[ANU Pacific.Institute] SSGM Seminar Series: Jennifer Peachey, Tuesday 24 April 2012, 3-4pm

[Richard Eves]

Jennifer Peachey - 'Kastom Law' vs. 'Formal Family Court': Women and
Children's Experience of Changing Family Forms in Goroka Town, Eastern
Highlands, Papua New Guinea. 

 

Tuesday 24 April 2012, 3.00-4.00pm

Hedley Bull Theatre 2, Hedley Bull Bldg #130, Garran Road, ANU

________________________________________

Abstract

There are various customary and informal avenues of dispute resolution in
Goroka town of the eastern highlands, Papua New Guinea. Despite this fact,
approximately 5,500 cases were heard in the non-indigenous state institution
of the district court in 2009 - 2010. In this paper, I focus exclusively on
family court cases heard in the district court and why it is that women
approach the district court, rather than alternative mechanisms, in order to
pursue family related concerns. I suggest that women's eagerness to utilise
the district court reflects changing family forms and experiences of being a
mother, wife and sister in an urban setting. Using court cases, case studies
and observations made during fieldwork, I explore the changing dynamics and
definitions of 'the nuclear family' (husband, wife, child), the male-female
relationship (the husband-wife and brother-sister relationship) and
'kastom'. I note that whilst some reasons for changing family structure are
beyond the control of women, others are changes that women actively seek to
bring about themselves. Finally, I consider two children's spirited attempts
to utilise the police and village court to deal with their polygamous
fathers and their fathers' wives. The paper is based on 16 months of
ethnographic fieldwork in Goroka town between 2009-2010.

 

Jennifer Peachey is currently a PhD Scholar in the Department of Social
Anthropology in the University of Manchester, UK. She has a Masters in
Research in Social Anthropology, Ethnology and Cultural History from the
University of Aberdeen, a Masters in Visual Anthropology from the University
of Manchester and a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Archaeology from
the University of Cambridge. She is interested in international development
and has studied at the United Nations University in Tokyo and worked in the
UK Department for International Development and UNICEF Papua New Guinea.

 

 

Richard Eves

State, Society & Governance in Melanesia Program

ANU College of Asia & the Pacific
The Australian National University
CANBERRA  ACT  0200

Telephone: + 61 2 6125 3275
Facsimile: + 61 2 6125 9604

Email: Richard.Eves at anu.edu.au

Web:  <http://ips.cap.anu.edu.au/ssgm/> http://ips.cap.anu.edu.au/ssgm/

Web:  <http://anu.academia.edu/RichardEves>
http://anu.academia.edu/RichardEves

Skype: laradiorong

 

 

 

 

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