women and men in the Enga tee

Abstract

But we cannot infer from this a fixed relationship between the sexes, which operates throughout the entire social structure (Kaberry 1939:276)."Rigid sexual dichotomies" (Read 19521, "lechers and prudes" (Meggitt 1964). "sexual antagonism" (Langness 1967), and more recently, the "perambulating punitive penis" and the "vagrant voracious vagina" (Meggitt 1976)-these have been the predominant modes in which male-female relations in the New Guinea Highlands have been viewed by anthropologists. Evidently, only an unperceptive person could come to a conclusion other than that of inherent sexual hostility, for in every New Guinea Highland society the physical manifestations of that syndrome have been apparent: the strict separation of the sexes in sleeping arrangements, the elaborate sexual and menstrual taboos, and the presence of male cults and secret initiations in which boys and bachelors are taught the harmful affects likely to occur from prolonged contact with females. No less important have been the programmatic statements of informants (men mostly, but presumably women as well?) in shaping and reinforcing this conception of intersexual anxiety and conflict.Almost every analysis has used just these or a similar constellation of features f o r purposes of explanation. "Women's status" has been presumably summed up by them. What little else we have been told of the daily interaction of the sexes, of the position or status of women vis-a-vis men in a variety of social situations, of individual women's behavior, intent, and motivations was largely inferred from this same set of recurring social forms. For, how could it be otherwise, when the facts were so plain, for all to see? A subtle translation had been made or assumed from one level of reality to another.But viewing male-female relations as simply reflected in menstrual taboos, men's houses, and magic flutes represents only a very narrow slice of potential interaction between the sexes. We are entitled to ask what relation separate sleeping arrangements bear to the place of women in marriage proceedings, exchange transactions, or domestic proThis paper explores the power and influence of women in the tee exchange o f the Tombema Enga of the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Intersexual relations in the Highlands have generally been described as frought with anxiety and conflict. Similarly, women's position has been defined as low and inferior to that of men. This paper takes the view that rather than trying to sum up the position of women, it is more sensible to describe male-female relations in a variety of separate social domains, free from the more ideological Statements that men make of women in situational vacuums. By so doing we may find that women exercise considerable power. As male-female relations are viewed in the context of the tee exchange, a picture emerges in which women are essential participants, making key political decisions, allotting pigs, a n d in a l l ways, shaping the exchange partnerships and relations of men whom they link. These...

Marriage, descent and kinship: on the differential primacy of institutions in Luapula (Zambia) and Longana (New Hebrides)

“…This arrangement contrasts with Feil's (1978) description of the Tombema Enga of the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea, however, where women produce pigs and offspring, while men exchange and control them. Nevertheless, the conflict between the sexes and between reproduction and control is acknowledged in Longana by intersecting, contrastive principles of 'womb' and 'shared parental substance.'…”

Memorable Religions: Transmission, Codification and Change in Divergent Melanesian Contexts

“…A number of theories have been advanced which suggest that the historical pressure behind the elaboration of initiation systems is to be found in strategies of male domination (for example Feil 1978;Lindenbaum 1984). An undoubted concomitant of the sharing of secrets, agonies, revelations and status among novices is an intense and enduring bond based around common identity and solidarity.…”

Essential woman: Anthropological perspectives on gender

“…Viewing the sexual division of labor as a universal means by which men exploit women does not add to our understanding of why some social structures are dramatically more unequal than others (Sillitoe 1985); nor, as indicated earlier, is it empirically valid. In the New Guinea societies, for example, while men gain prestige and power through exchange relations in a way that women do not, wives participate in behind-thescenes decisions about the allocation of pigs (Feil 1978), and women receive payments of pork when the animals are slaughtered. Since both husbands and wives are producers and share basic resources, it seems difficult to speak of exploitation here (Sillitoe 1985).…”