Agency amongst the entrepôts: Negotiating exchange associations between Motu hiri and Mailu seafaring exchange networks at Hood Bay on Papua New Guinea’s south coast

Abstract

The exchange of specialized items and the social connections those exchanges engender play a fundamental role in the trajectories of societal relations. Processual archaeologists developed a core–periphery model to understand how these exchange relations work. The model evoked complex societal “cores” and “peripheries” at societal edges where exchanges with other cultures take place. The rigidity of core–periphery modeling led to the emergence of more nuanced network analyses to explain the qualitative as well as quantitative dimensions of cultural exchange. Yet contemporary models still focus on the agency of societal cores as central places. The agency and experiences of communities negotiating connections between exchange networks have gained little attention. In this study, we address this knowledge gap by exploring how the people of Hood Bay on Papua New Guinea’s south coast negotiated their position between the famed Motu hiri and Mailu seafaring exchange networks. Drawing on archaeological, ethnographic, and historical data, we examine how Hood Bay communities maintained and altered dynamic regional exchange associations through time. By highlighting the agency of communities living between exchange networks, this study contributes to understandings of the complex negotiation and organizing of exchange relations between cultures.