Pamela J. Stewart

Dangerous Woods and Perilous Pearl Shells The Fabricated Politics of a Longhouse in Pangia, Papua New Guinea

This article approaches the analysis of ambivalence in exchange relations between groups in the Pangia area of the Southern Highlands Province in Papua New Guinea from an unusual angle: the structure and materials of a ceremonial longhouse constructed to house participants in a gift-giving occasion. The sponsor of the feast declared that it was to mark peace and alliance with neighbors, but one of the recipients noted that the types of wood used in the building themselves carried threatening and competitive messages encoded non-verbally. Gifts of pearl shells and pork were similarly interpreted as double-sided: both to repair friendships and to declare enmities. The recipients themselves risked, from their point of view, death in accepting these perilous gifts from a longhouse consisting of ‘dangerous woods’. The case study illustrates the possible disjuncture of interpretations of material acts and structures by differently positioned persons in the social arena.

Introduction: Latencies and Realizations in Millennial Practices

The millennium is a time for many people to contemplate the possibilities that might arise during this liminal period of transition. Various sorts of dangers are feared at this time of passage into a new world of temporality. In some ways it is analogous to the marking of a hyper New Year in which resolutions are made, expectations are high, and the fears of unexpected events loom. Emotions run high as uncertainties about the future arise.TheYK computer problem is only one example of this: an apocalyptic computer crash is envisioned as destroying data and producing logistic, financial, and other forms of chaos. The year  holds significance for many people in the Christian world (Landes ; Schwartz ; Gould ). Although the Christian calendar does not correlate with such forms as Judaic, Hindu, or Chinese calendrical timekeeping, it does impinge on worldwide communities to one degree or another through the process of globalization (e.g., economic, political, and social networks). The Christian notion of thousandyear cyclical intervals in which significant events transpire parallels other forms of ritual cyclicity such as those found in many New Guinea cosmological systems. These systems anticipate an end that generates an anxiety over what individuals must do to leap beyond the end of this time into the projected then time. Using a variety of dating methods, Christian societies have been expecting Jesus’ return at the end of the twentieth century. Some Christians have expressed the belief that the world is going to end at this time. Others believe that a renewal and refurbishing of the world will take place, heralding in a better life for the ‘‘faithful.’’ An ‘‘end times’’ versus ‘‘new world’’

Dreaming and Ghosts among the Hagen and Duna of the Southern Highlands, Papua New Guinea

According to many people, including Papua New Guineans, dreams allow communication with the dead, spirits, and deities. An examination of dream narratives provides a window through which to view the social life-worlds of people, perceptions of self and personhood between the genders and otherwise, and patterns of thinking. The literature on dream research and the scientific or psychological interpretation of dreaming and dreams is very extensive (see, e.g., Tedlock 1987 and Van de Castle 1994), as is work on phenomenological approaches to dreaming and to social life generally (e.g., Jackson 1996; Parman 1991; Riches 1995; Stephen 1996; Tuzin 1997). Some earlier studies of dreaming in the New Guinea Highlands include, for example, Herdt (1987); Meggitt (1962); Meigs (1983); and Wagner (1972). These studies indicate the diversity of concerns that may be revealed by or taken up in dream narratives. In all instances it is clear that dreams are treated as potentially serious, perhaps privileged, sources of information that bears on the circumstances of the dreamer. Nevertheless, people recognize that dreams may be difficult or impossible to fully interpret. Our discussion includes materials from two areas in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea, Hagen and Duna, from which we have collected ethnographic materials. The historical timelines will be given in relation to each case. We begin our discussion with the topic of dreams and knowledge and then we show how dreaming impacts wakeful life and vice versa.

Empowering the Past, Confronting the Future

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Divisions of Power: Rituals in Time and Space among the Hagen and Duna Peoples, Papua New Guinea

