Melanesian Societies Research Articles

Understanding ‘resource’ conflicts in Papua New Guinea

Abstract: Papua New Guinea, with its heavy dependence on natural resources, limited economic development in the past two decades, poor record of governance and high‐profile separatist conflicts such as the Bougainville civil war, appears to be an exemplar of the ‘Resource Curse’ theory – the notion that natural resources actively undermine economic development. Using a number of examples from a range of scales, this paper argues that what appear to be ‘resource’ conflicts in Papua New Guinea are actually better conceived as conflicts around identity and social relationships. The very different conceptualisation of natural resources in most Melanesian societies – as elements of the social world as much as any external environmental sphere – means that resources become a conduit for local social and political agendas and tensions to be expressed. The nature of traditional conflict in Melanesian societies is discussed as a guide to the better management and resolution of what appear to be ‘resource’ conflicts in Papua New Guinea.

Speaking Only Your Own Mind: Reflections on Talk, Gossip and Intentionality in Bosavi (PNG)

The ability to imagine privately what might be in or on someone else's mind is a capacity that we assume is panhuman, something children learn to do in culturally specific ways through participation in social interaction. Without theories of intentionality and desire, and knowledge of how they are locally and conventionally displayed and made meaningful, we would be unable to make sense of what is going on. In many Melanesian societies and beyond,1 the avoidance of verbally speculating about the intentions, motives, and internal states of others has been reported. This has caused some scholars to question the universality of theory of mind, to ask whether theory of mind is innate or socialized,2 and to puzzle over how intersubjectivity is achieved in such communities. My research on language socialization in Bosavi in the 1970s, as well as the ethnographic accounts of others, suggest that this dispreference for verbal speculation about others' intentions and internal states is not idiosyncratic or isolated, but linked to other cultural and linguistic practices and ideologies that directly bear on local notions of personhood and sociality. Besnier (1993:166-67) for example, writes that Nukulaelae (Tuvalu) thoughts are almost exclusively self-reported; they avoid interpreting one another's linguistic and nonlinguistic behavior and are wary of voicing conjectures, interpretations, and inferences from observable facts. Only children, adolescents and gossipers engage in such asocial and irresponsible behavior. McKellin (1990:336) states that the Managalase avoid open displays or discussions of individuals' supposed intentions and recognize that individuals' thoughts are often illusive, ambiguous, and imperfectly understood by others....Although people privately gossip about others' activities, they hesitate to assign motives and control others' actions directly. Other scholars working in Papua New Guinea report similar findings.3 These ethnographic observations raise several critical questions: Are claims that one cannot know what another thinks or feels articulations of folk psychological theories that locate intentions and desires somewhere inside persons, and thus outside the domain of visual evidence, what can be known, verified and talked about by others? What cultural constructions of personhood govern preferences for reporting self and others' intentions and internal states? Are notions of distrust and secrecy pervasive, such that persons are assumed to generally hide their true desires and internal states from others, verbally and otherwise, or are such notions contextually selective? What role does intentionality play in theories of action and/or information, and how does it figure within expectations and assignments of responsibility?4 What are the available verbal resources, e.g., indirection and other metaphoric and figurative varieties of language that speakers use in order to avoid being held accountable should they violate a cultural norm and verbalize someone else's intention? Finally, what is the relationship of shame-which in Bosavi is a powerful means of social control-to gossip and confession? Both involve speaking about ideas or information that someone wishes to conceal, transforming something private into something public. In Bosavi these may be seen as two sides of a coin: persons are expected to speak only what is in their own minds, and expect that they can choose when to do so. While there are many tantalizing claims, few ethnographic accounts provide linguistic, ethnographic, or what Duranti (1994) calls ethnopragmatic analyses that link these practices and attitudes to local language ideologies, speech genres and activities, notions of personhood and evidence, or to ideas about the ownership and exchange of things and ideas, for example, that shape and give meaning to sociality. Nor do we have detailed accounts of how such practices and ideologies are socialized or transformed or lost over time due to different types of linguistic and cultural contact, especially missionization and colonialization. …

Le crépuscule de la Coutume : culture et politique à l'heure du tournant néolibéral dans le Pacifique Sud

