A fascinating exploration into the world of the Saramaka Maroons of the Suriname rain forest, Co-wives and Calabashes examines the status of women in this polygynous and matrilineal society as reflected in its social structure and in its art. The product of seventeen years of research, the book draws upon a rich variety of resources — from bawdy popular songs to dusty museum artifacts, from animated gossip sessions to comprehensive social statistics — to reveal the complex ways in which notions of gender, patterns of marriage, and the cultural definition of art are interrelated.