BUY ONLINE

New Book Bulletins

Fruit of the Motherland
Gender in an Egalitarian Society

Maria Lepowsky

"Lepowsky deals evenhandedly with topics of primary concern to islanders�subsistence, life passages, sorcery, relations with the dead and with spirits, exchange, and power�presenting general analyses through specific incidents. This ethnography is important as a touchstone for accounts of Melanesian societies and for theories of gender relations."
—Choice

Challenging the portrayal of sexual inequality as a universal condition, Lepowsky presents a vivid account of Vanatinai, a matrilineal society in New Guinea.

Contradticting scholars who consider sexual inequality a universal condition, Fruit of the Motherland reveals an exceptional society in which women have equivalent access to power and prestige and significant control over the means of production.

Lepowsky presents an ethnography of Vanatinai, a matrilineal, decentralized society in New Guinea where there is no ideology of male dominance and women and men are considered fundamentally equal. tracing the life cycle of islanders of both sexes, she examines the role of gender in thye Vanatinai's: social life and history, religious philosophy and worldview, practice of ceremonial exchange and ritual.

In addition, Fruit of the Motherland includes useful cross-cultural analysis of gender roles, ideologies, and power.

About the Author

Maria Lepowsky is professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

For more information, please contact Customer Service.

Shopping Cart Operations

For MasterCard/Visa holders, accumulate titles in the Shopping Cart and submit your order electronically.

Shopping Cart Operations

• Add this book to cart
• Review and change cart contents
• Secure checkout