Highland New Research Articles

Demographic and endocrinological aspects of low natural fertility in Highland New Guinea.

SummaryThe Gainj of highland Papua New Guinea do not use contraception but have a total fertility rate of only 4·3 live births per woman, one of the lowest ever recorded in a natural fertility setting. From an analysis of cross-sectional demographic and endocrinological data, the causes of low reproductive output have been identified in women of this population as: late menarche and marriage, a long interval between marriage and first birth, a high probability of widowhood at later reproductive ages, low effective fecundability and prolonged lactational amenorrhoea. These are combined with near-universal marriage, a low prevalence of primary sterility and a pattern of onset of secondary sterility similar to that found in other populations. Of all the factors limiting fertility, by far the most important are those involved in birth spacing, especially lactational amenorrhoea.

Kin selection and culture

Social kinship is not equivalent to genetic relatedness, and it is social kinship that organizes much of human action. The soundness of this generalization does not imply that the theory of kin selection developed in evolutionary biology is inapplicable to culture. This paper uses data from Binumarien, a small Highland New Guinea community, to test a prediction from kin selection and to illustrate the use of sociobiological perspectives to explain culture, not explain it away. [culture and biology, kinship, inclusive fitness, social organization, sociobiology, Highland New Guinea]

The population fallacy

The post-Enlightenment ideology Polanyi called "naturalism" is perpetuated by the cultural ecologists and ecological anthropol? ogists. Whereas population taken as a "prime mover" in social evolution has been soundly criticized, it has generally not been recognized that population is a notion inadequate for syn chronic analysis of social systems. Population represents a unit of analysis integral to what Diamond identified as "mechanical material? ism" [ 1 ]. Closely connected to this problem are cybernetics-derived descriptions of human societies. Although these "closed systems" models have been acknowledged as inadequate for diachronic explanation (of social morpho? genesis), the problems they present for syn chronic analysis still require critical discussion. Since they are both indicative of oversimplifi? cation (or reductionism), I will illustrate these twin problems with reference to the Tsembaga society of highland New Guinea.

Blood and Semen: Kinship Systems of Highland New Guinea

Blood and Semen: Kinship Systems of Highland New Guinea

The genetic demography of the Gainj of Papua New Guinea. I. Local differentiation of blood group, red cell enzyme, and serum protein allele frequencies

Allele frequencies are reported for 19 blood group, red cell enzyme, and serum protein loci (ABO, Rh, MN, Hb-A, LDH-A, LDH-B, SOD, PGM-1, PGM-2, 6PGD, GPT, ESD, ADA, ACP, PGK, MDH, Alb, Hp, and Tf) determined from 310 blood samples collected among the Gainj, a small population of tribal horticulturalists from highland Papua New Guniea. Fourteen of these loci display genetic variants, and ten of them are sufficiently polymorphic to permit a preliminary analysis of Gainj population structure. Patterns of variation among subdivisions of the population are analyzed using an approach analogous to a multivariate analysis of variance with unbalanced design, and weighted genetic distances are extracted from the results. The distance analysis indicates that patterns of genetic variation within this population reflect the geographical distribution of subdivisions, as well as subdivision size and movement among subdivisions. A parallel analysis of the Gainj and two other tribal groups from highland New Guinea, the Murapin Enga and the Simbai Valley Maring, suggests that the Gainj are both genetically divergent from neighboring populations and internally highly differentiated.

Cosmology and Economy among the Mating of Highland New Guinea1

OceaniaVolume 51, Issue 4 p. 266-285 Article Cosmology and Economy among the Mating of Highland New Guinea1 Edward LiPuma, Edward LiPuma University of Chicago.Search for more papers by this author Edward LiPuma, Edward LiPuma University of Chicago.Search for more papers by this author First published: June 1981 https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1834-4461.1981.tb01471.xCitations: 2 †† I collected my field material in 1974 among the Tuguma Maring of the Simbai Valley. I would like to thank Marshall Sahlins, Roy Rappaport, Raymond Smith, Ben Lee, Cynthia Truant, and Margaret O'Dell for their comments on various drafts of the paper. In particular, however, I express my gratitude to Cherry Lowman, whose comments and selfless sharing of field data were of immeasurable value, and to Georgeda Buchbinder, under whose auspices the research was conducted. AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport 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 Volume51, Issue4June 1981Pages 266-285 RelatedInformation

