Christian Marriage, Money Scams, and Melanesian Social Imaginaries

Abstract

In this paper, we draw on fieldwork with middle‐class investors in ‘fast money schemes’ (Ponzi scams) to consider how Neo‐Pentecostal Christianity may be mediating social and economic change in Papua New Guinea, particularly in relation to gender equality. Ideas of companionate marriage and the cultivation of an affective self imply masculinities that are more sensitive and less domineering. As these images of fulfilled modernity flow out from Pentecostal churches into broader Papua New Guinean society, they corroborate Taylor's theory of how change occurs within the modern social imaginary.

‘I won’t go hungry if he’s not around’: ‘Working class’ urban Melanesian women’s agency in intimate relationships

“…The research presented here suggests that this is changing among educated urban Melanesians (Cox and Macintyre 2014). Because educated and employed women need not rely on men for either financial or emotional support, they are freer to negotiate relationships based on equality, mutual respect and companionship.…”

“…Describing herself as being in a 'de facto relationship', she was pregnant with her first child when we met. But her description of her relationship, like those described by a number of the other young women I have met, strongly reflects the ideal of gender harmony as emphasised among educated and urban-dwelling Melanesians (see Cox and Macintyre 2014;Hirsch and Wardlow (eds) 2006).…”

Transformations of Gender in Melanesia

“…The ideals of Christian, companionate marriage introduced by missionaries in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries have taken hold in some quarters, but not others. Recent evangelical churches have promoted models of the nuclear family and household that emphasise more individualistic social values (Cox and Macintyre 2014;Maggio 2016). As Jenny Munro, Ceridwen Spark and John Cox show in this volume, there is greater acceptance of the value of women's education and even the view that having a working wife might be an advantage rather than a threat.…”

“…As Martha Macintyre succinctly puts it, 'For women to gain the control over their own lives and bodies that "eliminating violence" entails, men are going to have to lose it ' (2012: 239 Views from Papua New Guinea, on the other side of the island, describe masculinities in crisis (Knauft 2011) and new articulations of male identity through monetary prowess, commodity consumption, sexual practices and Christian values (Bainton 2008;Cox and Macintyre 2014;Martin 2013). In Papua, the biggest ideological threats to indigenous masculinities are the discourses that relegate cultural practices and values to the tribal past and position culture and black racial heritage as something to be ashamed of (Munro 2015;Stasch 2015).…”

Gender struggles of educated men in the Papuan highlands

“…Views from Papua New Guinea, on the other side of the island, describe masculinities in crisis (Knauft 2011) and new articulations of male identity through monetary prowess, commodity consumption, sexual practices and Christian values (Bainton 2008;Cox and Macintyre 2014;Martin 2013). In Papua, the biggest ideological threats to indigenous masculinities are the discourses that relegate cultural practices and values to the tribal past and position culture and black racial heritage as something to be ashamed of (Munro 2015;Stasch 2015).…”