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Women as Unseen Characters Pascale Bonnemere

Women as Unseen Characters By Pascale Bonnemere

Women as Unseen Characters by Pascale Bonnemere


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Summary

Rituals have always been a focus of ethnographies of Melanesia, providing a ground for important theorizing in anthropology. This book examines the role of females in Papua New Guinea male rituals. It builds on ethnographies that show how female kin had roles in male rituals that had previously gone unseen.

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Women as Unseen Characters Summary

Women as Unseen Characters: Male Ritual in Papua New Guinea by Pascale Bonnemere

Rituals have always been a focus of ethnographies of Melanesia, providing a ground for important theorizing in anthropology. This is especially true of the male initiation rituals that until recently were held in Papua New Guinea. For the most part, these rituals have been understood as all-male institutions, intended to maintain and legitimate male domination. Women's exclusion from the forest space where men conducted most such rites has been taken as a sign of their exclusion from the entire ritual process.

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.

About Pascale Bonnemere

Pascale Bonnemere is a researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS).

Table of Contents

Note for Readers

Introduction
The Presence of Women in New Guinea Secret Male Rituals: From Ritual Space to Ritual Process

1. Sambia Women's Positionality and Men's Rituals
-Gilbert Herdt
2. Embodiments of Detachment: Engendering Agency in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea
-Sandra C. Bamford
3. When Women Enter the Picture: Looking at Anga Initiations from the Mothers' Angle
-Pascale Bonnemere
4. Ujawe: The Ritual Transformation of Sons and Mothers
-Marta A. Rohatynskyj
5. The Bachelors and Their Spirit Wife: Interpreting the Omatisia Ritual of Porgera and Paiela
-Aletta Biersack
6. Cults, Closures, Collaborations
-Andrew Strathern and Pamela J. Stewart
7. The Variability of Women's Involvement in Anga Male Initiations
-Pierre Lemonnier
8. Of Human and Spirit Women: From Mother to Seductress to Second Wife
-Polly Wiessner
9. Relating to Women: Female Presence in Melanesian Male Cults
-Bruce M. Knauft

Notes
Bibliography
List of Contributors
Index
Acknowledgments

Additional information

CIN0812237897VG
9780812237894
0812237897
Women as Unseen Characters: Male Ritual in Papua New Guinea by Pascale Bonnemere
Used - Very Good
Hardback
University of Pennsylvania Press
20040629
264
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

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