<titre>Waning Customs: Culture and Politics with the Advent of The Neoliberal Trend in the South Pacific </titre> The post-September 11,2001 years have been characterized in Melanesia by the direct re-engagement of the former colonial powers (Australia and New Zealand) and by the obligation imposed on the young Oceanic states to implement neoliberal political and economic &#8220;reforms&#8221;. An &#8220;arc of instability&#8221; supposedly stretches from Timor to Fiji, with a string of &#8220;failed states&#8221; of which the dereliction can only be treated by military intervention and the establishment of structural adjustment plans considered as a cure-all. This article sheds light on this turning point in international relations and undertakes to analyze its local repercussions with respect to traditions, in a context in which Melanesian societies and cultures are now regarded with an openly critical eye by the former colonial powers. The decline of ethnocultural nationalisms in the region, enshrined as state ideologies in the aftermath of independence, has a number of parallels with the current situation of biculturalism, a state institution in New Zealand since the 1980s, which is also now in crisis.

The Psychology of Consensus in Melanesia

Consensus is an essential ingredient for conflict resolution, reconciliation, agreement, and peace in Melanesian societies. The psychological aspects of its positive influence in establishing a common ground between conflicting parties have not been explored. From a psycho-cultural perspective, I focus on the positive dynamism of consensus. I provide the Bougainville crisis within Papua New Guinea as a case vignette to illustrate the utility and significance of consensus in the search for concrete principles to unite a ‘disoriented’ world. In doing so, the issue of incorporating indigenous psychological knowledge into mainstream psychology becomes clearer. The article searches for psychological principles germane to reducing conflict and maintaining peace. This kind of utility is exemplified in a case study of achieving consensus in Papua New Guinea.

Conceiving Cultures: Reproducing People and Places on Nuakata, Papua New Guinea (review)

Reviewed by: Conceiving Cultures: Reproducing People and Places on Nuakata, Papua New Guinea Leslie Butt Conceiving Cultures: Reproducing People and Places on Nuakata, Papua New Guinea, by Shelley Mallett. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2003. ISBN 0-472-06828-8; xi + 338 pages, photographs, notes, glossary, references, index. US$24.95. Shelley Mallett's monograph on Nuakatan reproductive beliefs combines ethnographic data with personal introspection about the research process. Mallett suggests other ethnographers assert a scientific neutrality that she claims is not actually felt in the field, and that they dismiss emotional and experiential aspects of research in favor of presenting empirical findings. To counter this trend, Mallett explores the role of her imagination in the fieldwork process, and the role of autobiography in writing ethnography. She opts for making public the processes of introspection and evaluation she went through, refusing to overlook the ways her own assumptions and her experiences, particularly as a woman, contributed to how she gained awareness. The chapters in the ethnography intersperse Mallett's "intersubjective process of coming to knowin the field"(31) with data on topics of pregnancy, birth, and death on Nuakata. She concedes others might label the ethnography "experimental" (x). It is indeed an ambitious enterprise to be both convincing about Nuakata social life and honest about how one comes to make assertions about that life. The first chapter traces Mallett and her husband's arrival on the island of Nuakata, Massim Province, Papua New Guinea, in 1993. In this chapter we learn of Mallett's romanticism [End Page 494] about field research and her trepidation on arriving at her field site. We also learn she stayed for only three days during her initial visit, and then left for two weeks while the community was supposed to build her a house. When Mallett returned to findthe house unbuilt, she lived in anearby church for five weeks while Nuakatans constructed the dwelling. Further, we learn that Mallett had no language training before arriving and remained insecure about conducting an interview in the local language for some time afterward. Chapters two, three, and five explore the domain of childbirth, while at the same time still privileging Mallett's experiences in the field. Mallett admits to romanticizing traditional forms of childbirth but simultaneously acknowledges the potential benefits of biomedical innovations. She was forced to revise some of her assumptions about field research when she learned that the universalism she heretofore privileged—the shared experience of being a woman—was not necessarily how things were viewed on Nuakata and would not automatically open fieldwork doors. Many of Mallett's introspections involve her coming to terms with theories and theoretical assumptions she brought with her into the field. Her acute intelligence makes her an excellent synthesizer of theory, but attimes she overextends this skill to draw conclusions on the basis of thin evidence. For example, she accompanied a health worker on maternal and child health mobile clinic rounds, observing interactions between the health worker and the patient. On the basis of this one observation, Mallett appears confident in making generalizations along the lines of: "[Moses, the health worker,] attempted to convey to women that as a health worker he considered their bodies, particularly their genitalia, as divisible or partible from themselves, their sex/gender, sexuality, sexual desire. Within the clinic space Moses treated maternal or diseased women's bodies as androgynous and partible—as bodies distinct from selves/persons, distinct from other bodies" (96). Mallett integrates theory with data most successfully in chapters three and five, where conceptual queries and insights are interspersed with interview results on conception and childbirth. She makes a valuable contribution to the literature here by questioning the inevitable theoretical focus on bodily substances when describing conception in Melanesian societies. Instead, she shows conception theories to be dynamic and syncretic. In the last chapter, Mallett reports on attending the funeral of a man she did not know; she is wracked with ethical guilt over what she fears was exploitation on her part. Nonetheless, she overcomes these concerns and describes the dynamic formulation of "Nuakatan" beliefs about death. Several concerns arose in this chapter: Why is the informant Wycliffe's way of knowing...

