to escape from the label borne by the parent whom he or she resembles. Other characteristics that may have been inherited will be ignored in this labelling process. It might also be stressed that some of the characteristics which might at first sight seem to be the occasion for stigma rather than esteem, such as small stature, are in fact often valued because they form part o f Hutterite human tradition. In this way the Sab()t does not bestow on its members any permanent stigma o f inferiority: it may however on occasion be used as a form of negative stereotyping by individuals in situations of conflict. Such negative stigmatization is, however, usually temporary; indeed, in Hutterite society one detects a general proscription against negative confrontation in face-to-face situations. This proscription is often defined in terms of religious obligation, but the same pattern of avoidance of face-to-face conflict is, of course, common to many small group situations, especially where a group is defined by the outside world as a minority, or may itself choose to define its separation as the religiously privileged Elect.
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In spite" of the above, the reference to the SabOt may in fact be made by a member of the group, in conversation with one or more fellow-members, and the descriptive terms used may be quite uncomplimentary. In this way the SabOt serves as a means of expressing hostility, albeit in a covert form. At the level of the sect as a whole, the existence of the various SabOt reduces the multitude of possible personality structures to a few that are well known. This permits the formation of sterotyped expectations. At the same time the rest of the community, being fully aware of these expectations or obligations, can treat a given member of a SabOt with a considerable measure of predictability regarding his behaviour. In a traditionally oriented society, where there is a high degree of required conformity, such obligations and expectations are extremely important for the maintenance of order. In spite of the socio-cultural significance of the SabOt, Hutterites ascribe the existence of such differentiation to inheritance. The method by which this ascription is obtained is necessarily impressionistic, and as such is subject to considerable doubt when it is put forward as a scientific tool. Hutterites are not unique in recognizing psycho-physiological differences impressionistically. The ancient Greeks had a repertoire of 36 different characterstructures which were employed in their drama, and which were depicted on stage in such a way that the audience would immediately recognize them from their appearance. It is also generally understood that much medical diagnosis proceeds from an initial impressionistic appraisal by the doctor, simply on the basis of the patient's appearance, and this is only later followed up by specific examinations of, perhaps, a part of the anatomy. Scholars of Greek drama and physicians alike have some difficulty in verbalising the characteristics which they utilize. Exact quantified measurements, on the other hand, tend to miss many characteristics which are readily available on an impressionistic basis. A particular form of the head, for example, which will be immediately recognized impressionistically, might not show up in a quantified formula. The possibility that psycho-physiological structures exist was scientifically treated among others by the German psychologist Kretschmer (1936; 1967)and by the American scholar Sheldon (1944). These theories have never found general acceptance in North American academic circles. It seems, however, that the phenomenon of the Sab6t, which Hutterites recognize in their highly inbred population, might justify re-examination of the possibility that psycho-physiological structures indeed exist, and that these might be passed on through hereditary mechanisms. Such processes as the 'founder's effect' in migratory populations, the reduction of variability through inbreeding, gene flow and gene drift, are well recognized in human populations (Weiss & Mann, 1978: 343-50), although little is known about the precise application of these biological mechanisms to the unity of physique and temperament or character. Since the Hutterites perceive these characteristics to be a consequence of inheritance, we will present some population parameters which could possibly facilitate the emergence of such psycho-physiological groupings. We cannot confirm from our present research that Hutterite perceptions are indeed grounded in an empirically verifiable reality - the data for such an investigation are not available to us at this time. We can, however, attest to the certitude with which Hutterites discuss the phenomenon, and we believe that it merits precise examination in the future. The Hutterite population has shown unique characteristics: the 4.12% annual growth has been discussed on several occasions, but other important features such as the high degree of in-breeding and genetic drift, and the repeated incidence of the founder effect have not attracted the attention of social scientists. Present-day Hutterites are differentiated by three endogamous divisions, the so-called Leut referred to above, whose origins go back to the migratory experience of the 1870s. They in fact derive from social experiments
Hutterite perceptions
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in Russia prior to emigration, during which a number of attempts were made by different groups to reinstitute the traditional patterns of the sharing of all worldly goods [the Guetergemeinschaft] which had been abandoned between 1818 and 1854. This gave rise to some degree of demographic differentiation which was continued in North America and survives to the present day. The process of relocation in this continent led to the successful reintroduction of the community of goods by three different segments, which became the ancestral groups of the three Leut. Other Hutterites who refused to adopt.the rule of communal property were originally known as the Prairieleut, but over the intervening time they have been largely assimilated in the surrounding population, although they still retain a number of cultural characteristics, such as religious practice, names, etc. When the Hutterites arrived in North America they each bore one of 18 surnames which had been transmitted patrilineally from individuals who had borne the same name at the time the sect had revived the practice of the communal sharing of property in 1760. Of these 18 surnames, three have since died out in the male line, and a fourth is only borne by one descendent, who lacks male heirs. Only five of the surnames are common to all three Leut, and there is one surname unique to the Dariusleut, and another confined to the Lehrerleut; yet two more are only to be found among