Abstract
In the Papua New Guinea Highlands, pigs are highly valued and widely exchanged in transactions in which those who excel earn high esteem. It appears that men of high exchange-derived standing have some edge over their rivals in pig production. One advantage could be access to better-situated and more fertile garden sites. This paper reports on a comparison of garden location and soil fertility with gardener's social status, among the Wola people of the Southern Highlands Province. Site characteristics assessed include altitude, aspect, slope, surface topography, and previous natural vegetation, and soil factors include topsoil color and depth, horizon sequence, pH, N, P, and K status. Comparison of these environmental factors with social status, assessed according to ol howma 'bigman' standing, reveals no correlations between them, nor does comparison with other differences in men's social standing--their ages and semgenk kin-group affiliation--suggest any connection. It appears that differential access to female labor, not natural resources, underpins some men's capability to handle larger numbers of pigs than others. This has significant implications for the acephalous political order of the Wola.
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