Unfolding the Moon: Enacting Women's Kastom in Vanuatu

by Lissant Bolton

In the first decades after independence in 1980, kastom-indigenous knowledge and practice-became a key market of ni-Vanuatu identity. However, it was almost entirely concerned with men. Then in 1991 the Vanuatu Cultural Centre initiated a project that focused on women's knowledge and skill in producing plaited pandanus textiles (mats) on the island of Ambae in north Vanuatu. This acknowledgment that "women have kastom too," widely welcomed by rural ni-Vanuatu, was an important step in establishing women's kastom. Lissant Bolton's account of this important but undocumented period considers the circumstances that led to these events and analyzes their effects on Ambae.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfolding the Moon is Lisant's Doctoral Dissertation. I have never read a dissertation that makes for page turning reading, however, because i have a vested interest in the country, i want to learn as much about it as I can and most of the published information comes in the form of dissertations by non-natives I continue to read.