Books in the Studies in Melanesian Anthropology series

In the most original and ambitious synthesis yet undertaken in Melanesian scholarship, Marilyn Strathern argues that gender relations have been a particular casualty of unexamined assumptions held by Western anthropologists and feminist scholars alike. The book treats with equal seriousness-and with equal good humor-the insights of Western social science, feminist politics, and ethnographic reporting, in order to rethink the representation of Melanesian social and cultural life. This makes The Gender of the Gift one of the most sustained critiques of cross-cultural comparison that anthropology has seen, and one of its most spirited vindications.

This is an ethnography of the Mekeo of Papua New Guinea. Based on 20 years of fieldwork, this detailed study of Mekeo esoteric knowledge, cosmology, and self-conceptualizations recasts accepted notions about magic and selfhood.

Examines the often overlooked role of gossip and rumor in creating power in small Melanesian communities. This title suggests that our understanding of both Melanesian leadership and the power of words to construct social reality is greatly enhanced by attention to gossip and rumor.

A collection of essays by anthropologists on the subject of ritualized homosexuality. Their studies in cross-cultural variations in homosexual behaviour in a non-Western culture area indicate that contemporary theories of sex and gender development need revision.