the Schmiedeleut. Five new surnames have been added through conversions during the present century, but are so far borne by only an insignificant element of the present Hutterite population. A.P. Mange (1964: 104-33) reported that these 18 family names were derived from only 68 Hutterite individuals living in the second half of the eighteenth century. Many of these were already related to each other in numerous ways. Steinberg et al. (1967: 274) traced the remote ancestors of the present-day Hutterites to 92 people of whom only 29 could not be shown to be related to any other person in the group. The remaining 63 represented various constellations of relationships ranging from parent/child (three pairs) and siblings (seven pairs) through third cousins (one pair). This restricted gene pool which was separated from the wider population in 1760 may be expected to show the phenomenon known as the 'founder effect', which designates the difference in gene frequencies between the migrating group and the parent group from which it has been derived. As Martin has shown (1969) the founder effect has recurred within the Hutterite population on several occasions over the past two centuries. The psychological background of the founding ancestors of present-day Hutterites is of particular interest, due to the presence of selective factors which seem to have led to certain psychological uniformities in this group. The ancestral group which Martin and Mange describe biologically consisted of a very few individuals belonging to the so-called 'Old' Hutterites. This group existed since the early 1500s, and later migrated to Hungary and Transylvania; over the following 200 years they had been largely assimilated into the native population of that region. The last remnants of these Old Hutterites were subjected to severe forms of persecution in the 1740s and 1750s, which resulted in the conversion to the Catholic faith of all but a few individuals, who were prepared to endure severe hardships while maintaining their religious faith. These individuals were joined by a group of inhabitants of Carinthia, who in 1750 had converted to the Lutheran faith, in a country which was almost exclusively Catholic. The Catholic authorities tried to subdue this Lutheran movement first by confiscating all their religious writings, and second by threatening forced migration to the eastern parts of the Austrian Empire. For a number of Lutherans these threats were sufficient enducement for them to return to Catholicism; the remainder stuck to their religious convictions. When further threats proved to be ineffective, these Lutherans were arrested and their belongings confiscated. After four months' delay in prison, where they were offered the
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opportunity to recant, they were finally shipped several hundred miles eastward to the Transylvanian city of Szaszvaros, where they were supposed to be resettled. Under orders of the Catholic authorities, the settlers were to take an oath of loyalty to the Austrian Crown. While most of the migrants eventually consented to this oath, a small group refused. They were punished by not receiving land and monies from the Crown, nor did they ever receive any compensation for their confiscated belongings in Carinthia. When this small group proved to be too troublesome for the authorities, due to its influence on other settlers, they were forcefully dispersed over the country. By accident some of these Carinthians came in contact with some of the remaining Old Hutterites. Under the influence of the religious ideas of the Hutterites, these two groups combined, and in 1761 spontaneously reinstated the Guetergemeinschaft [community of goods] among themselves. When finally the persecution began to catch up with this group as well, they boldly packed their belongings onto waggons, and fled across the Transylvanian Alps to Rumania, from where they later migrated to Russia. About 40 persons recruited from Hutterite settlements that earlier were converted to Catholicism joined the group in 1782. This forms the ancestral group of all present-day Hutterites. It is clear that these individuals did possess extraordinary qualities of perseverance, of courage, of initiative, and even of obstinacy. Invoking the degree of punishment as they did, by remaining faithful to a religious ideology which they themselves had chosen, demanded both strong personalities, willpower, and a sense of identity, which allowed them to pit themselves against overpowering adverse forces. The composition of the group was established through successive self-selective processes where individuals refused to yield to the persecution imposed on them. As the group diminished in size at each point in this historical process of persecution, the surviving remnant showed a high degree of uniformity in those psychological characteristics that were indispensable for defying the authorities. It is not too far-fetched to assume, therefore, that a psychological founder's effect incorporating these characteristics might very well be present in contemporary Hutterite society. We have earlier mentioned that there are only 15 surviving Hutterite surnames; these are by no means evenly distributed through the sect: indeed four or five of them seem to dominate in the list of members. The proliferation of some family names relative to others seems to indicate a considerable gene flow among Hutterites. 'Gene flow' is the transfer of inheritable material from one group to another through matings that decrease differences between populations, making them more alike genetically. This effect among Hutterites has been intensively studied by a number of researchers (Mange, 1964: Kurczynski, 1969; Vana, 1974 and Weeks, 1977). The data of Steinberg and associates (1967) offers considerable evidence to indicate the effects of gene flow among Hutterites. Thus an investigation into four colonies existing at the beginning of this century showed that each of these colonies is becoming more like its subsequent founded offspring colonies, then were the four original colonies relative to each other. There are patterns of preferential intermarriage between colonies due to factors of social proximity, geographical distance and economic success and failure (which give rise to a reluctance of women to marry spouses belonging to colonies where the living standards are perceived to be lower). Steinberg et al. (1967: 271-3) have calculated the co-efficient of inbreeding t for a sample of Schmiedeleut and Lehrerleut. Six hundred and sixty Schmiedeleut and 618 Lehrerleut matings that met the criteria of having sufficiently complete genealogical
"l'The inbreeding co-efficient is defined as the possibihty that at a given locus an individual has two identical copies of an allele present in an ancestor common to both the individual's parents.
