Margaret Jolly - Böcker

The combined forces of mission evangelism and colonial intervention have transformed the everyday family life of Pacific peoples. The dramatic changes that affected the political and economic autonomy of indigenous people in the region also had significant effects on domestic life. This book, originally published in 1989, examines the ways in which this happened. Using the insights of history and anthropology, chapters cover a wide range of geographical range, extending from Hawaii to Australia. The authors examine changes in medicine and health, religious beliefs, architecture and settlement, and the restructuring of the domestic realm. The book raises issues of concern to a wide range of interests: the peoples and history of the Pacific, the broader questions of colonialism and missionary endeavour, and the changing structure of the family.

Feminist theories have focused on contemporary, Western, middle-class experiences of maternity. This volume brings other mothers, from Asia and the Pacific, into scholarly view, aiming to show that birthing and mothering can be a very different experience for women in other parts of the world. The contributors document a wide variety of conceptions of motherhood, and drawing on ethnographic and historical research, they explore the relationships between motherhood as embodied experience and the local discourses on maternity. They show how the experience of motherhood has been influenced by missionaries, by colonial policies and by the introduction of Western medicine and biomedical birthing methods, and raise important questions about the costs and benefits of becoming a modern mother in these societies.

Feminist theories have focused on contemporary, Western, middle-class experiences of maternity. This volume brings other mothers, from Asia and the Pacific, into scholarly view, aiming to show that birthing and mothering can be a very different experience for women in other parts of the world. The contributors document a wide variety of conceptions of motherhood, and drawing on ethnographic and historical research, they explore the relationships between motherhood as embodied experience and the local discourses on maternity. They show how the experience of motherhood has been influenced by missionaries, by colonial policies and by the introduction of Western medicine and biomedical birthing methods, and raise important questions about the costs and benefits of becoming a modern mother in these societies.

Women of the Place is a study of gender relations in the kastom communities of South Pentecost, Vanuatu. It considers kastom in these communities not as an eternal tradition, but rather as a way of life, an identity in relation, and in resistance to the forces of European development. The way in which Christian missions, the labour trade, and the development of Western political institutions had a divergent impact on women and men is explored. The relations between persons and things is highlighted in an examination of the myths and rituals of the life-cycle and of grade-taking. The significance of this ritual is located in the context of colonial history, particularly the impact of pacification on men. Finally, the book considers more generally kastom and gender in the post-colonial state.