ABSTRACT
Based on an ethnographic study of daily kinship practices, this chapter provides insights into domestic violence in Kiriwina, Papua New Guinea. By looking at quarrels, corporal punishments, and magical attacks, it tests the relevance of the ‘intrafamily violence’ category for the Kiriwinian context. Describing the practical functioning of ‘the family’ and specifying the places and objects of conflicts between relatives, it reveals that most tensions have economic or political stakes. The analysis of corporal punishment allows for the re-evaluation of the definition of violence as physical assault, as Kiriwinians have no negative perception of pain and of the use of physical force. Corporal punishment is part of the continuity of the care and educational relationship that bonds children with their caregivers. Finally, analysing magical attacks as a form of intrafamily violence sheds light on the emic discourse about family violence, which is formulated around the notions of jealousy, generosity, and greediness.
