'I am Still a Young Girl if I Want': Relational Personhood and Individual Autonomy in the Trobriand Islands. Issue 1 (March 2015)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- 'I am Still a Young Girl if I Want': Relational Personhood and Individual Autonomy in the Trobriand Islands. Issue 1 (March 2015)
- Main Title:
- 'I am Still a Young Girl if I Want': Relational Personhood and Individual Autonomy in the Trobriand Islands
- Authors:
- Lepani, Katherine
Taylor, John P.
Morgain, Rachel - Abstract:
- <abstract abstract-type="main"> <title>Abstract</title> <p>In the Trobriand Islands of Papua New Guinea, sexuality is valued as a positive expression of relational personhood, registering the efficacy of consensual and pleasurable practice in producing and maintaining social relations. The power of sexuality to demonstrate individual and collective capacity and potential holds particular salience for unmarried young people. This paper draws on my ethnographic research on culture and HIV in the Trobriands to address perduring questions about the locus of individual autonomy in Melanesian sociality, where relational personhood shapes identity and modes of exchange in the moral economy. I focus on the gendered agency of youth sexuality, including the use of <italic>kwaiwaga</italic>, or love magic, in exercising and controlling desire. The narrative identities of two young women provide the lens through which questions of agency are explored, revealing how the autonomous mind, <italic>nanola</italic>, is central to understanding the embodiment of social relations, how the power of love magic transfers agency from one individual to another, and how individual assertions and acts are ultimately expressions of situated relationality.</p> </abstract>
- Is Part Of:
- Oceania. Volume 85:Issue 1(2015:Mar.)
- Journal:
- Oceania
- Issue:
- Volume 85:Issue 1(2015:Mar.)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 85, Issue 1 (2015)
- Year:
- 2015
- Volume:
- 85
- Issue:
- 1
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2015-0085-0001-0000
- Page Start:
- 51
- Page End:
- 62
- Publication Date:
- 2015-03
- Subjects:
- Ethnology -- Periodicals
Ethnology -- Oceania -- Periodicals
Oceania -- Civilization -- Periodicals
919 - Journal URLs:
- http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/1761006.html ↗
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1834-4461 ↗
http://www.jstor.org/journals/00298077.html ↗
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1002/ocea.5073 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 0029-8077
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - 6231.400000
British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 3346.xml