Citation

Salomon C, Hamelin C. Asia Pac. J. Anthropol. 2008; 9(1): 29-46.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/14442210701822191

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Both ethnographic investigation and the results of a questionnaire survey on violence among the general female population show that, today, a majority of Kanak women no longer legitimise rape or physical violence, even if the perpetrator is their partner. The now-widespread challenging of such violence from an ideological standpoint by the youngest Kanak women, and by urban Kanak women, indicates that new openings are emerging for women at the individual level and that there is a renegotiation of gender relations in New Caledonia. In the present paper, we examine these changes in the context of the country's recent political and social history. The engagement of Kanak women with the pro-Independence movement, the economic rebalancing program launched in the 1990s in New Caledonia in favour of the Kanaks and recently achieved political parity have led to a profound change not only in women's everyday lives, but also in their representations of gender.