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records, and of having occurred in one of the colonies formed in the United States, provided the data for calculating the co-efficient, which for the Schmiedeleut sample turned out to be 0.021 I, and that for the Lehrerleut was determined at 0.0255. The Roman Catholic population in the United States, for example, has an inbreeding co-efficient of 0.00001-0.0001, whilst the Ramah Navajo have a similar co-efficient of 0.001-0.01 (Reid, 1973). The highly inbred population of the South Atlantic island of Tristan de Cunha prior to ita evacuation in the 1960s, on the other hand, showed a co-efficient of 0.048 (Weiss&Mann, 1978: 349-50). There is no doubt that the Hutterite population shows a somewhat high coefficient of inbreeding, but for the full biological significance of this phenomenon we refer the reader to Steinberg et al. (1967). Finally we must draw attention to the fact that the population increase of Hutterites since their arrival in North America has been one of the highest in the world: 4.12 percent per annum (Eaton & Mayer, 1954). Only recently have there been indications that this enormous growth is declining (Peter, 1980). It must also be noted that the increase, at least between the years 1880 and 1964, proceeded in the form of a stable population growth, which is an unusual phenomenon for a natural population. At the same time this produces a broad population base within a few generations. From 440 persons in 1880, the population has increased to about 25,000 in 1981. In this article we have suggested that the ancestral group of the present-day Hutterite population possibly displayed a high degree of psychological uniformity, due to the selective processes that led to this group's appearance in history. At the same time Martin has shown, from the standpoint of biology, that there has been a repeated founder's effect, and that there are also present a high degree of inbreeding, gene flow and genetic drift. We are now suggesting, from our discovery of the concept of the Sab6t, that this phenomenon coincides with unique population dynamics. It therefore suggests a relationship, which, however, we are unable to verify at this moment. We put this proposition forward so that other scientists might examine it, and perhaps look for comparable material in other populations. What makes the Hutterites particularly suitable for this type of investigation is the isolation of the group through history, and the particular cultural practices which have characterized their existence and survival. These have precluded the intervention of such factors as differential nutrition, education, religion, socio-economic status, varied health services, etc., which might impede the analysis of this phenomenon elsewhere. The testing of this hypothesis, if successful, would have considerable theoretical importance, particularly for students working in the area of personality and culture.
References Bennett, J. W. (1967). Hutterian Brethren: the Agricultural Economy and Social Organization o f a Communal People. Standford, CA: Stanford University Press. Eaton, J. W. & Mayer, A. J. (1953). Man's Capacity to Reproduce: the Demography o f a Unique Population. Glencoe: Free Press. Hostetler, J. A. (1974). Hutterite Society. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. Kretschmer, E. (1936). Physique and Character: an Investigation o f the Nature o f Constitution and o1" the Theory o]" Temperament (tr. W. J. H. Sprott) New York: Cooper Square. Kretschmer, E. (1967). Korperbau und Charakter: Untersuchungen zum Konstitutionsproblem und zur Lehre yon den Temperamenten, 25th ed. Heidelberg: Springer. Kurczynski, T. W. (1969). Studies of genetic drift in a human isolate. Ph.D. thesis, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH. Mange, A. P. (1964). Hum. Biol. 36, 104-33.