The Gender of Crops in the Papua New Guinea Highlands

An intriguing aspect of crop cultivation among the Wola highlanders of Papua New Guinea is their division of these plants into male and female categories. For them there are some crops which only men may plant and tend, and there are others which only women can cultivate, plus a third category which members of either sex may cultivate. This gender division of crops is found in other Highland New Guinea societies too; it occurs, for instance, among the Melpa (Powell, et gzl. I975:I4), the Maring (Rappaport I968:43, Clarke I97I:I24), the Kapauku (Pospisil I963:I46), and the Enga (Waddell I972:5I). It is noteworthy that these people tend to put the same crops into their male and female categories; such that sugar cane, bananas, and yams are male, while sweet potato, cucurbits, and certain greens are female. The pattern is not entirely consistent, however. Sometimes the same crop is classified as male by some and female by others; for example, taro is a male crop for the Melpa but a female one for the Kapauku. Why do the Wola, and by extension other people throughout the Highlands of New Guinea, categorize their crops in this way? When asked this question the Wola themselves are unable to give an answer. They simply say that this is the way their ancestors did things and so tradition dictates that they should do it. This kind of reply is all too familiar to anthropologists. Is it possible for us to go further and suggest a deeper explanation?

Alterations in Pulmonary Function Following Respiratory Viral Infection

Respiratory viral illness is a major cause of morbidity in both adults and children. This report focuses on both the acute and chronic effects on respiratory function of these ubiquitous infections. Infant airways are particularly vulnerable due to the relatively low conductance in immature peripheral airways. Bronchiolitis, caused predominantly by respiratory syncytial virus, is the most important of these viral illnesses and is emerging as a major risk factor for the subsequent development of obstructive airway disease in adults, possibly by interference with normal alveolar proliferation. The basic pathogenic mechanism involved in adult respiratory viral infection is bronchial hyperreactivity, presumably secondary to epithelial damage and resultant sensitization of rapidly adapting airway receptors. In addition, there may be virus-related alterations in the autonomic and humoral regulation of airway tone. Viral infections may alter the effects of common air pollutants on respiratory function.

Late Quaternary ice age climates of tropical Australasia: Interpretations and reconstructions

Paleoecological and paleogeographical evidence is used to mold a framework from which the basic parameters of the late Quaternary glacial-age climate of tropical Australasia can be inferred. The theory of physical circulations, a knowledge of present tropical circulation patterns, and a study of anomalous and extreme events in the present era are used to reemphasize the view of a less pluvial tropical and subtropical zone at that time. Cooler sea-surface temperature, cooler trades, and the effect of the then exposed land areas are indicated as instrumental in producing drier conditions. Tropical areas west of Cape York Peninsula and Torres Strait were subject to fewer tropical disturbances and were similar to the present tropical savannah of the northern interior of Australia. Such effects would exist even without shifts in major climatic zones, although they are shown to be consistent with an equatorward shift of the westerlies brought about by the increased pole to equator temperature gradient. Paleoenvironmental evidence from the New Guinea Highlands and southeastern Australia suggests that their climates were anomalous. Substantial data of the glacial period in New Guinea show snow lines to be 1000 to 1500 m lower than at present which matches a 6 to 8°C lowering of temperature in highland New Guinea. The deep-sea cores of the CLIMAP Project suggest a mere 2°C cooling of the surrounding tropical oceans. It is shown that it is highly unlikely that an upper-level decrease in temperature of 6 to 8°C could be maintained while the surface cools by only 2°C. It is suggested that either the temperature of the tropical oceans of the western Pacific were overestimated by CLIMAP or that cold air incursions from higher latitudes (for which some analogs exist today) were sufficiently frequent to allow the maintenance of a snow line well below the freezing level of the ancient ambient tropical atmosphere. It is shown that in southeastern Australia considerable evidence of aridity cannot be explained by merely displacing the westerlies more equatorward. To account for the aridity, a new circulation pattern is proposed. Noting that there is CLIMAP evidence of preferred equatorward extension of sea ice, a pattern is postulated that displays only small seasonal change and is characterized by an enhanced Indian Ocean trough, marked ridging at eastern Australian longitudes, and a further trough in the western Tasman. Such a basic flow is consistent with (i) a low rainfall over southeastern Australia, (ii) frequent cold outbreak conditions favorable for the maintenance of the New Guinea glaciers, and (iii) considerable precipitation to nourish the ice caps of Tasmania and the Australian and New Zeland Alps.

