Research Catalog
Androgynous objects : string bags and gender in central New Guinea / Maureen Anne MacKenzie.
- Title
- Androgynous objects : string bags and gender in central New Guinea / Maureen Anne MacKenzie.
- Author
- MacKenzie, Maureen Anne
- Publication
- Chur, Switzerland ; Philadelphia, Pa. : Harwood Academic Publishers, 1991.
Items in the Library & Off-site
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1 Item
| Status | Vol/Date | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| c.2 | Book/Text | Request in advance | OC.MEL. M 199 a c.2 | Off-site |
Details
- Description
- xvi, 256 p., 8 p. of plates : ill. (some col.), maps; 25 cm.
- Summary
- This book explores the way meaning is encoded in material culture by focusing on the androgynous symbolism of the looped string bag, or bilum, of the Telefol people of Central New Guinea. The web of meanings 'woven' into the bag is shown to extend beyond women's lives and bodies. It is open to manipulation and reformation in a variety of contexts and is used by both Telefol women and men to explore, and so explain the complexities and ambiguities inherent in their social life.
- Series Statement
- Studies in anthropology and history, 1055-2464 ; v. 2
- Uniform Title
- Studies in anthropology and history v. 2.
- Subject
- Genre/Form
- Patterns
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 228-244) and index.
- Processing Action (note)
- committed to retain
- Contents
- 1. String bags, material culture and gender: an introduction. The string bag in Papua New Guinea. The analytical framework -- 2. The Telefol and their bilums. The female/male distinction in Telefol life. Telefol myth and the origin of the bilum. Telefol bilums: an emic classification -- 3. Open loops, open lives: production in the female realm. The social context of production. Raw materials. Turning string. Looping a bilum. Transmission of looping skills -- 4. Elaborations: production in the male realm. The social context of production. Raw materials. Elaborating a bird feather bilum. Production of the secret, sacred bilum -- 5. A good bilum is like a good woman: the social value of women's bags. Utilitarian value. Aesthetic value. The bilum and womanness. The centrality of the bilum as a gift -- 6. The bilum is our mother: the social value of men's bags. The concept of multiple authorship. The bird feather bilum. The value attributed to the secret, sacred bilums.
- ISBN
- 3718651556
- LCCN
- ^^^91055264^
- OCLC
- 26328219
- SCSB-10406934
- Owning Institutions
- Harvard Library