Women of the Place: Kastom, Colonialism and Gender in Vanuatu

Women of the Place is a study of gender relations in the kastom communities of South Pentecost, Vanuatu. It considers kastom in these communities not as an eternal tradition, but rather as a way of life, an identity in relation, and in resistance to the forces of European development. The way in which Christian missions, the labour trade, and the development of Western political institutions had a divergent impact on women and men is explored. The relations between persons and things is hig...