Family and Gender in the Pacific: Domestic Contradictions and the Colonial Impact

The combined forces of mission evangelism and colonial intervention have transformed the everyday family life of Pacific peoples. The dramatic changes that affected the political and economic autonomy of indigenous people in the region also had significant effects on domestic life. This book, originally published in 1989, examines the ways in which this happened. Using the insights of history and anthropology, chapters cover a wide range of geographical range, extending from Hawaii to Australia. The authors examine changes in medicine and health, religious beliefs, architecture and settlement, and the restructuring of the domestic realm. The book raises issues of concern to a wide range of interests: the peoples and history of the Pacific, the broader questions of colonialism and missionary endeavour, and the changing structure of the family.