The island of menstruating men;: Religion in Wogeo, New Guinea

by Herbert Ian Hogbin

Ian Hogbin belongs to anthropology's heroic age. He was a member of the brilliant between-the-wars generation that included Raymond Firth, Reo Fortune, Margaret Mead, Gregory Bateson, and Hortense Powdermaker, all of whom pioneered modern field research in the insular South Pacific. The Island of Menstruating Men was a path-breaking exploration of gender in Wogeo when first published. Today it remains an important full-length study of a Melanesian religion, examining it in relation to other facets of culture-mythology, beliefs about illness and death, growth and maturity, magic, social structure, and morality. It is an articulate, insightful examination of the meaning of tradition and of the integration of culture. It is also a captivating account of ethnocentrism and the Wogeo's justification for it, exemplifying, in miniature, what appears to be one of the great problems of the human species.

Genres: Anthropology, Nonfiction

203 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1970

Reviews

[Blair Hodges]

The book is pretty dated, but it is interesting enough to get an idea of a religious worldview you are likely to have not encountered in the West.

[Dan Gunderson]

I read this book for an anthropology class -- it was interesting.

[Sophia]

I had to read this for an anthropology course. While fairly dense in content, I believe it provides an amazing insight into the inner workings and culture of a group of people most people will never know. It was interesting to see the dichotomy of gender roles and how each had their own forms of rituals.

[Valerie Baber]

This was an assigned textbook for a Lit class several years back. Not my thing.

[jessica wilson]

culturally interesting but the assumptions made in the observations irked me. i suppose i should keep in mind that the author visited New Guinea back in the thirties but still...

[Ben Kimutai]

Interesting Insite into new cultures