Survivor

In this collection of three powerful stories, Daniel Kumbon addresses the role of women in Papua New Guinea, a role that has come under immense pressure as a result of profound social change. The immediate cause of this had little to do with women themselves but followed the disintegration of the acculturation of young men to a robust and ethical regime of tribal and clan behaviour. As men's traditional positions of warrior and hunter declined in the face of modernity, so did much of their self-esteem and optimism. Papua New Guinea's women continue to bear much of the brunt of this dysfunctional change.