Christianity, Gender and the dynamics of Community beyond the State. A study of urban Christian movements in Vanuatu

This project compares the dynamics between church and kastom on the island of Ambrym (on which my doctoral work is based) to new developments in the urban centres where Pentecostal churches are experiencing great success in gaining new members. In my Ambr ym study I analysed church and 'kastom' as gendered movements; the latter evolving on a male, hirarchical structure and the former on a lateral, female structure. I aim to investigate whether the new church movenents in town also can be said to be gendere d, and if so, I ask what it is gendered in contrast to. If the church represents a new urban female movement, what are the male arenas? I suggest that party politics might be compared to the graded soceity of the past on Ambrym, and inspite of very differ ent structural condition, both the graded society and the party politcs create different sort of big men.