Study type

This is an exploratory study that used a qualitative approach to gathering data. Qualitative research investigates social settings, and the people who live within these settings, in order to examine how people arrange themselves and their settings and how they make sense of their surroundings through “meanings, concepts, definitions, characteristics, metaphors, symbols, and descriptions of things” (Berg 2001:7). Moreover, qualitative methods provide the researcher with the opportunity to “share in the understandings and perceptions of others and to explore how people structure and give meaning to their daily lives” (Berg).

This research focused on traditional protective mechanisms used by women and men to prevent gender-based violence. Hence, the objective of this study was to explore ways in which cultural beliefs and practices may provide strategies for addressing gender- based violence. A qualitative approach was preferred, rather than a quantitative one,

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because qualitative methodology can better provide answers to how people understand their world while it “explores and documents how people interact with each other and how they interpret and interact with the world around them” (Ulin et al. 2002:26). Since gender-based violence is deeply embedded within a cultural context, a qualitative approach is relevant because the theoretical and methodological framework focuses on the relation between “personal and social meanings; individual and cultural practices; and the material environment, or context” (Ulin et al. 2002:4).

The theoretical framework of this thesis is grounded in feminist theory. Feminism is a social endeavour concerned with restoring social wrongs through a moral and political framework (Thompson 2001:7). It is aimed at expressing the issues of gendered identity which have become entangled as a result of political bias, the production of knowledge, and diverse and alternative representations of unfairness (Braidotti 2003:198). In addition, “feminist research frameworks are concerned with the gender and power dimensions of social phenomena that shape people’s lives” (Ulin et al. 2002:23). Hence, feminist research is focused on understanding different power and gender positions. Such a framework is relevant to this study because it helps identify the power relationships which are being used to maintain boundaries between women and men. Therefore, to be able to identify positive cultural beliefs and practices that can contribute to addressing gender-based violence, it is necessary to examine the differences in power relationships that place women in a subordinate position to men.

4.2.1 Study site

The people living at the foothills of Mt. Bosavi in the Southern Highlands province of Papua New Guinea are comprised of 14 language groups. The linguist Voorhoeve (1968) labelled the whole Bosavi language group as ‘Pare-Samo-Beami-Bosavi Family’ (Grosh & Grosh 2004:3). The Kasua language group, containing the language spoken by the Sulamesi people, is one of 14 languages in the Bosavi family.

Anthropologist Brunois (2004) referred to Sulamesi as the Kasua people. However, participants in this study stated they preferred to be referred to as the Sulamesi people.

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Sulamesi people occupy 7 of the 28 villages located in the Mt Bosavi region and these villages are: Musula, Iwatubu, Weleyo, Iliye, Lake Campbel, Haivaro and Igiselebo. Sulamesi people are governed under the administration of the Southern Highlands Province (Figure 4.1). In terms of basic government services, the village has no health aid post, since the villagers chased away the health worker in the belief that he was trying to claim their land. Recently, after five years of not having a school in the village, parents decided to build a one for their children. While the village now has a school, teachers who go to teach in the school typically leave after six months or a year because of its isolated location. Isolation makes it difficult for teachers to get their supplies and teaching aids, and they become discouraged by these challenges from continuing to teach in the area.

However, at the time of this study, parents had insisted on having a school for their children so they could learn; hence, they arranged for an elementary class and grades one to four. Musula primary school had one teacher and two village volunteers who had been appointed by the villagers to teach the children. Their school was not recognised by the provincial government and therefore the parents had to build the classrooms and teachers’ houses, and also provide food for the teachers. Children wanting to attain more advanced education had to walk for about four days to reach the nearest higher- level school. There were no state highways connecting the villages to the nearest town, and most people walked using bush tracks. There was also an airstrip which the villagers used for emergencies, but it was generally used by outsiders visiting the village.

Sulamesi people live a largely subsistence lifestyle and they are semi-hunter-gatherers, who depend on the rainforest for their fuel, food and shelter. The staple of their diet is sago, which is processed from wild palms growing in shallow swamp and creeks (Finnegan 1995:86). Although the village is situated in a clearing in the rainforest, people also have houses away from the main village and inside the rainforest where they can collect food and fuel. Traditionally, the villagers shared one big long house, with the women’s and men’s sleeping area divided by a long aisle. However, nowadays couples live together with their children in small huts.

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In 2006, with the assistance of the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) the Sulamesi people turned 49,800 hectares of the Mt Bosavi area into the Sulamesi Wildlife Management Area (WMA). This WMA area forms part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Kikori River Basin/Great Papuan Plateau, which covers over 2 million hectares of PNG’s landmass (UNESCO 2006; Wikipedia 2007; WWF 2008).

I decided to conduct my research in a rural setting which has had limited outside influence. This was important because, generally, Papua New Guineans perceive rural life as the traditional life; hence, a rural village was chosen instead of an urban setting, in order to find answers to my research questions on traditional protective mechanisms against gender-based violence. Given the fact that the Sulamesi people are located in one of the most remote and isolated places in PNG, I believed they would have experienced fewer changes to their cultural practices than people living in urban areas and thus it would be an ideal study site. I also chose Mt Bosavi as my study site because I had previously worked in this area for WWF; thus, I was somewhat familiar with the people and their culture.

Figure 4.1: Map of the Southern Highlands Province

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4.2.2 Selection of participants

An apriori sampling approach was used in this study design. This participant selection approach involves “defining in advance of data collection the characteristics and structure of the sample” to be investigated in the study (Ulin et al. 2002:57). More importantly, this sampling approach was chosen because a priori selection does not restrict “sampling additions or changes as the study progresses” (Ulin et al. 2002:57). Participants for the study were selected using the heterogeneous samples technique, as it was deemed a good tool to “highlight variation in some complex phenomenon or to look for common themes that emerge amidst the presence of other differences” (Ulin et al. 2002:60). Further heterogeneous selection approach guides the researcher to find “similar experiences, behaviours or perceptions in an otherwise diverse group” (Ulin et al. 2002:60).

I purposely attempted to select a mixture of participants, distinguished by differences in marital status, sex, children and number of years married, in addition to age and the cultural practices of bride price and polygamy. Other selected characteristics included elders over 70 years, and village leaders or pastors. Most participants were included based on the above characteristics. Of the 40 participants, only four were once in a polygamous marriage but were no longer so at the time of the interview. Despite having only identified four participants in a polygamous marriage, out of the 23 male participants, three were in the process of securing a second wife. Moreover, all married participants used bride price as a symbol of marriage – each married couple had gone through the bride price process (Refer to Appendix 1 for the List of Participants). Furthermore, the study was to be conducted in three villages occupied by the Sulamesi people, but due to heavy rainfalls it was impossible to walk to two of the selected sites. Hence, I spent all my research time in the primary village, which the Sulamesi people refer to as their ‘government station’, because it is where the airstrip, church pastor, councillor and school are located. Despite not being able to visit the other two villages, I was fortunate in that there were villagers from these other two villages staying in my host village helping to clean the airstrip and build the teachers’ houses, and I was able to include them in my study.

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