National Library of Australia

Due to major building activity, some collections are unavailable. Please check your requests before visiting. Learn more.

You must be logged in to Tag Records
Wives and wanderers in a New Guinea Highlands society : women's lives in the Wahgi Valley / by Marie Olive Reay ; edited by Francesca Merlan ; with additional introduction by Marilyn Strathern
Bib ID 8626026
Format BookBook, OnlineOnline [text, online resource]
Author
Reay, Marie, 1922-2004, author
 
Online Access
Related Online
Resources
Edition Second edition. 
Access Conditions National edeposit: Available online 
Description Acton, Australian Capital Territory : ANU Press, 2022 
1 online resource (298 pages) : illustrations, maps, portraits. 
ISBN 9781760464714 (PDF)
Technical Details

text file : PDF : 5.6MB 

Summary

Wives and Wanderers in a New Guinea Highlands Society brings to the reader anthropologist Marie Reay's field research from the 1950s and 1960s on women's lives in the Wahgi Valley, Central Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Dramatically written, each chapter adds to the main story that Reay wanted to tell, contrasting young girls' freedom to court and choose partners, with the constraints (and violence) they were to experience as married women. Had this manuscript appeared when Reay apparently completed it in its present form - around 1965 - it would have been the first published ethnography of women's lives in the Central Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Its retrieval from Reay's papers, and availability now, adds a new dimension to works on gender relations in Melanesian societies, and to the history of Australian and Pacific anthropology.

Full contents
  • Editor's introduction
  • Introduction
  • Preface
  • Chapter 1: The world of a woman
  • Chapter 2: Carrying leg
  • Chapter 3: A girl is marked
  • Chapter 4: A rubbish man takes a wife
  • Chapter 5: Lothario gains a bride
  • Chapter 6: The Amazonian mood
  • Chapter 7: Meri Tultul
 
Notes

Editor's introduction -- Introduction -- Preface -- Chapter 1: The world of a woman -- Chapter 2: Carrying leg -- Chapter 3: A girl is marked -- Chapter 4: A rubbish man takes a wife -- Chapter 5: Lothario gains a bride -- Chapter 6: The Amazonian mood -- Chapter 7: Meri Tultul -- Chapter 8: Wandering wives -- Chapter 9: A woman of the Kugika -- Chapter 10: The witch-girl and the shrew -- Chapter 11: True cousin -- Chapter 12: One family -- Chapter 13: Laik Bilong Man -- Chapter 14: 'Wandering women' and 'good women' -- Appendix A -- Appendix B -- Appendix C -- Appendix D -- Appendix E.

Subjects Wahgi (Papua New Guinean people) -- Social life and customs.  |  Women -- Papua New Guinea -- Social conditions.  |  Women -- Papua New Guinea -- Social life and customs.  |  Society & Social Sciences.  |  Wahgi (Papua New Guinean people) -- Social life and customs.  |  Women -- Social conditions.  |  Women -- Social life and customs.  |  Papua New Guinea.
Form/genre Electronic books
Other authors/contributors Merlahn, Francesca, editor  |  Strathern, Marilyn
Terms of Use Licensed under Creative Commons. Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) 

In the Library

Request this item to view in the Library's reading rooms using your library card. To learn more about how to request items watch this short online video Help Video.

Details Collect From
National edeposit collection Use 'Online Access' link in record -

Order a copy

- Copyright or permission restrictions may apply. We will contact you if necessary.

Help Video To learn more about Copies Direct watch this short online video Help Video.
close Can I borrow items from the Library?

You need Flash player 8+ and JavaScript enabled to view this video embedded.

You can view this on the NLA website.

close What can I get online?

You need Flash player 8+ and JavaScript enabled to view this video embedded.

You can view this on the NLA website.

close Can I get copies of items from the Library?

You need Flash player 8+ and JavaScript enabled to view this video embedded.

You can view this on the NLA website.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flags
Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and other First Nations people are advised that this catalogue contains names, recordings and images of deceased people and other content that may be culturally sensitive. Please also be aware that you may see certain words or descriptions in this catalogue which reflect the author’s attitude or that of the period in which the item was created and may now be considered offensive.