Gender and the Life Cycle as Intra-related Processes in Melanesia with Special Reference to the Bariai of Northwest New Britain, Papua and New Guinea

Abstract

The focus of this rarer is an exploration of the relationship between concepts of gender, aging and dying in Melanesia. It is argued that age and gender are fundamental principles underlying the Melanesian world view; that the aging process is, at the individual level, an experiential living through of this world view; and, that age both delimits and articulates gender in terms of social and personal identity. The paper begins with a theoretical discussion of the Melanesian world view. Examples drawn from Melanesian ethnography generally and the Bariai in particular, are used to illustrate that world view and its usefulness as a theoretical framework for understanding gender and the totality of the life cycle as interrelated processes.