Paper short abstract:

I examine Anglican Sisters’ narratives of entrance to and permanence in Sisterhoods to analyse how the Sisters negotiate cultural contradictions resulting from belonging to a Sisterhood, focusing particularly on dimensions of kinship and marriage. They Sisters' shelter was funded by New Zealand Aid in 1998.

Paper long abstract:

The first shelter for abused women and children in the Solomon Islands is run by the two Sisterhoods of the Anglican Church of Melanesia: the Sisters of the Church and the Sisters of Melanesia. The shelter was funded by New Zealand Aid in 1998 and it opened its doors to the public in 2004. The Sisters are not only in contact with international aid organisations through their work at the shelter, one of the Sisterhoods (the Sisters of the Church) is an international organisation operating in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. Furthermore, the Anglican Church of Melanesia belongs to the Anglican Communion. The Solomon Islands Sisterhoods are entirely operated by indigenous women, yet these women's everyday experiences as Sisters are determined by these international organisations which, in different ways, pursue developmental aims. In contrast to other women in the Solomon Islands, the Sisters do not marry and do not have children of their own. This means that they can care for people to whom they are not related, and in so doing fulfil their Sisterhoods' religious Ministry of caring for families. In this paper I examine the Sisters' narratives of entrance to and permanence in the Sisterhoods, which allow me to analyse how the Sisters negotiate cultural contradictions resulting from belonging to a Sisterhood, focusing particularly on dimensions of kinship and marriage. The negotiation of these contradictions ultimately allows the Sisters to work as single women in the shelter.