網袋の提げ方のジェンダー : パプアニューギニア・アベラム社会における網袋の象徴世界

The use of string bags is widespread throughout the inland districts of the island of New Guinea for carrying crops and children. Traditionally, there were gendered differences in the way string bags were worn, with men wearing them slung from the shoulder and women using cords across their foreheads to drape the bags down their backs throughout Papua New Guinea. However, women have recently begun wearing small string bags in the same manner as men. At the time the style of wearing the bags began to change, in the Abelam society of East Sepik Province, women were criticized that "women should not carry bags on their shoulders." by men. It is thought that women's practice of carrying a bag on their shoulders had become commonplace by the 1980s. Using the case study of the Abelam, this paper aims to analyze what the differences in the way of wearing string bags symbolized with regard to gender relations between men and women. Then, I also explore why women were criticized for this change in carrying style at the time it took place.