This paper analyzes the results of original research by the authors in two areas of the Papua New Guinea Highlands, Hagen and Duna. The paper stresses the importance in both areas of the phenomenon of ritual trackways and the principle of precedence in the sphere of ritual.＂Ritual trackways＂ is a term for the historical passage of cult performances from one group to another, starting from a point where knowledge of the cult is said to have originated. Experts from this geographical point act as officiants in performances along the trackway and may be paid for their services. ＂Precedence＂ refers to the superior rights of these experts over the secret knowledge and power to produce fertility that constitutes the rationale for cult practices. The non-Austronesian speaking Highlands societies have been described as predominantly based on egalitarian and competitive exchange relations. Cult contexts, however, show that, in the sphere of ritual, rights established by precedence modify this picture. In turn, exchanges that are built into the cult activities reassert the status of those participants who recognize the superior powers of the ritual experts. This framework for analyzing the Highlands societies gives us a different perspective from that which has been previously established, and shows that precedence, well known in Austronesian-speaking cultures, is also significant in ritual contexts in these non-Austronesian-speaking areas. An emphasis on the ways in which ritual power is seen as originating and on how it is successively shared or divided as it is transmitted along trackways further makes it possible to suggest a comparison between aspects of Female Spirit cults in Hagen and Duna and the temple worship of Mazu, a female deity of considerable importance in Taiwan. This comparison is based on two points of similarity. The first is the shared idea of precedence, in terms of the place from which power is held to originate. This principle is strongly established in the Mazu complex. It also goes with trackways, along which ritual power is held to have been distributed and shared out over time as new temples were established. The second point of similarity is based on the gendered identity of the spirits or deity involved. The imagery of a female entity expresses the idea of mobility and of the spirit or deity coming to an area like a bride, bringing new connections and new powers. This imagery is explicit both in the Papua New Guinea cases and in the Mazu complex. In the Mazu complex also there are elaborate exchanges which establish the status of the participants who receive ritual power. These analytical similarities can be discerned in spite of the obviously great differences in terms of history and material culture. The paper therefore suggests a methodology for a comparative understanding of the forms of transmission of ritual power. It also pinpoints the particular significance of gendered symbolism in the genesis of ideas regarding such forms of transmission.

Hagen Settlement Histories: Dispersals and Consolidations

In 1998, we coedited the volume Kuk Heritage: Issues and debates in Papua New Guinea, which brought together the writings of archaeologists and social scientists on the Kuk site project (Strathern and Stewart 1998a). The collection included a chapter by Andrew Moutu of the Papua New Guinea National Museum discussing the archaeological heritage at Kuk (Moutu 1998), reports by Herman Mandui and Nick Araho of the Papua New Guinea National Museum on the archaeological site itself (Araho 1998; Mandui 1998), contributions from Jack Golson and Pamela Swadling (Golson and Swadling 1998) and John Muke (Muke 1998). These contributors, as well as everyone working at Kuk, understand that although archaeology can reveal the deep history of the Kuk site, more recent stories about Kuk are also significant and are an important part of the heritage of Papua New Guinea (Strathern 1972: 37). In this chapter, we present a brief history of some settlement patterns of groups in the Kuk area during the 20th century (Fig. 22.1).1

Religion and Cognition

Cognitive studies have offered an explanation of religion. Important contributions to this discussion have been made by Pascal Boyer and Harvey Whitehouse. Boyer argues that religious ideas are minimally counterintuitive and therefore easily adopted. The argument depends on what constitutes intuition and on the assumption that there are standard cross-cultural cognitive processes, and that beliefs are the main focus of discussion. Embodiment theory, by contrast, would focus on practices and rituals. Whitehouse has argued for a combination of cognitive and social modes of explanation. Whitehouse developed a robust ideal-type dichotomy, postulating doctrinal versus imagistic modes of religiosity. While his concept here comprises a dichotomous frame, Whitehouse recognizes that the frame is broken in practice by the coexistence of these modes within a given system.

Language and Culture

What is the relationship between language and culture? One argument has to do with whether there is a universal (biological) program for the acquisition of language or whether there is a set of potentialities which are molded by culture. Noam Chomsky argued for a universal (natural) program, whereas other linguists have argued that language is always a cultural invention. Daniel Everett suggests that only a general learning capacity is at work. Chomsky distinguished between broad and narrow faculties, the latter reducible to recursion, the folding of one statement into others by grammatical means. This, however, is not found in the Piraha language of Amazonia studied by Everett. Everett offered ‘intelligence’ as the factor enabling language acquisition, but the ability to combine patterns gets us closer to the processes involved.

Nature Versus Culture: A Mistaken Conundrum

What constitutes humanity? Is it nature or culture? Culturalists like David Schneider or Marshall Sahlins stress culture, whereas biologically inclined theorists stress nature. The distinction is itself based in older, religious dichotomies between body and spirit. Claude Levi-Strauss used it in his theory of the evolution of marriage practices, and it figures into arguments about biological or cultural features of kinship ties. However, kinship is an intrinsic amalgamation of nature and culture, and it is important to see it as a fusion of these two, thus breaking the frame of dichotomous thinking. Since the body/mind distinction underlies the kinship debates, it is useful to note that the concept of mental versus physical health dichotomizes life processes that must be recognized as embodied and holistic.

For a Mindful Anthropology

Mindful anthropology brings together theory and description. Thus, whatever theory we adopt should apply cogently to the data rather than being foisted fashionably on it. It is based on engagement with the data, and a raising of consciousness about it. We must not allow theory to become a straitjacket or a dogma. As new theories come up, practitioners should not reify them. A mindful anthropology remains open-ended in its views of theories, and is open to new twists of analysis. Mindfulness maps well onto embodiment theory as well as phenomenology, and depends always on detail. Mindful anthropology promotes creativity and thoughtful analysis, focusing on people and their actions. Mindful anthropology is not a rigid form of theory but an orientation towards all forms of theorizing and analysis.