Pig men and women, big men and women: Gender and production in the New Guinea Highlands

The work of herding pigs falls mainly to women in the New Guinea Highlands. Yet men control the disposal of animals, commonly in sociopolitical exchan ge events that earn them prestige. Some commentators regard these pig manag ement arrangements as an aspect of exploitative gender relations, men appro priating the labor of women to bolster their reputations. But this interpre tation is contrary to the constitution of an acephalous social order, which esteems equality and affords both women and men political freedom. An inve stigation of pig ownership and production challenges the exploitation hypot hesis. Both women and men have rights in animals which all recognize. And t he labor and energy put into pig herding do not suggest exploitation. Indee d, labor arrangements and expenditure cast production in an intriguing ligh t. In some critical senses they obfuscate its existence, not to hide exploi tation from the hapless exploited but to nullify the possibility as pertine nt to an acephalous polity. The production of gifts in this tribal context is radically different from the production of commodities for a market wher e notions of exploitation may apply. (Papua New Guinea, pigs, gender, labor , property).