Catholicism and Women’s Work in a Micronesian Society

Catholicism, like most world religions, is patriarchal, and its official hierarchies and sacred works too often neglect the lived experiences of women. In Mary, the Devil, and Taro: Catholicism and Women’s Work in a Micronesian Society, Julianna Flinn looks beyond these texts and reveals how women practice, interpret, and shape their own Catholicism on Pollap Atoll, part of Chuuk State in the Federated States of Micronesia. She focuses in particular on how the Pollapese shaping of Mary places value on indigenous notions of mothering that connote strength, active participation in food production, and the ability to provide for one’s family.

January 2010 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3374-9 / $47.00 (CLOTH)