Women as unseen characters
Subtitle: male ritual in Papua New Guinea
By: edited by Pascale Bonnemère.
Contributors: Bonnemere, Pascale.
Series: Social anthropology in Oceania
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Published: 2004
Place of publication: Philadelphia
Language: eng
Number of pages: 254
Subjects: Sambia (Papua New Guinea people) -- Rites and ceremonies.; Kukukuku (Papua New Guinea people) -- Rites and ceremonies.; Women, Sambia -- Social conditions.; Women, Sambia -- Attitudes.; Women, Kukukuku -- Social conditions.; Women, Kukukuku -- Attitudes.; Initiation rites -- Papua New Guinea -- Eastern Highlands Province.; Puberty rites -- Papua New Guinea -- Eastern Highlands Province.; Secret societies -- Papua New Guinea -- Eastern Highlands Province.; Eastern Highlands Province (Papua New Guinea) -- Social life and customs.
Description: "Women as Unseen Characters is the first book to examine the role of females in Papua New Guinea male rituals, and the first systematic treatment of this issue for any part of the world. In this volume, leading Melanesian scholars build on recent ethnographies that show how female kin had roles in male rituals that had previously gone unseen. Female seclusion and the enforcement of taboos were crucial elements of the ritual process: forms of presence in their own right." "Contributors here provide detailed accounts of the different kinds of female presence in various Papua New Guinea male rituals. When these are restored to the picture, the rituals can no longer be interpreted merely as an institution for reproducing male domination but must also be understood as a moment when the whole system of relations binding a male person to his kin is reorganized. By dealing with the participation of women, a totally neglected dimension of male rituals is added to our understanding."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [221]-234) and index.