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Creating an Indigenous Christian leadership in Papua

Version 2 2024-06-17, 07:59
Version 1 2014-10-28, 09:43
journal contribution
posted on 2024-06-17, 07:59 authored by D Wetherell
In eastern Papua, Christian missionaries found a social structure unparalleled in most areas of religious expansion in the world: it apparently lacked chiefs and any identifiable leadership. Nearly all the Massim societies of eastern Papua were matrilineal, and land was passed through females. Here, women enjoyed a higher status than elsewhere in what is now Papua New Guinea. By drawing on the records of missionary agents, both European and Polynesian, this paper shows how the Methodist, Anglican and Kwato (London Missionary Society) missions in eastern Papua all encountered difficulty in fostering a cadre of male leaders, but — as became evident after World War II — they experienced greater success in fostering women's leadership.

History

Journal

Journal of Pacific history

Volume

47

Pagination

163-185

Location

Abingdon, England

ISSN

0022-3344

eISSN

1469-9605

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2012, Taylor & Francis

Issue

2

Publisher

Routledge