Modern Cows and Exotic Trees: Identity, Personhood, and Exchange among the Iraqw of Tanzania

This article examines forms of and identity among the Iraqw of Tanzania. It explores how ideas of have changed from the precolonial era to the present as the Iraqw have been incorporated into the wider regional, national, and global political economy. Drawing on the literature from Melanesia, it investigates how ideas of the individual versus relational person play out in an African context. It illustrates how Iraqw are, through exchange systems, connected to different communities and social networks, each with different emphases of the person. (Iraqw, East Africa, personhood, modernity) ********** There is a widespread sentiment among the Iraqw of northern Tanzania about the differences between generations today. These differences are often framed in terms of traditional and backward-looking views versus forward thinking and modern. An example appears in the following quote from a young Iraqw man: am a modern person. I don't believe in keeping herds of cattle like my father. That is a waste of time. People who are educated believe in moving forwards. I am planting trees on my land and growing cash crops. These will bring more development than `village' cattle. This difference in mindset accompanies changing views on the nature of in Iraqw communities. Studies of in Africa have benefited from analyses of Melanesian societies, where Strathern's (1988) landmark Gender of the Gif set in motion much fruitful debate about notions of the person. Lambek and Strathern's (1998) collection of cross-fertilization efforts suggests new avenues for investigation in all geographical locales. A related topic is the subject of identity. In much of the African literature, identity is often portrayed as a strategy deployed by actors to handle various events and situations, particularly in the turbulent postcolonial world. A recent volume seeks to explore the cultural politics of identities in transition within postcolonial Africa [by examining the] disparate identity strategies emerging in everyday life (Werbner and Ranger 1996:2). These strategies are deployed by actors to achieve particular aims. Yet the political and strategic nature of identity must also be complemented by attention to what is considered important in forming a person or actor in these societies. Identity and exist in reference to each other, not in isolation. This article explores the connections between the ideas of and identity among the agropastoral Iraqw. It draws heavily on ideas explored in Lambek and Strathern's (1998) volume, particularly those of LiPuma (1998), who rightly points out, in something of a corrective to Marilyn Strathern's dichotomy of the Western individual versus the Melanesian dividual, or relational person, that people act in ways that are both individual and dividual in all societies. After carefully examining the patterns that emerge from these practices and actions in a Melanesian setting, LiPuma demonstrates the need for paying attention to the effect of the forces of modernity present throughout the world. While Strathern's (1988, 1993) work has brought attention to how Eurocentric analytical models have limited analysis of in non-Western contexts, studies that emphasize the relational aspect of often ignore how the dynamics of encompassment reconfigure local forms of personhood (LiPuma 1998:54). This reconfiguration, or encompassment by global forces, in a Tanzanian context is the focus of this essay. A recent review of studies of critiques Euroamerican notions of society and the self (a term often used interchangeably with person) and argues that these theoretical approaches posit a self that is autonomous, propertied, self-interested, accumulative, and having independent agency--measured in terms of its power of control over others. …

Civil society and media: The relevance in Fiji, Tonga and PNG

PNG's Melanesian societies with Polyneasian societies like Tonga and Samoa, which evolved the familiar authoritarian feudal structures, which are always in tension with democratic institutions. In melanesia, those who gain political ascendancy and power must struggle for it.

