Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Main entry under title: Pref ace Women and colonization. A J.F. Bergin Publishers Book. Bibliography: p. This book presents case studies of women's economic, social and political Includes index. 1. Women-History-Addresses, essays, lectures. roles in twelve societies, and the changes that followed European coloniza­ 2. Colonies-Addresses, essays, lectures. 3. Sex tion. All the studies, with the exception of Chapter 9, were written for this role-Addresses, essays, lectures. 4. Social change­ volume. All are by anthropologists who have delved into missionary reports, Addresses, essays, lectures. I. Etienne, Mona. explorers' and traders' accounts, and other historical records for information II. Leacock, Eleanor Burke, 1922- about the peoples whom the Europeans encountered in the Americas, Africa, GN479.7.W65 301.41'2 79-15318 and the Pacific to examine how they dealt with European behavior and in­ ISBN 0-03-052586-1 tentions. The authors have studied the present day cultures of the peoples /'\ * ; ISBN 0-03-052581-0 pbk. about whom they are writing, and most have done fieldwork among them. ( I /1. i ·iv The book has been written in response to the growing interest in women cross-culturally and reflects our conviction that the realities of colonization J.//~1, I have thus far received inadequate consideration by anthropologists. We focus ! ) / c.v(r on colonization and the position of women for two related reasons. The first concerns ideological arguments about the basis for women's inequality. The second concerns practical policies pertaining to women, especially in Third Published in 1980 by Praeger Publishers World nations. A division of Holt, Rinehart and Winston/CBS, Inc. Today in the United States there is a resurgence of old arguments that 383 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10017 USA woman's role as housewife follows from her role as mother and is both uni­ versal and biologically based. At a time when over half of all women in the United States are in the work force, such arguments may sound hollow; © 1980 by J.F. Bergin Publishers, Inc. nonetheless they undermine our efforts to combat discriminatory hiring All rights reserved J.F. Bergin Publishers, Inc. practices and wage levels as well as to achieve ad.:iquate child-care facilities 65 South Oxford Street, Brooklyn, New York 11217 and the right to safe abortion when desired. It is important, therefore, to dis­ USA tinguish between the position of women in various societies prior to the emergence of the world capitalist system and their position in the twentieth century as it has been studied by professional anthropologists. This work is a contribution toward that end. We hope it will encourage further ethno­ 0 056 987654321 historical research and make possible a full definition of women's social Printed in the United States of America participation in all its forms. Such a definition is most important at present when Third World nations are making cons<;ious choices about their futures and are examining their own histories and their past and present values. At this time, when the word "traditional" is being used either invidiously, to suggest "backward," in con­ trast to "modern," or proudly as an assertion of cultural autonomy, it is necessary to differentiate between traditions that predated colonization and those that took shape in a colonial context. The point is not to derogate the latter; after all, the traditions born of the struggles for independence that followed colonization are most valuable resources. However, it is critical to v Stability in Banana Leaves 271 11 Stability in Banana Leaves: ly in the interior of New Guinea) kept early exploration and ex­ ploitation to a minimum. Colonization and Women By 1814 the Dutch had firmly established their claim to the in Kiriwina, Trobriand Islands western half of mainland New Guinea. Dutch New Guinea (now West lrian) was ceded to Indonesia in 1963. German trading com­ panies were situated in the northeastern part of New Guinea (in­ ANNETTE B. WEINER cluding the Admiralties and the Bismarck Archipelago) by the lat­ ter half of the nineteenth century, while the southeast (induding the Massim) was occupied by the British. In 1906, British New Guinea, called Papua, was transferred to Australian control and in 1921, as a result ofWorld War I, German New Guinea became Aus­ tralian Mandated Territory. Until recent independence, Australia has governed the entire eastern half of New Guinea, including the outer island groups, as the Territory of Papua and New Guinea. During the early colonial period, beginning about 1850, the Massim, a ring of coral-based and volcanic islands-about 160 is­ lands and over 500 islets-played a prominent part in the econo­ mics of Papua. Whalers, traders, plan,ers, and recruiters for sugar plantations in Queensland rapidly inHltrated the islands. The pos­ sibilities of gold sent hundreds of men exploring the Massim to search out