Characteristics of the Papua New Guinean dentition. I. Shovel‐shaped incisors and canines associated with lingual tubercles

The prevalence of shovel-shaped and lingual tubercles in maxillary incisors and canines in four groups of people in Papua New Guinea is reported. The shovel shape was not common among the people of Highland New Guinea but its presence in Papuans was comparable with that in Mongoloid races.

War and Peace in Jalemo: The Management of Conflict in Highland New Guinea.

War and Peace in Jalemo: The Management of Conflict in Highland New Guinea.

War and Peace in Jalemo: The Management of Conflict in Highland New Guinea

War and Peace in Jalemo: The Management of Conflict in Highland New Guinea

A graph theoretic approach to the analysis of alliance structure and local grouping in highland New Guinea

Abstract This paper focuses on a set of structural properties which characterize the Gahuku‐Gama, a social and cultural unit in the Eastern Central Highlands of New Guinea. Gahuku‐Gama “society” has been described as a finite network, the members of which are social groups connected by bonds of traditional warfare and alliance. The aims of the paper are (1) to formalize some ordinary English terms which have been applied to this system; (2) to elucidate these properties through the application of graph theoretic concepts and theorems; (3) to use certain of these theorems in the prediction of empirical facts of local grouping; and (4) to suggest that this approach could usefully be adopted in relation to similar sociocultural systems in Highland New Guinea and elsewhere.

Society as Organized Flow: The Tairora Case

Of roughly twenty years' standing, the analysis of Central Highland New Guinea social systems remains inconclusive. Problematical features basic to these (and perhaps other) social systems have received descriptive cachets like "looseness," "openness," and "flexibility," suggestive of regional peculiarity--even anomaly--but bereft of explanatory value. The significance of intermittent, major realignment of local groups through migration tends to be overlooked. Conventional analytical perspectives of group composition, marriage, descent, and residence stress the statics of groups-on-the-ground. The present paper by contrast emphasizes the organized flow of personnel in space and time. As a case in point, the magnitude of migration en bloc in Tairora society is estimated and a migration-recruitment model outlined. Several theoretical problems arising from this view of Tairora society are listed, and one of them, the recurrent fission of kinsmen and the recruitment of outsiders, is examined for some of its wider implications.

The chimbu political system

Abstract The current Chimbu pattern is one of dispersed settlement and land‐holding, easy individual mobility and tolerance of divided loyalties, especially within the tribe. Structurally, this is a segmentary system in the form of a patrilineal mechanical model, but genealogies show many inconsistencies. Taking war or hostility to strangers as a pervasive feature of highland New Guinea, this paper sees group cohesion as resting on intergroup rivalry and a common interest in self‐protection. Two kinds of leadership are indicated (war‐leaders, and ‘managers'), both lacking in continuity. A table lists the main units in 13 New Guinea Highland societies.

PERMANENT BACHELORHOOD IN THE UPPER KAUGEL VALLEY OF HIGHLAND NEW GUINEA

MUCH has been said and written about the disorder and irregularity of social life (Barnes, 1962, 9) among Highland New Guinea peoples as compared to the situation in some other societies which, superficially, have somewhat similar social systems. However, Barnes himself mentions that, in fact, among some Highlands groups notably the Mae Enga patterns in social processes appear to be more regular. The Mae Enga may not be unique in Highland New Guinea. It is likely that in studying some other Highlands peoples, one may be able to discern (a) cultural rules governing membership and participation in the social units, and (b) ecological factors, the plotting of which will enhance one's success in detecting regularities in social phenomena.

Cultures of the Central Highlands, New Guinea

Cultures of the Central Highlands, New Guinea