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Martin, A. O. (1969). Recurrent founder effect in a human isolate: history and genetic consequences. Ph.D. thesis, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH. Peter, K. A. (1980). Can. ethnic Stud. 12 (3), 97-110. Calgary. Peter, K. & Whitaker, I. (1982a). Anthropologica, N.S. 23 (2), 145-55. Peter, K. & Whitaker, I. (1982b). Prairie Forum 7 (2). Peter, K. & Whitaker, I. (1983). Anthropos 78. Reid, R. M. (1973). In (M.H. Crawford & P. L. Workman Eds) Methods and Theories o f Anthropological Genetics. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, pp. 83-116. Schludermann, S. & Schludermann, E. (1975). Personality development in Hutterite communal society (Paper delivered to Canadian Ethnic Studies Association, Winnipeg). Sheldon, W. H. (1944). The Varieties of Temperament: a Psychology o f Constitutional Differences 2nd ed. New York: Harper. Steinberg, A.G., Bleibtrau, H.K., Kurczynski, T. W., Martin, A. O. & Kurczynski, E. M. (1967). In Proceedings o f the Third International Congress o f Human Genetics, Chicago, 1966, pp. 267-88. Vana, L. R. (1974). Maintenance of genetic polymorphism in an inbred human isolate. Ph.D. thesis, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH. Weeks, J. A. (1977). The genetics of fertility in a human isolate. M.Sc. thesis, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH. Weiss, M. L. & Mann, A. E. (1978). Human Biology and Behavior: an Anthropological Perspective, 2nd ed. Boston: Little, Brown. Zieglschmid, A . J . F . (Ed.) (1943). Die iilteste Chronik der Hutterischen Briider: ein Sprachdenkmal aus friihneuhochdeutscher Zeit Philadelphia: Carl Schurz Memorial Foundation.
Hutterite perceptions of psycho. physiological characteristics Karl Peter and lan Whitaker • Department o f Sociology and Anthropology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6
The aim of this paper is to present and analyse preliminary information relating to an unusual form of psycho-physiological differentiation which Hutterites ascribe to inheritance, and which we have encountered during anthropological fieldwork among them. This sect comprises members who are descended from original adherents of the Anabaptist movement, which emerged in Southern Germany and Austria during the Reformation. Following settlement in Moravia from 1527 to 1622, they moved in a number of stages through Eastern Europe, and were then located in Russia for over a century. In the 1870s the 400 surviving Hutterites moved to North America, and since that time have lived in colonies, primarily agricultural, in western Canada and the United States. At this time there are some 250 colonies, with a total population of about 25,000. Hutterites are distinguished from the religiously similar Mennonites through their communal living arrangements incorporating the sharing of property.? Our attention was drawn to the particular form of differentiation with which we are here concerned, during fieldwork among one of the three main divisions of the Hutterites, the Dariusleut, although we have since confirmed that the phenomenon is present in the other two sections of the sect, the Schmiedeleut and Lehrerleut. In the course of conversations, conducted in the South German dialect used by Hutterites, which originated in the Tyrol and Carinthia, but which has been augmented by loanwords acquired during the successive wanderings of the sect through Eastern Europe and Russia, we encountered the term Sabdt, the use of which we have so far not been able to detect any written example. The term, the precise etymology of which remains obscure, is apparently not found in Russian, but there are some indications that it might be related to the archaic German word Schabab (from schab ab, 'go away, pull away') defined by Luther as, among other things, a 'Person with whom one wishes to have nothing to do'. § The term is only used by Hutterites in relatively private circumstances when speaking among themselves, and usually is not employed in direct conversation with persons who are being differentiated by the ascription of characteristics associated with a particular Sab6t. After our discovery of the term we encountered some marked reluctance in identifying or explaining the word itself, as well as the underlying tFor general descriptions of Hutterite society see Bennett (1967) and Hostetler (1974). We have discussed recent developmentsin Hutterite culture in Peter & Whitaker (1982a, b; 1983). §Cf. Zieglschmid (1943: 1008). 0140-1750/84/010001 + 08 $03.00]0
© 1984 AcademicPress Inc. (London) Limited
2
K. Peter & L Whitaker
concepts a~sociated with its use. The term has not been noted by other writers describing the Hutterites, and is, we believe, totally absent from the now substantial literature relating to this sect. The term Sab6t denotes diverse groups of individuals who are designated by names such as Tatela, Stuhna, Juba, Jana, Fritzen, Franzen, Ben/aminita, etc. t Again these names do not appear in written form, with the single exception of Tatela, a variant of which appears in an early list of Hutterite immigrants to North America derived from a list o f passengers on a boat, and is included almost like a nickname of an individual male. The Sab6t designates a group of individuals who are believed to bear common physical and psychological characteristics which they have inherited. Among the physical traits are such features as height, complexion, growth o f hair especially the beard (or alternatively baldness), habitual posture, body morphology, susceptibility to disease, facial features and voice patterns. It should be noted that these characteristics are only noticed when several of them are present in the same individual, and are recognized in this combination. It must also be observed, however, that not all Hutterities will be perceived as bearing any recognizable combination o f these features, and therefore such persons will not be labelled as belonging to any Sab6t. At the same time as the Sab6t is defined in terms o f common physical traits there is also an attribution of common personal.ity characteristics. Thus different Sab6t will be said to be identified as outgoing, or outspoken or aggressive. Some Sab6t will be seen to provide leaders, whilst others will comprise followers; some will be seen to be secretive, whilst others are said to be sly. However, the same personality characteristic that is defined negatively by