Guinea Highlands Societies Research Articles

Wives and Wanderers in a New Guinea Highlands Society: Women's Lives in the Waghi Valley by Marie Olive Reay. Francesca Merlan, ed. Canberra: Australian National University Press, 2014. 202 pp.

Wives and Wanderers in a New Guinea Highlands Society: Women's Lives in the Waghi Valley by Marie Olive Reay. Francesca Merlan, ed. Canberra: Australian National University Press, 2014. 202 pp.

Sickness and Frustration: Variations in Two New Guinea Highlands Societies

Sickness and Frustration: Variations in Two New Guinea Highlands Societies

BETRAYAL: THE CASE OF THE NEW GUINEA BARUYA

This article is situated within the discussion started in 1962 by John Barnes, whose observations on the fluidity of social organization in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea raised the question, what binds together a certain number of individuals belonging to distinct kinship groups? Is it defense of a common territory? Is it participation in initiation rituals which institute a general order between genders and between generations? Or is it, as in the Big‐men societies, participation in cycles of ceremonial exchanges which involve all the local groups of a same region?These questions have been discussed by various authors: De Lepervanche (1967–8), A. Strathern (1968, 1970), and Feil (1981, 1984) to mention just a few.The fabric of Baruya society is generated by two principles: direct exchange of women and an elaborate system of male and female initiations. The Baruya share the same culture and the same language with their neighbours and enemies, but they distinguish and define themselves by claiming a common territory conquered at the expense of local groups and by the fact that their women circulate primarily between kinship groups residing on this territory. However, from time to time these two principles are transgressed by individuals or segments of lineages who betray their kinship or tribal solidarities, generating situations which reshape the internal composition of the Baruya tribe and its relationships with its neighbours. I intend by analysing the mechanisms of these betrayals to throw some light on this key‐moment in the dynamics of New Guinea Highlands societies.

Incest and the Atom of Kinship: The Role of the Mother's Brother in a New Guinea Highlands Society

EthosVolume 15, Issue 2 p. 166-202 Free Access Incest and the Atom of Kinship: The Role of the Mother's Brother in a New Guinea Highlands Society GILLIAN GILLISON, GILLIAN GILLISON GILLIAN GILLISON is an anthropologist residing in New York.Search for more papers by this author GILLIAN GILLISON, GILLIAN GILLISON GILLIAN GILLISON is an anthropologist residing in New York.Search for more papers by this author First published: June 1987 https://doi.org/10.1525/eth.1987.15.2.02a00020Citations: 11 AboutPDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume15, Issue2June 1987Pages 166-202 ReferencesRelatedInformation