Social change in Melanesia: development and history

A companion volume to the author's An Introduction to the Anthropology of Melanesia (1998, Cambridge University Press) focussed on cultural orders, this volume offers an anthropological perspective on issues common to contemporary Melanesian societies. Always aware of the extent of diversity in Melanesia, each chapter provides an overview of an issue illustrated by a specific case study, most of which are situated in Papua New Guinea.Chapter 1, Change and Development, sets up the theoretical framework, the concept of social change, and the contribution of anthropology to understanding social change in Melanesia. Key concepts such as economic development, modernization theory, dependency theory are critically defined and the notion of an applied anthropology is succinctly flailed. Social change here focuses on 'forced change occasioned by 200 years of colonial intrusions and acculturation in Melanesia. Chapter 2, Arrival of the Europeans, briefly reviews the of colonial contact economically (whalers, traders and blackbirders), spiritually (missionaries) and politically (the annexation of territory and of administrative infrastructures to claim and properly extract the region's resources). To counter this European (Orientalist) interpretation of interaction with Melanesian peoples and cultures, Chapter 3 offers another history from the perspectives and perceptions of the Wola whose first experience of European intrusion in their lives came in the guise of the Hides and O'Malley patrol into the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea in 1936. The two accounts differ radically; however, this democratization of representations both acknowledges and celebrates differences and permits a more complex and nuanced rendering of the same historical events. In the process, it enhances understanding and tolerance of cultural differences. From here the text focuses on Melanesian understandings of and responses to technological innovation (chapters 4-6), the economic and social consequences of technological change (chapters 7-10), and indigenous rationalisations of the socioeconomic changes (chapters 11-14).Chapter 4 explores technological change and economic growth to show that, contrary to assumptions of Western economic theory, new technologies and social conditions do not propel less developed countries along the same developmental trajectory experienced by the West consequent with the industrial revolution. This is a succinct discussion of technological innovations and, from the perspective of modernization theory, failed economic development. The assumptions of modernization theory are also subjected to a democratization of representations in order to understand social obstacles and cultural attitudes that might explain the failure of initiatives and, conversely, to understand indigenous factors that might create incentives that facilitate economic development. Contextualized in a discussion of the traditional system of land tenure and use rights, kinship and community, Chapter 5 considers the ethnocentric assumptions embedded in modernization theory and its failure to consider local responses and accommodations to social change. Land is central to Melanesians, and the point is made clearly that disrupting traditional land tenure systems undermines the very existence of social groups and communities. The question development for whom? enjoins those involved in schemes to consider what they are doing and why (p. 89).Situating the discussion within the coffee-growing regions of Eastern Highlands Province, Chapter 6 looks at whether the characteristics of the traditional big men comprise a positive model for emerging entrepreneurial businessmen. The answer is no. Successful businessmen are individualistic and invest in their own enterprises. They act contrary to big men ideals embedded in the obligations of reciprocity which militate against the accumulation of individual wealth, capital and profit. …

From Proletarian to Entrepreneur to Big Man: the Story of Noya1

ABSTRACTThe resemblances between Melanesian Big Men and capitalist entrepreneurs have long fascinated anthropologists. However, even though traditional leaders in Melanesian societies resemble entrepreneurs in certain respects they are motivated by different concerns. In this paper, I consider the career of Noya of the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea to demonstrate the contrasts and confluences between the roles of big man and that of entrepreneur. Noya is neither a traditional big‐man nor a pure capitalist, but has drawn selectively upon the logic of each in his drive to achieve promience. His life story provides insights into how big‐men articulate with the capitalist world system.