non-members, will be construed positively by people who identify themselves as belonging to the Sab6t; thus a group known generally to the community as 'sly' will describe themselves as 'smart'. There is a strong indication that the verbal descriptions which Hutterites give relative to the psychological characteristics of any Sab6t are rather incomplete. Such terms as 'secretive' or 'sly', which are used to describe the psychological characteristics of a particular Sab6t, are only a shorthand version o f a complex and holistic personality structure which is spontaneously recognized and understood. The basis of this understanding is found in the lifelong experience that a Hutteritie individual has with people o f a particular Sab6t. It would appear that Hutterite informants have some difficulty in describing the full personality structure o f each Sab6t, which may in part be due to their unfamiliarity with different terms relating to human personality, but is, we believe, also due to some reluctance to breach the principle o f group solidarity by discussing what may be perceived as negative characteristics with persons who are not members o f the sect. In any case the result o f this hesitancy is Ihat only a few adjectives can be elicited to cover the complexity that seems to be associated with each Sab6t. Some o f the characteristics, such as the habitual posture of individuals of a given Sab6t, will have been perceived at a subconscious level, and will not have been generally discussed in conversations. Hutterites who were asked how they would be able to recognize the particular Sab6t o f a given member o f the sect whom they had never met before, would respond that recognition would come as a spontaneous reaction to appearance, speech, voice-patterns and mannerisms. It must be said that even to the relatively untrained eye of the investigators, not fully attuned to Hutterite cultural experience, there are nonetheless certain physical characteristics including the lower physiognomy, patterns of obesity, etc., which are strikingly similar tThere are some minor variations in the current Hutterite pronunciation of these names, so that the forms we give here are approximations rather than a precise phonetic transcription.
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3
between various members of the sect. This process of impressionistic recognition obtains some creditibility by the fact that Hutterite informants also claim vehemently that certain individuals whom they encounter are not classifiable in this sense at all. The origins of these perceived psycho-physiological patterns in at least half the Sabdt we observed are traced by Hutterites to specific ancestors who showed these characteristics in a somewhat pure form, and seem to have been celebrated for them. Stuhna, for example, are traced to a female ancestor named Justina. The same is true with respect to the Tatela and the Fritzen. There is no suggestion that one must be a direct descendent of these specific individuals in order to display these characteristics and to be attributed to a particular Sab6t. However these characteristics are popularly associated with a particular family name, which was also borne by the eponymous ancester, and therefore an individual displaying these traits, and who is described as belonging to the Sab6t in question, will be descended either in the male or female line from some recent ancestor bearing that family name. We should observe that since some of the Sabdt are to be found in all three Leut, which have not generally intermarried during the past century, it may be assumed that these Sab6t probably go back as a recognized grouping to well before 1870, and that the traits so distinguished were already identifiable at that time, even though the person from whom the Sabdt presently derives it name was not yet alive at the time of the separation into Leut. One o f the major functions of the concept of the Sabdt seems to be in the area o f selfidentification. Individual Hutterites identify themselves with the characteristics recognized in the group labelled by such names as Stuhna, Franzen, etc., and this identification is always positive. Even generally negative characteristics such as a susceptibility to illness meet a great degree o f tolerance and do not incur any feeling of guilt, on the part o f the person so afflicted. In this sense the Sabdt offers role-models for behaviour. This system of role-models seems to be superimposed on the existing set of qualities present in an individual who provides an example for emulation. Schludermann and Schludermann (1975) have shown that Hutterities are likely to model themselves on parents or on other individuals who possess certain characteristics or ideals. However, any single individual who might be chosen as a model for emulation will necessarily only possess a number of the qualities which are highly valued in Hutterite society. The identification with a Sabdt offers an opportunity to add a combination of characteristics with which the individual might choose to identify. The labelling o f an individual as belonging to a particular Sab6t is by no means purely a matter of choice. Indeed in a father/son or mother/daughter relationship, where there is some resemblance between the generations, it is impossible for the individual to escape from the label borne by the parent whom he or she resembles. Other characteristics that may have been inherited will be ignored in this labelling process. It might also be stressed that some of the characteristics which might at first sight seem to be the occasion for stigma rather than esteem, such as small stature, are in fact often valued because they form part o f Hutterite human tradition. In this way the Sab()t does not bestow on its members any permanent stigma o f inferiority: it may however on occasion be used as a form of negative stereotyping by individuals in situations of conflict. Such negative stigmatization is, however, usually temporary; indeed, in Hutterite society one detects a general proscription against negative confrontation in face-to-face situations. This proscription is often defined in terms of religious obligation, but the same pattern of avoidance of face-to-face conflict is, of course, common to many small group situations, especially where a group is defined by the outside world as a minority, or may itself choose to define its separation as the religiously privileged Elect.
