Josephine's journey: Gender-based violence and Marian devotion in urban Papua New Guinea

Anna-Karina Hermkens

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

    Abstract

    This article deals with how, in the urban setting of Madang, Papua New Guinea, Marian devotion is deployed in response to domestic and gender-based violence. While providing insight into the lived religious experiences of Catholic women living in Madang, this article shows how Mary empowers her followers to resist violence, yet, at the same time, paradoxically, is instrumental in sanctioning women to tolerate violence. Josephine's 'journey of violence' reveals not only Josephine's turning to Mary, but more so, her negotiations with values belonging to different cultural logics. Caught between 'tradition', Christianity and 'modernity', Josephine and other Catholic women engage in painful processes of self-analysis and self-transformation to adapt to and change their situation. In these processes, Mary is used as a role model.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)151-167
    JournalOceania
    Volume78
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2008

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