Mesoamerican Community Organization: Preliminary Remarks

During the past three generations, ethnology has benefitted enormously from ethnographic research conducted in various culture areas of the world. This is not only due to the increasing corpus of factual information: many concepts formulated with reference to specific culture areas were significantly modified and refined when applied to other areas. This is readily seen with regard to social organization and religion, as many concepts in common use today (such as lineage, double descent, matrifocality, taboo, and mana) experienced this development. For example, the segmentary lineage system, formulated by British anthropologists to account for the kinship structure of many African tribes, like certain regional wines did not travel well. When applied to Melanesian societies, it had to be modified to accommodate the shallowness of their genealogies. In Mesoamerica it had little or no utility in accounting for the basically bilateral organization of the area, albeit with a strong patrilineal bias. In fact, many of the culture areas of the world have contributed to the growth of ethnological concepts based on the characteristic configuration of their ethnographies. Thus, a large part of the analytical framework employed by anthropologists today has been forged in the reality testing that concepts have undergone as they are applied to areas other than where they originated. Mesoamerica is a good example of this process. Since the beginning of systematic research in the area (initiated with the ethnographic survey of central Mexico by Frederick Starr at the turn of the century, the first ever undertaken by an ethnologist as far as I am aware), but particularly since the 1920s, Mesoamerica has contributed significantly to the conceptual framework of anthropology. It is useful and appropriate here to briefly describe this contribution. Originally formulated by Toennies (1940), the concept of the folk society matured in Mesoamerica by the work of Redfield (1930, 1941, 1947), Foster (1953), and Mintz (1954). In Latin America, where the community had long ceased to be part of the tribe but not yet part of the nation, and where linguistic affiliation plays a tenuous role in ethnic affiliation, this concept has underlain much of the work done in Latin America for two generations. Moreover, directly or indirectly, the notion of the folk society has played a significant role in conceptualizing the transformation of tribal societies as they become part of national states, particularly in the former colonial parts of the world. In a culture area of the world in which little can be understood without reference to the past, Mesoamerica has witnessed some of the best studies of cultural and social change. This is especially so with syncretism and acculturation, which have an unmistakable Mesoamerican flavor. The landmark publication of a memorandum on acculturation (Redfield, Linton, and Herskovitz 1936) quickly led to the study of change in several areas of the New World, particularly in Mesoamerica. A distinction was more or less made between diffusion and acculturation, and the latter concept acquired wide acceptance in many culture areas. More recently, syncretism, as a special kind of acculturation, has also received much attention beyond its traditional use in studies of magic and religion. These two aspects in the conceptualization of change, as formalized primarily by Mesoamericanists (Beals 1950; Carrasco 1952; Foster 1960; Madsen 1957; and more recently Nutini 1976, 1988), are now standard for anthropological studies. Closely related to the study of change is what might be a unique contribution of Mesoamericanists to general anthropology; namely, the ethnohistorical focus and approach (my own designation for want of a better term). This orientation was forged primarily in Mesoamerica, beginning at the turn of the century, and is now extensively practiced in Latin America and other culture areas of the Old World. …

Erotic anthropology: “ritualized homosexuality” in Melanesia and beyond

In this article I critique anthropological uses of the construct of “ritualized homosexuality” in Melanesia and examine related theoretical problems in the cross‐cultural study of sexualities, homosexualities, and erotics. I argue that identifying as “ritualized homosexuality” the semen practices through which boys are made into men in some Melanesian societies engages and relies on Western ideas about sexuality that obscure the indigenous meanings of these practices. By comparing three Melanesian societies, I argue that age and gender hierarchies and a substance‐based model for the constitution of social identities together comprise a more useful and accurate framework for understanding boys' initiatory practices in Melanesia. Exploring emerging frameworks for understanding erotics crossculturally, I seek to demonstrate the need for a more self‐critical and self‐aware stance as well as a more refined theoretical apparatus for the larger project of theorizing sexualities cross‐culturally.

History and Tradition in Melanesian Anthropology

Melanesian societies, like village societies in many parts of the world, are frequently portrayed as existing in a timeless, traditional present. These seven original essays offer an alternative view, one showing that historical evidence can and must inform our understanding of contemporary cultures. This collection brings together anthropologists and historians who maintain that the timeless-traditionalism approach of anthropology is inadequate. Life in the existing societies of Melanesia cannot be understood, they say, without examining how these societies are shaped by Western influences. The historical perspective that acknowledges ongoing political, economic, and social change results in less stereotypical descriptions of these traditional cultures. Historians an anthropologists of Melanesia and the Pacific will find here original and enlightening work that is sure to influence the theoretical orientation of Melanesian anthropology.