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In spite" of the above, the reference to the SabOt may in fact be made by a member of the group, in conversation with one or more fellow-members, and the descriptive terms used may be quite uncomplimentary. In this way the SabOt serves as a means of expressing hostility, albeit in a covert form. At the level of the sect as a whole, the existence of the various SabOt reduces the multitude of possible personality structures to a few that are well known. This permits the formation of sterotyped expectations. At the same time the rest of the community, being fully aware of these expectations or obligations, can treat a given member of a SabOt with a considerable measure of predictability regarding his behaviour. In a traditionally oriented society, where there is a high degree of required conformity, such obligations and expectations are extremely important for the maintenance of order. In spite of the socio-cultural significance of the SabOt, Hutterites ascribe the existence of such differentiation to inheritance. The method by which this ascription is obtained is necessarily impressionistic, and as such is subject to considerable doubt when it is put forward as a scientific tool. Hutterites are not unique in recognizing psycho-physiological differences impressionistically. The ancient Greeks had a repertoire of 36 different characterstructures which were employed in their drama, and which were depicted on stage in such a way that the audience would immediately recognize them from their appearance. It is also generally understood that much medical diagnosis proceeds from an initial impressionistic appraisal by the doctor, simply on the basis of the patient's appearance, and this is only later followed up by specific examinations of, perhaps, a part of the anatomy. Scholars of Greek drama and physicians alike have some difficulty in verbalising the characteristics which they utilize. Exact quantified measurements, on the other hand, tend to miss many characteristics which are readily available on an impressionistic basis. A particular form of the head, for example, which will be immediately recognized impressionistically, might not show up in a quantified formula. The possibility that psycho-physiological structures exist was scientifically treated among others by the German psychologist Kretschmer (1936; 1967)and by the American scholar Sheldon (1944). These theories have never found general acceptance in North American academic circles. It seems, however, that the phenomenon of the Sab6t, which Hutterites recognize in their highly inbred population, might justify re-examination of the possibility that psycho-physiological structures indeed exist, and that these might be passed on through hereditary mechanisms. Such processes as the 'founder's effect' in migratory populations, the reduction of variability through inbreeding, gene flow and gene drift, are well recognized in human populations (Weiss & Mann, 1978: 343-50), although little is known about the precise application of these biological mechanisms to the unity of physique and temperament or character. Since the Hutterites perceive these characteristics to be a consequence of inheritance, we will present some population parameters which could possibly facilitate the emergence of such psycho-physiological groupings. We cannot confirm from our present research that Hutterite perceptions are indeed grounded in an empirically verifiable reality - the data for such an investigation are not available to us at this time. We can, however, attest to the certitude with which Hutterites discuss the phenomenon, and we believe that it merits precise examination in the future. The Hutterite population has shown unique characteristics: the 4.12% annual growth has been discussed on several occasions, but other important features such as the high degree of in-breeding and genetic drift, and the repeated incidence of the founder effect have not attracted the attention of social scientists. Present-day Hutterites are differentiated by three endogamous divisions, the so-called Leut referred to above, whose origins go back to the migratory experience of the 1870s. They in fact derive from social experiments
Hutterite perceptions
5
in Russia prior to emigration, during which a number of attempts were made by different groups to reinstitute the traditional patterns of the sharing of all worldly goods [the Guetergemeinschaft] which had been abandoned between 1818 and 1854. This gave rise to some degree of demographic differentiation which was continued in North America and survives to the present day. The process of relocation in this continent led to the successful reintroduction of the community of goods by three different segments, which became the ancestral groups of the three Leut. Other Hutterites who refused to adopt.the rule of communal property were originally known as the Prairieleut, but over the intervening time they have been largely assimilated in the surrounding population, although they still retain a number of cultural characteristics, such as religious practice, names, etc. When the Hutterites arrived in North America they each bore one of 18 surnames which had been transmitted patrilineally from individuals who had borne the same name at the time the sect had revived the practice of the communal sharing of property in 1760. Of these 18 surnames, three have since died out in the male line, and a fourth is only borne by one descendent, who lacks male heirs. Only five of the surnames are common to all three Leut, and there is one surname unique to the Dariusleut, and another confined to the Lehrerleut; yet two more are only to be found among the Schmiedeleut. Five new surnames have been added through conversions during the present century, but are so far borne by only an insignificant element of the present Hutterite population. A.P. Mange (1964: 104-33) reported that these 18 family names were derived from only 68 Hutterite individuals living in the second half of the eighteenth century. Many of these were already related to each other in numerous ways. Steinberg et al. (1967: 274) traced the remote ancestors of the present-day Hutterites to 92 people of whom only 29 could not be shown to be related to any other person in the