Book reviews

Ideological divisions over South Africa Class and Colour in South Africa 1850–1950. Jack and Ray Simons, London: International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa. 1983. 625pp. £5.00 Change in South Africa: Blind Alleys or New Directions? Christopher R Hill, London: Rex Collings. 1983. 207pp. £12.50 Kampuchean crisis Peasants and Politics in Kampuchea, 1942–1981. Edited by Ben Kiernan and Chantou Boua, London: Zed Press. 1982. 401pp. £16.95. £6.95pb Kampuchea: Decade of the Genocide. Edited by Kimmo Kiljunen, London: Zed Press. 1984. 126pp. £14.95. £5.95pb Promoting Third World Agriculture: Lessons of Recent Experience. Christopher D Gerrard, Ottawa, Canada: North‐South Institute. 1983. 64pp. $6.00pb Trade in Services: A Case For Open Markets. Jonathan David Aronson and Peter F Cowhey, Washington DC: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. 1984. 46pp. The Sociology of the Third World: Disparity and Development. J E Goldthorpe, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1984. 320pp. £22.50. £8.95pb Down to Business: Multinational Corporations, the Environment and Development. Charles S Pearson, New York: World Resources Institute. 1985. 108pp. $3.50pb Migration Surveys in Low‐Income Countries: Guidelines for Survey and Questionnaire Design. R E Bilsborrow, A S Oberai and G Standing, London: Croom Helm (for the International Labour Organisation). 1984. 552pp. £14.95 The Standard of ‘Civilisation’ in International Society. Gerrit W Gong, Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1984. 267pp. £19.50 Habib Bourguiba, Islam and the Creation of Tunisia. Norma Salem, London: Croom Helm. 1984. 270pp. £16.95 The Story of an African Working Class: Ghanaian Miners' Struggles 1870–1980. Jeff Crisp, London: Zed Books. 1984. 200pp. £16.95. £6.50pb A Peace in Southern Africa: The Lancaster House Conference on Rhodesia. Jeffrey Davidow, London: Bowker Publications. 1984. 143pp. £15.50 Urbanization in Kenya. A Bottom‐up Approach to Development Planning. R A Obudho, London: University Press of America. 1983. 400pp. £15.50pb In Defence of Canada. Indochina: Roots of Complicity. James Eayrs, Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 1983. 348pp. $45.00. $17.50pb Regional Security in the Middle East. Edited by Charles Tripp, Aldershot, England: Gower (for the International Institute for Strategic Studies). 1984. 182pp. £12.50 The Two Yemens. Robin Bidwell, London: Longman. 1983. 350pp. £15.95 The Struggle for South Yemen. Joseph Kostiner, London: Croom Helm. 1984. 195pp. £14.95 The British Empire in the Middle East 1945–1951: Arab Nationalism, the United States and Post‐War Imperialism. William Roger Louis, Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1984. 803pp. £45.00 Communication Policy and Planning in Singapore. Eddie C Y Kuo and Peter S J Chen, London: Kegan Paul International (in association with the East‐West Communication Institute). 1983. 111pp. £9.95pb Dependent Development and Industrial Order: An Asian Case Study. Frederic C Deyo, New York: Praeger. 1981. 138pp. £13.00 Basic Needs and the Urban Poor. P J Richards and A M Thompson, London: Croom Helm. 1984. 276pp. £14.95 Pricing, Planning and Politics: A Study of Economic Distortions in India. Subroto Roy, London: Institute of Economic Affairs. 1984. 36pp. £1.80pb Micronationalist Movements in Papua New Guinea. Edited by R J May, Canberra: Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University. 1982. 487pp. np Inequality in New Guinea Highlands Societies. Edited by Andrew Strathern, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1982. 190pp. £19.50 West Papua: The Obliteration of a People. TAPOL, London: TAPOL. 1983. 114pp. £2.50pb Non‐Jewish Zionism: Its Roots in Western History. Regina Sharif, London: Zed Press. 1983. 152pp. £11.95. £5.50pb The Conflict of Tribe and State in Iran and Afghanistan. Edited by Richard Tapper, London: Croom Helm. 1983. 463pp. £19.95 The Great Game: Rivalry in the Persian Gulf and South Asia. Edited by Alvin Z Rubinstein, New York: Praeger. 1983. 275pp. np Unions and Politics in Mexico: The Case of the Automobile Industry. Ian Roxborough, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1984. 209pp. £22.50 Economic Integration among Unequal Partners: The Case of the Andean Group. Alicia Puyana de Palacios, Oxford: Pergamon (in association with the Centro de Estudios Económicos y Sociales del Tercer Mundo—CESTEEM). 1982. 405pp. np Nicaragua: la difficulté d'être libre. Alain Gandolfi, Paris: Editions Karthala. 1983. 264pp. np Des prêtres au gouvernment: L'expérience du Nicaragua. Teofilo Cabestrero, Paris: Editions Karthala. 1983. 133pp. np Global Development: Issues and Choices. Edited by Khadija Haq, Washington DC: North‐South Roundtable of the Society for International Development. 1983. 231pp. np Crisis of the 1980s: World Monetary, Financial and Human Resources Development Issues. Edited by Khadija Haq, Washington DC: North‐South Roundtable. 1984. 317pp. np Crisis in Economic Relations between North and South. Edited by Norman Schofield, Aldershot, England: Gower. 1984. 439pp. £18.50

Chiefs without chiefdoms? Comments on prehistoric sociopolitical organization in western Melanesia