ENCOUNTERS WITH EVIL: CHRISTIANITY AND THE RESPONSE TO SORCERY AMONG THE MAISIN OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Scholars writing about Melanesian societies often assume that sorcery and Christianity are incompatible. When I began my research among the Maisin of Papua New Guinea, who have long been Christians, I was a little surprised that they accepted sorcery as a reality. I was most surprised, however, that many Maisin thought Europeans shared their commonsense notions about sorcery. As proof, I was told of how European doctors at town hospitals could recognize 'village sickness' and send those inflicted with it back to be cared for by local healers (Barker 1989). Village elders also said that in the past the missionaries had taught them ways to control sorcery and the discord in the village that gave rise to it. My contention in this paper is that Maisin have good reason to think Europeans know something about sorcery, for Europeans, especially missionaries, played a major if indirect role in forming present-day attitudes towards sorcery in Maisin society. During the high period of missionary activity, between 1901 and 1950, Anglican missionaries and the Maisin collaborated against sorcerers on several occasions. Despite their agreement that sorcerers represented evil, the two parties arrived with very different notions of evil and its treatment, and so these dramatic occasions did not lead to sustained cooperation. But there was an important exception to this. In 1932, a man called Maikin travelled to the village of Wanigela, the seat of the district mission station, to detect and expose sorcerers. Maikin claimed that his amazing ability was a gift of the Christian God, although he had not been baptized. The missionary likened him to an apostle of Christ. The elder Maisin today remember him as a mixture of saviour and sorcerer. Maikin has come to epitomize for Maisin the ambiguous nature of sorcery in a Christian age. This paper examines these encounters, especially those involving Maikin. It studies how through such encounters Maisin and their missionaries gradually reshaped the Maisin's understanding of sorcery and, beyond that, the nature and justification of evil (cf . Burridge 1985; Parkin 1985). I begin by examining sorcery ideology in Maisin society at the time of my fieldwork in the early 1980s, and the stories that surrounded Maikin some fifty years after his mission to Wanigela. I then turn to the historical record to show how these memories developed as a mutual construction of the Maisin and missionaries as they, separately and together, battled the evil of sorcery. The essay concludes with some observations on the relation between the experience of sorcery and Christianity in Maisin society.

The question of Ritualised homosexuality among the Kiwai of South New Guinea∗

Gilbert Herdt to designate institutionalised sexual practices among men docu mented in a range of pre-colonial Melanesian societies. These homosexual customs were typically implemented through initiation rites, constrained by broad cultural rules and social roles, and had great religious and cosmological significance. The notion that ritualised homosexuality was generally practised among the indigenous Kiwai of south New Guinea has been elaborated by Herdt as part of his ethnographic review and has been widely accepted among Melanesianists.1 Ritualised homosexuality is known to have been absent among the Purari and Elema language families to the east of the Kiwai, but present among the Trans Fly, Marind, and Kolopom peoples to their west (see Map 1 ).2 In terms of cultural geography, the absence of ritualised homosexuality among the large Kiwai lan guage family would significantly reduce the generality of this custom in south New Guinea.

Sacred and profane revisited

The study of rituals raises the issue of the formulation of the sacred‐profane distinction. If sacred and profane are considered as mutually exclusive, this distinction is not applicable to Melanesian societies. However, a re‐reading of Durkheim's work reveals an alternative formulation derived from two distinct forms of hierarchy: gradation and encompassment. Dumont's analysis of the caste system permits us to reconcile these two forms, which then appear as governed by a unified hierarchy of values. This reformulated, hierarchic definition of the sacred‐profane relation is tested on the Orokaiva case. Finally, it allows us to draw certain comparative conclusions.