group. The remaining 63 represented various constellations of relationships ranging from parent/child (three pairs) and siblings (seven pairs) through third cousins (one pair). This restricted gene pool which was separated from the wider population in 1760 may be expected to show the phenomenon known as the 'founder effect', which designates the difference in gene frequencies between the migrating group and the parent group from which it has been derived. As Martin has shown (1969) the founder effect has recurred within the Hutterite population on several occasions over the past two centuries. The psychological background of the founding ancestors of present-day Hutterites is of particular interest, due to the presence of selective factors which seem to have led to certain psychological uniformities in this group. The ancestral group which Martin and Mange describe biologically consisted of a very few individuals belonging to the so-called 'Old' Hutterites. This group existed since the early 1500s, and later migrated to Hungary and Transylvania; over the following 200 years they had been largely assimilated into the native population of that region. The last remnants of these Old Hutterites were subjected to severe forms of persecution in the 1740s and 1750s, which resulted in the conversion to the Catholic faith of all but a few individuals, who were prepared to endure severe hardships while maintaining their religious faith. These individuals were joined by a group of inhabitants of Carinthia, who in 1750 had converted to the Lutheran faith, in a country which was almost exclusively Catholic. The Catholic authorities tried to subdue this Lutheran movement first by confiscating all their religious writings, and second by threatening forced migration to the eastern parts of the Austrian Empire. For a number of Lutherans these threats were sufficient enducement for them to return to Catholicism; the remainder stuck to their religious convictions. When further threats proved to be ineffective, these Lutherans were arrested and their belongings confiscated. After four months' delay in prison, where they were offered the
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K. Peter and I. Whitaker
opportunity to recant, they were finally shipped several hundred miles eastward to the Transylvanian city of Szaszvaros, where they were supposed to be resettled. Under orders of the Catholic authorities, the settlers were to take an oath of loyalty to the Austrian Crown. While most of the migrants eventually consented to this oath, a small group refused. They were punished by not receiving land and monies from the Crown, nor did they ever receive any compensation for their confiscated belongings in Carinthia. When this small group proved to be too troublesome for the authorities, due to its influence on other settlers, they were forcefully dispersed over the country. By accident some of these Carinthians came in contact with some of the remaining Old Hutterites. Under the influence of the religious ideas of the Hutterites, these two groups combined, and in 1761 spontaneously reinstated the Guetergemeinschaft [community of goods] among themselves. When finally the persecution began to catch up with this group as well, they boldly packed their belongings onto waggons, and fled across the Transylvanian Alps to Rumania, from where they later migrated to Russia. About 40 persons recruited from Hutterite settlements that earlier were converted to Catholicism joined the group in 1782. This forms the ancestral group of all present-day Hutterites. It is clear that these individuals did possess extraordinary qualities of perseverance, of courage, of initiative, and even of obstinacy. Invoking the degree of punishment as they did, by remaining faithful to a religious ideology which they themselves had chosen, demanded both strong personalities, willpower, and a sense of identity, which allowed them to pit themselves against overpowering adverse forces. The composition of the group was established through successive self-selective processes where individuals refused to yield to the persecution imposed on them. As the group diminished in size at each point in this historical process of persecution, the surviving remnant showed a high degree of uniformity in those psychological characteristics that were indispensable for defying the authorities. It is not too far-fetched to assume, therefore, that a psychological founder's effect incorporating these characteristics might very well be present in contemporary Hutterite society. We have earlier mentioned that there are only 15 surviving Hutterite surnames; these are by no means evenly distributed through the sect: indeed four or five of them seem to dominate in the list of members. The proliferation of some family names relative to others seems to indicate a considerable gene flow among Hutterites. 'Gene flow' is the transfer of inheritable material from one group to another through matings that decrease differences between populations, making them more alike genetically. This effect among Hutterites has been intensively studied by a number of researchers (Mange, 1964: Kurczynski, 1969; Vana, 1974 and Weeks, 1977). The data of Steinberg and associates (1967) offers considerable evidence to indicate the effects of gene flow among Hutterites. Thus an investigation into four colonies existing at the beginning of this century showed that each of these colonies is becoming more like its subsequent founded offspring colonies, then were the four original colonies relative to each other. There are patterns of preferential intermarriage between colonies due to factors of social proximity, geographical distance and economic success and failure (which give rise to a reluctance of women to marry spouses belonging to colonies where the living standards are perceived to be lower). Steinberg et al. (1967: 271-3) have calculated the co-efficient of inbreeding t for a sample of Schmiedeleut and Lehrerleut. Six hundred and sixty Schmiedeleut and 618 Lehrerleut matings that met the criteria of having sufficiently complete genealogical
"l'The inbreeding co-efficient is defined as the possibihty that at a given locus an individual has two identical copies of an allele present in an ancestor common to both the individual's parents.