Brookfield, H. and Brown, P. 1963. Struggle for Land. Melbourne University Press. Burton, J. 1984. Axe makers of the Wahgi. Unpublished PhD Thesis, Australian National University. Golson, J. 1982. The Ipomean revolution revisited: Society and the sweet potato in the upper Wahgi valley. In A. Strathern (ed.), Inequality in New Guinea Highlands Societies, pp. 109-136. Cambridge University Press. Gorecki, P. P. 1982. Ethnoarchaeology at Kuk: problems in site formation processes. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Sydney. Hayden, B. and Cannon, Α. 1984. The structure of material systems: ethnoarchaeology in the Maya highlands. Society for American Archaeology, SAA Papers 3. Hughes, I. M. 1977. New Guinea stone age trade. Terra Australia 3. Lampe rt, R. J. 1972. Hagen Axes. Manuscript, Department of Prehistory, Australian National University. Lightfoot, K. G. and Feinman, G. M. 1982. Social differentiation and leadership development in early pithouse villages in the Mogollon region of the American Southwest. American Antiquity 47, 64-86. Modjeska, C. N. 1977. Production among the Duna. Unpublished PhD thesis, Australian National University. Modjeska, C. N. 1982. Production and inequality: perspectives from central New Guinea. In A. J. Strathern (ed.), Inequality in New Guinea Highlands Societies, pp. 50-108. Cambridge University Press. Strathern, A. J. 1969. Finance and production: two strategies in New Guinea highland exchange systems. Oceania 40, 42-67. Waddell,E. 1972. The Mound Builders. University of Washington Press. White, J. P. and Modjeska, C. N. 1978a. Where do all the stone tools go? In I. Hodder (ed.), The spatial organisation of culture, pp. 25-38. Duckworth, London. White, J. P. and Modjeska, C. N. 1978b. Acquirers, users, finders, losers: the use axe blades make of the Duna. Mankind 11, 276-287. Yoffee, N. 1979. The decline and rise of Mesopotamian civilization: an ethnoarchaeological perspective on the evolution of social complexity. American Antiquity 44, 5-35.

Inequality in New Guinea Highlands Societies. ANDREW STRATHERN, ed

<i>Inequality in New Guinea Highlands Societies.</i> ANDREW STRATHERN, ed

Inequality in New Guinea Highlands Societies. Andrew Strathern

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook Reviews and NotesInequality in New Guinea Highlands Societies. Andrew Strathern James F. WeinerJames F. Weiner Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of Anthropological Research Volume 40, Number 4Winter, 1984 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/jar.40.4.3629803 Views: 2Total views on this site Copyright 1984 The University of New MexicoPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

: Inequality in New Guinea Highlands Societies . Andrew Strathern.

American AnthropologistVolume 86, Issue 1 p. 220-221 Free Access Cultural/Ethnology: Inequality in New Guinea Highlands Societies. Andrew Strathern Richard Scaglion, Richard Scaglion University of PittsburghSearch for more papers by this author Richard Scaglion, Richard Scaglion University of PittsburghSearch for more papers by this author First published: March 1984 https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1984.86.1.02a00730AboutPDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL No abstract is available for this article. Volume86, Issue1March 1984Pages 220-221 RelatedInformation

Inequality in New Guinea Highlands Societies.

1. Social hierarchies among the Baruya of New Guinea Maurice Godelier 2. Two waves of African models in the New Guinea Highlands Andrew Strathern 3. Production and inequality: perspectives from central New Guinea Nicholas Modjeska 4. The Ipomoean revolution revisited: society and the sweet potato in the upper Wahgi valley Jack Golson 5. Tribesmen or peasants? Andrew Strathern.

Ndumba Folk Biology and General Principles of Ethnobotanical Classification and Nomenclature

Brent Berlin's proposed “general principles of classification and nomenclature” are examined as they apply to folk biology in Ndumba, a Papua New Guinea highlands society. Focusing on Ndumba folk zoology, supplemented with a previous analysis of their folk botany, Berlin's analytical schema for ethnobiological classification is supported, but principles of nomenclature in ethnobiology appear to be in need of reconsideration. [ethnosemantics, folk biology, language universals, Papua New Guinea]

Inequality in New Guinea Highlands Societies.

Inequality in New Guinea Highlands Societies.