Melpa Dream Interpretation and the Concept of Hidden Truth

Dreams are widely considered to be important in Melanesian societies, mostly as a means of understanding the present or foreseeing the future (Trompf, n.d.). In seeking to penetrate beyond this pragmatic context, which the people themselves enunciate, anthropologists have often borrowed the ideas of Freud in order to decode the supposed unconsciously coded communications of dreams (Berndt 1951; Eggan 1966; Schneider 1969). However, before reaching for this putatively universal level, it is desirable first to examine how dreams are shared and interpreted in their indigenous, or emic, context, a point which is currently well recognized (Tedlock 1987: esp. ch. 3). This paper attempts to do this for the Mt. Hagen (or Melpa) people of the Western Highlands Province in Papua New Guinea, starting from the people's own concepts of hidden truth and uncertainty. In my conclusion I discuss the further relationship of these concepts to the issue of consensus in social life. In considering the interpretations which people place on dreams, we can begin by looking at their ideas of knowledge in general. A good proposition to start with is our own adage is believing. In waking life there is a strong emphasis on this idea in Mount Hagen. The matter often comes up in court cases, where rules about hearsay do not simply stem from recent experience with western-style courts but are intrinsic to the people's own way of thinking. Skepticism may be expressed even about such wellestablished cultural constructs as ghosts, and it always goes with the phrase, Are you in the habit of seeing these things or not? People recognize that in disputes the truth may be concealed and it is necessary for it to be revealed if the matter is to be resolved. The relevant terms are mo ronom

Magical and Material Polities in Melanesia

At Avatip, on the Sepik River in Papua New Guinea, the main forum of political competition between groups are debates, similar to those described by Bateson in his study of the neighbouring latmul, in which men dispute the ownership of totems and ancestral names. These contests are compared with the competitive transactions of wealth made in many other Melanesian societies, such as those of the Papua New Guinea Highlands. The two systems express similar processes of political competition, except that they are grounded respectively in 'realist' and 'nominalist' representations of the nature of social groups, these contrasting ideologies being themselves related to differences in local organisation.

Expressive style and culture: Individualism and group orientation contrasted

ABSTRACTHerein I examine the parallel, contrasting analyses of expressive patterns proposed by Bernstein for language, by Lomax for song, and by my interpretation of the arts and cultures of two Melanesian societies. The general thesis of this paper is that expressive patterns are related to cultural patterns in systematic ways, and that analysis of societies in terms of a contrast between individualism and group orientation reveals and documents one of those ways. Description of social structures in relation to this contrast is old, but its extension to expressive patterns is recent in anthropology. I argue that this model accounts for fundamental structural distinctions which underlie cultural contrasts in expressive patterns. (Sociolinguistics, conversational analysis, Melanesia, anthropological linguistics, ethnography of speech, isomorphism of expressive forms and social structure)

Ritual form and permutation in New Guinea: implications of symbolic process for socio‐political evolution

Ritual and religion have had an important impact upon political dynamics and societal size in many Melanesian societies, especially prior to Western influence. In the Strickland‐Bosavi area, the rituals of several societies appear as structural transformations of one another, but with crucial pragmatic differences. Ritual belief helped preclude some intergroup contacts, while facilitating others to the point of cultural amalgamation and political expansion. Religious and symbolic processes must be considered on a par with social‐structural, economic, and ecological factors in explaining cultural development and political evolution, [ritual, structuralism, evolution, Melanesia, Strickland‐Bosavi]

Marriage Exchanges: A Melanesian Comment

Levi-Strauss's (117, 118) capture of marriage systems terms of elementary and complex structures continues to hold us ransom to a certain conceptualization of the underpinning exchanges. Marriage its double sense refers to the flow of unions between exchanging social units and to other transactions which accompany marriage, such as bridewealth. These latter transactions may be an adjunct to the transfer of rights persons, or may facilitate long-term cycles of generalized exchange. In substituting reciprocity things for reciprocity persons, however, they are also seen to subordinate the exchange of spouses to encompassing structures of general exchange relations (163), and eventually to promote a move toward complex structures (139; cf 84) where such exchange ceases to be of structural significance. Melanesia presents clear examples of units defining themselves through exchange, including the exchange of women (134). Yet Melanesia's place The Elementary Structures of Kinship (118, Chap. 28) is not that of the classic alliance systems but is akin to those intermediate types which relate to elementary structures through their marriage prohibitions and to complex ones through the character of their alliance networks (117, 118a; see 34, 55, 63, 178). With some exceptions (e.g. 146a, 210), Melanesian societies fact fit the few cases Levi-Strauss skeptically refers to as defining their marriage rules not in terms of kinship, but rather terms of social groups which may or may not give wives to or receive wives from one another (117, p. 17). This entails a problem, as he intimates, namely whether the span of the group involved is part of or exogenous to the marriage rule itself; otherwise we are left with the tautology of groups defined as wife-givers and wife-receivers.