Gender Rituals: Female Initiation in Melanesia

ISBN-13: 9780415911078 / Angielski / Miękka / 1995 / 286 str.

Nancy C Lutkehaus

Opis

Since the 1960s anthropologists have studied initiation rites. These rites can last for as long as a year and involve circumcision, subincision, tooth-avulsion, blood-letting and cicatrization; on the other hand, they may be short and painless. The contributors to this volume draw together ethnographies of female initiation rites in eight communities in Melanesia. The contributors argue that female initiation rites express more than cultural notions of femininity, narrow definitions of reproduction, or coming of age rituals - instead they play an important role in other life cycle rituals and in the political and economic organization of society.

Recenzje

"This volume, originally organized as a symposium under the auspices of the Association for Social Anthropology in Oceania, adds significantly to knowledge about female initiation throughout Melanesia and the rest of the world. It contains substantive chapters on eight different cultural groups in disparate locations in the area...and every chapter not only contributes interesting data but advances theoretical and analytical understandings of ritual process in general. The volume is a "must" for anyone interested n ritual or Melanesia, but I recommend a much wider reading. All who have an interest in ritual, feminist analysis, gender, or contemprory anthropological theory will be well served by this collection Center For Pacific Islands Studies."

O autorze

Edited by Lutkehaus, Nancy; Roscoe, Paul