Hutterite perceptions
7
records, and of having occurred in one of the colonies formed in the United States, provided the data for calculating the co-efficient, which for the Schmiedeleut sample turned out to be 0.021 I, and that for the Lehrerleut was determined at 0.0255. The Roman Catholic population in the United States, for example, has an inbreeding co-efficient of 0.00001-0.0001, whilst the Ramah Navajo have a similar co-efficient of 0.001-0.01 (Reid, 1973). The highly inbred population of the South Atlantic island of Tristan de Cunha prior to ita evacuation in the 1960s, on the other hand, showed a co-efficient of 0.048 (Weiss&Mann, 1978: 349-50). There is no doubt that the Hutterite population shows a somewhat high coefficient of inbreeding, but for the full biological significance of this phenomenon we refer the reader to Steinberg et al. (1967). Finally we must draw attention to the fact that the population increase of Hutterites since their arrival in North America has been one of the highest in the world: 4.12 percent per annum (Eaton & Mayer, 1954). Only recently have there been indications that this enormous growth is declining (Peter, 1980). It must also be noted that the increase, at least between the years 1880 and 1964, proceeded in the form of a stable population growth, which is an unusual phenomenon for a natural population. At the same time this produces a broad population base within a few generations. From 440 persons in 1880, the population has increased to about 25,000 in 1981. In this article we have suggested that the ancestral group of the present-day Hutterite population possibly displayed a high degree of psychological uniformity, due to the selective processes that led to this group's appearance in history. At the same time Martin has shown, from the standpoint of biology, that there has been a repeated founder's effect, and that there are also present a high degree of inbreeding, gene flow and genetic drift. We are now suggesting, from our discovery of the concept of the Sab6t, that this phenomenon coincides with unique population dynamics. It therefore suggests a relationship, which, however, we are unable to verify at this moment. We put this proposition forward so that other scientists might examine it, and perhaps look for comparable material in other populations. What makes the Hutterites particularly suitable for this type of investigation is the isolation of the group through history, and the particular cultural practices which have characterized their existence and survival. These have precluded the intervention of such factors as differential nutrition, education, religion, socio-economic status, varied health services, etc., which might impede the analysis of this phenomenon elsewhere. The testing of this hypothesis, if successful, would have considerable theoretical importance, particularly for students working in the area of personality and culture.
References Bennett, J. W. (1967). Hutterian Brethren: the Agricultural Economy and Social Organization o f a Communal People. Standford, CA: Stanford University Press. Eaton, J. W. & Mayer, A. J. (1953). Man's Capacity to Reproduce: the Demography o f a Unique Population. Glencoe: Free Press. Hostetler, J. A. (1974). Hutterite Society. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. Kretschmer, E. (1936). Physique and Character: an Investigation o f the Nature o f Constitution and o1" the Theory o]" Temperament (tr. W. J. H. Sprott) New York: Cooper Square. Kretschmer, E. (1967). Korperbau und Charakter: Untersuchungen zum Konstitutionsproblem und zur Lehre yon den Temperamenten, 25th ed. Heidelberg: Springer. Kurczynski, T. W. (1969). Studies of genetic drift in a human isolate. Ph.D. thesis, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH. Mange, A. P. (1964). Hum. Biol. 36, 104-33.
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Martin, A. O. (1969). Recurrent founder effect in a human isolate: history and genetic consequences. Ph.D. thesis, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH. Peter, K. A. (1980). Can. ethnic Stud. 12 (3), 97-110. Calgary. Peter, K. & Whitaker, I. (1982a). Anthropologica, N.S. 23 (2), 145-55. Peter, K. & Whitaker, I. (1982b). Prairie Forum 7 (2). Peter, K. & Whitaker, I. (1983). Anthropos 78. Reid, R. M. (1973). In (M.H. Crawford & P. L. Workman Eds) Methods and Theories o f Anthropological Genetics. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, pp. 83-116. Schludermann, S. & Schludermann, E. (1975). Personality development in Hutterite communal society (Paper delivered to Canadian Ethnic Studies Association, Winnipeg). Sheldon, W. H. (1944). The Varieties of Temperament: a Psychology o f Constitutional Differences 2nd ed. New York: Harper. Steinberg, A.G., Bleibtrau, H.K., Kurczynski, T. W., Martin, A. O. & Kurczynski, E. M. (1967). In Proceedings o f the Third International Congress o f Human Genetics, Chicago, 1966, pp. 267-88. Vana, L. R. (1974). Maintenance of genetic polymorphism in an inbred human isolate. Ph.D. thesis, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH. Weeks, J. A. (1977). The genetics of fertility in a human isolate. M.Sc. thesis, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH. Weiss, M. L. & Mann, A. E. (1978). Human Biology and Behavior: an Anthropological Perspective, 2nd ed. Boston: Little, Brown. Zieglschmid, A . J . F . (Ed.) (1943). Die iilteste Chronik der Hutterischen Briider: ein Sprachdenkmal aus friihneuhochdeutscher Zeit Philadelphia: Carl Schurz Memorial Foundation.