Plant Classification and Nomenclature in Ndumba, Papua New Guinea Highlands

Traditionally, the terms and have designated little more than the study of plant and animal utilization. In the past two decades, however, the ways in which the components of given biological environments are locally perceived and categorized have received increasing attention. Not only has the study of ethnobiological classification been recognized as essential to a wide variety of ethnographic concerns (cf. Frake I+2; Bulmer I967), but the discovery of possible universals in folk classification systems promises to enrich our understanding of human cognitive processes as well (Berlin et al. I973; Brown I977). The paucity of comprehensive studies of particular ethnobiological classification systems, however, has meant that generalizations have necessarily been based largely on a few well-described cases, most notably Hanunoo ethnobotany (Conklin I954), Kalam ethnozoology (Bulmer I967, I974) and Tzeltal Maya ethnobotany (Berlin et al. I974) and ethnozoology (Hunn I977). This paper provides an outline of the folk classification of plants in Ndumba, a New Guinea Highlands society. It is intended as a contribution to the ethnographic literature from a region in which ethnobotanical research has concentrated almost exclusively on plant utilization and related issues.2 Aside from its possible value to regional specialists, this description allows a critical assessment of ethnobiological proposed 'tuniversals, especially those by Berlin and his colleagues (Berlin et al. I973; Berlin I976). Following a brief sketch of the environment and culture of Ndumba, I will describe the more formal aspects of their view of the plant world following Berlin's suggested terminology and typologies to facilitate such an assessment. It will be seen that Ndumba plant classification deviates from Berlin's proposed general principles in a few particulars that are, for the most part, proba61y explainable in terms of the dynamic properties of classification systems.

Male Pregnancy and the Reduction of Sexual Opposition in a New Guinea Highlands Society

Male Pregnancy and the Reduction of Sexual Opposition in a New Guinea Highlands Society

Conflict of Laws in a New Guinea Highlands Society

Conflict of Laws in a New Guinea Highlands Society

Male Initiation in New Guinea Highlands Societies

Male Initiation in New Guinea Highlands Societies

Stone Axes and Flake Tools: Evaluations from Two New Guinea Highlands Societies

When Europeans entered the New Guinea Highlands in the 1930s, they discovered peoples using two main kinds of stone implements—polished axes and simple flake tools. The prominence of the axe has been well documented (S. Buhner, 1964; R. and S. Bulmer, 1964; Salisbury, 1962; Tischner, 1939; Vial, 1940 et al.). Crucial to subsistence, it was also used widely in exchanges and payments of all kinds and had a value as a ceremonial object. This seems to have been the case throughout the Highlands. Nevertheless, there were probably variations in the precise range of uses to which the axe was put, and consequently in its ‘value’. This comment is prompted by a consideration of two societies—Hagen in the Western Highlands and Wiru in the Southern Highlands Districts—whose traditional evaluations of the stone axe seem to have had differing emphases. In the past the axe was probably less important as a ceremonial object to the Wiru than it was to the Hageners, and its use as a tool more limited. The situation seems to have been correspondingly reversed in the case of the flake tool, however, which had generally more importance in Wiru.

A Formal Analysis of Substantive Law: Kapauku Papuan Laws of Land Tenure1

IN ANY society legal rules concerned with land tenure are most important, after laws of inheritance, with respect to social structure. Despite this importance, and in spite of several outstanding accounts of land tenure in particular societies, contributions to a legal theory of land tenure have not been entirely satisfactory. It seems to me, for present at least, and contrary to opinion of Herskovits (1960:350), that problem lies more in lack of a precise, formal, and cross-culturally applicable comparative method than it does in any absence of philosophical considerations. In this article this methodological problem is investigated through an application of various methods of formal analysis drawn from fields of ethnoscience and linguistics, and there is proposed a type of analysis, with cross-cultural applicability and comparative significance, that is expected to permit an exact inquiry. To demonstrate use and merits of various methods I shall apply them to Kapauku Papuan laws of land tenure. This West New Guinea Highlands society was selected because I possess a firsthand and reasonably full account of their law, and because laws of land tenure of these Papuans are sufficiently complex and conceptualized to serve purpose. It must be emphasized that this analysis pertains only to Kapauku ideal land tenure, abstract rules which are mental property of most adult males. A few general remarks concerning these rules follow. First, actual behavior of Kapauku is generally consonant with their ideal abstract rules, and those decisions over disputed cases which I have collected show a remarkable conformity to ideal. Second, Kapauku rules of land tenure contradict Herskovits' generalization about Melanesian communities that they admit ownership of produce rather than of garden where it is grown (1960:358). Kapauku rules clearly refer to land which is owned individually and may be sold, leased for shell money, or loaned by owner. Consequently, contrary to Herskovits (1949:283), title to Kapauku land does not rest on its use. Third, since Kapauku legal rules against trespass apply not only to gardens but also to fallow land (grass land and secondary forest) as well as to partly exploited virgin forest, brooks, and small lakes, they contradict Herskovits' generalization that the recognition of trespass as an offense thereupon merely becomes evidence of a recognition of right to own crops (1960:358). Fourth, Kapauku rules of land tenure cannot be classified easily as belong-

Cultures of the Central Highlands, New Guinea

Cultures of the Central Highlands, New Guinea