This study will investigate the impact of male labor migration to distant gold and copper mines on social relations in the Oksobip region of Papua New Guinea. The researcher will look at the effect of the decline of male particiation in local economic, social and religious activities and the resulting increase in female participation in public spheres in Min society. The anthropological literature on New Guinea has traditionally emphasized religion and symbolic analyses. Lacking have been analyses of social relations and social roles in situations of social, economic, and demographic change. This study will fill an important gap in ethnography as well as help us understand the processes of extensive, gender-specific migration that are occurring around the world.