claims, most of which, however, remained rather small. European and Asian markets, eager for copra, rubber, beche-de­ mer (a type of sea slug important in China for use in soup), and pearls kept traders, prospectors, and planters operating in the area. But, ·gradually, with changes in the world market and difficulty in obtaining both extensive local ~abor forces and ownership of land, commercial economic production decreased until by the end of World War II, the Massim was no longer a significant economic center. Subsistence cultivation, primarily of yams, taro, and bananas (with fish and pigs as protein sources), continues today as the com­ mon mode of production in the Massim. The early "boom" did nothing to advance modern communication and transport systems, and few local populations or individuals shifted to commercial en­ terprises. Within specific island populations, however, changes did Although some variation exists in scholarly definitions of the ge­ occur that were disruptive to traditional ritual life, residential pat­ ographical boundaries of Melanesia, the culture area usually is re­ terns, and certain kinds ()f trade and exchange systems. The mis­ cognized as including the mainland of New Guinea and the small­ sions (entering the scene as early as 1840) were often more influ­ er island groups of the Admiralties, the Bismarck Archipelago (in­ ential than commercialization in causing the abandonment of tra­ cluding New Ireland and New Britain), the Massim (with the Tro­ ditional activities. Since the emergence of Papua New Guinea as briand Islands situated to the north), the Solomons, Santa Cruz, an independent country in 197 5, a growing resurgence of local-le­ the New Hebrides, New Caledonia, and Fiji. Following Pacific ex­ vel autonomy has occurred throughout the Massim with an inten­ plorations throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, sification of traditional modes of production. the various islands comprising Melanesia were apportioned among French, Dutch, German, British, and Australian powers. In many parts of Melanesia, however, the reputations of the "fierceness" The Trobriand group, situated in the northernmost part of the Massim, in­ of the villagers, and the treacherous geographical terrain (especial- cludes the islands of Kiriwina, Kitava, Vakuta, Kaileuna, and over 100 unin- 270 272 Women and Colonization Stability in Banana Leaves 273 habited coral islets. Kiriwina, a low-lying coral atoll, is geographically the larg­ father, his older brother, and his mother's brother. Through distributions of est and politically the most central, about 30 miles long and 10 miles across yarns at harvest, men are able to create and maintain networks of relationships at its widest part. The total population of the island group, now about 10,000, with individual women and men. has increased steadily since the turn of the century. The Trobriands not only The hamlet is the basic unit of residence, with contiguous hamlets com­ had a colonial history of traders, missions, and government, but they have had prising a village. Usually one man controls the hamlet and garden lands marked a rather dramatic anthropological history as well. In 1904, C. G. Seligman col­ in the name of his lineage (data). Land divisions are bounded by genealogical lected data from Kiriwina as part of his ethnographic survey of the northern sanctions which must be traced back to the original rnatrilineal founders. Bar­ and southern Massirn (1910). What seemed especially significant to Seligman ring the loss of land through compensation payments, theft, or the demise of was the system of rank and inherited chiefs that appeared far more formalized a particular lineage (data), inheritence of land control should pass from an ol­ and elaborated in Kiriwina than in any other Massirn island. Ten years later, der brother to a younger brother and then, in the next generation, to a man's Kiriwina, and the Trobriands in general, were to be_corne even more significant sister's son. But each hamlet "manager" has the right to determine exactly anthropologically following the field research of Bronislaw Malinowski. With who his heir will be, and he also has the right to allocate use rights to land to Malinowski's extensive publications on. a wide range of topics such as Trobri­ others who are not members of his data. The most important hamlet manager and kinship, rnatriliny, exchange, magic, myth, and garden production, the (often a man of rank) within a village will organize and control the communal Trobriands became one of the most "sacred places" in the history of anthro­ activities in which all villagers participate, regardless of hamlet affiliation. But pology. Many of Malinowski's interpretations were to become the basis for the head of a village never controls the data property (e.g., land, names, body general theoretical principles as well as the subject of long-standing scholarly and house decorations) and mortuary distributions of the hamlets.