Mangrove Man Dialogics of Culture in the Sepik Estuary [Paperback]

The first modern ethnography of the Murik, a relatively large and important community settled on the Sepik River estuary in Papua New Guinea.The Murik of Papua New Guinea conceptualise women as the source of nurture, generosity and love. Men have political power, but their claim to sustain and reproduce society requires them to appropriate the nurturant qualities of women. So they must, in some sense, model certain aspects of themselves after women. A 'maternal schema' or'poetics' of the female body, which underlines Murik sociocultural patterns expresses itself in a range of societal domains. These issues tie in with some of the major contemporary debates in the social sciences, including the relationship between ideas of male and female power.The Murik of Papua New Guinea conceptualise women as the source of nurture, generosity and love. Men have political power, but their claim to sustain and reproduce society requires them to appropriate the nurturant qualities of women. So they must, in some sense, model certain aspects of themselves after women. A 'maternal schema' or'poetics' of the female body, which underlines Murik sociocultural patterns expresses itself in a range of societal domains. These issues tie in with some of the major contemporary debates in the social sciences, including the relationship between ideas of male and female power.The Murik of Papua New Guinea conceptualize women as the source of nurture, generosity and love. Men have political power, but their claim to sustain and reproduce society requires them to appropriate the nurturant qualities of women. So they must, in some sense, model certain aspects of themselves after women. A maternal schema or poetics of the female body, which underlines Murik sociocultural patterns, expresses itself in a range of societal domains. These issues tie in with some of the major contemporary debates in the social sciences, including the relationship between ideas of male and female power.1. IntroductlC©