This is a uniquely dramatic account of life in the Papua New Guinea Highlands as told by a well-known leader of the Kawelka people of Mount Hagen. Set into context with a contemporary introduction that discusses the usefulness of biography in anthropology, the case study presents the already well-known autobiography of Ongka, a leader who witnessed the arrival of the first outsiders to the Highlands of New Guinea in the 1930s. By using a life history approach, this ethnographic account serves as a lens through which the student of anthropology will see the wider processes of conflict and change brought to the Kawelka people through contact with the outside world. Capitalizing on the growing awareness of the importance of writing history from an anthropological viewpoint, the book packages Ongka's account in a way that facilitates its use in the teaching of experiential anthropology. The voices of other Kawelka people, including one of Ongka's married daughters, adds new dimensions to the already rich account.

Collaborations and Conflicts: A Leader Through Time (Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology)

Politics & Social Sciences

Strathern, Andrew

Stewart, Pamela J.

Social Sciences

Wadsworth Publishing

The authors present a historical picture of gender relations in Highlands New Guinea by exploring domains of imagination as revealed in courting songs, ballads, and folktales from across the Highlands but with particular reference to field areas in the western Highlands. Texts and/or translations are from a rich corpus of materials previously unpublished in English. The examples draw the reader into the imaginative world of the people, while the analytical framework sets the discussion firmly into debates within interpretive anthropology.
The aim is to re-examine the images of gender relations in Highlands New Guinea by revealing the sensuous and emotional modalities of expressive folk genres and their aesthetic qualities. Ideas and practices centered on female spirit entities are shown to be important and pervasive in cult contexts, and these spirits were felt to have a significant influence on relations of courtship, marriage, and reproduction. Both women and men are also shown to have complex expressions of emotional dispositions in the spheres of courting and the choice of marital partners. By entering into these domains, the book modifies earlier analyses that have concentrated on antagonism, behavioral taboos, separation, and domination as themes in gender relations in Highland societies.

Gender, Song, and Sensibility: Folktales and Folksongs in the Highlands of New Guinea

Praeger

Ongka: A Self-Account by a New Guinea Big-Man (English and Papuan Languages Edition)

Ongka

PALGRAVE~MACMILLAN

A line of power

Tavistock

STRATHERN, A.: A LINE OF POWER. LONDON, 1984, vi 170 p. mapas.Encuadernacion original. Nuevo.

A Line of Power

Routledge& Kegan Paul

Provides an excellent review of anthropological thought on the body

Body Thoughts

University of Michigan Press

Collaborations and Conflicts: A Leader Through Time

Thomson

Man as Art: New Guinea Body Decoration

Kirk, Malcolm

Thames and Hudson Ltd.

Witchcraft, Sorcery, Rumors and Gossip (New Departures in Anthropology)

Two classic topics in social anthropology are combined in this work--the study of witchcraft and sorcery and the study of rumors and gossip. After revealing the importance of rumor and gossip as catalysts for accusations of witchcraft and sorcery, it demonstrates their role in the genesis of social and political violence, as seen in peasant rebellions, as well as witch-hunts. The study draws upon examples from Africa, Europe, India, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia.

Cambridge University Press

In the Mount Hagen area of central New Guinea, warfare has been replaced since the arrival of the Europeans by a vigorous development of moka, a competitive ceremonial exchange of wealth objects. The exchanges of pigs, shells and other valuables are interpreted as acting as a bond between groups, and as a means whereby individuals, notably the big-men, can maximize their status. Professor Strathern analyses the ways in which competition between big-men actually takes place, and the effects of this competition on the overall political system.

The Rope of Moka: Big-men and Ceremonial Exchange in Mount Hagen New Guinea (Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology, Series Number 4)

Literature & Fiction

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