Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 2 - Oceania - A pdf

Social ControL Nemandu are mostly conflict resolvers, settlingdisputesbystressing the importance of solidarityand cooperation.Disputes whichare quite frequent are held on the ceremonial

Volume 1I

OCEANIA

ETHNONYMS: Abulas, Ambelam, Ambelas, Ambulas

Orientation 1eicatio. TheAbelam live in the East Sepik Province

ofPapua New Guineaandaredividedintoseveralsubgroups;

the most prominentis theWosera, whoaresonamedafter

the areathey inhabit Thisisthesouthernmost group of the

Abelam The other groups are named forgeographic

direc-don: northern, eastern, etc The whole region is called

Maprik, namedafter the Australian administrative postes,

tablished in 1937 in the heart of Abelam territory

Locaio. From the Sepik floodplains in the south the

Abelam extend to the foothills of the Prince Alexander

Mountains(coastal range) inthe north.The PlainsArapesh

living therecall their neighbors in the south Abelam The

Abelam live in twoecological zones, thehills (up toabout

600 to 700 meters above sea level) and the relict alluvial

plains.These zones arecharacterizedby differentlandforms,

altitudes, annual rainfall, and soil types In the north, the

foothillsare covered with thicksecondaryvegetation; virgin

foresthas almostcompletely disappearedduetoshifting

cul-tivationandtothehighpopulationdensitythatwasalso

re-sponsibleinformerdays formanyfightsandwarsoverland

Demography. The Abelam numberover40,000.Partsof

theAbelamterritory range, with 70personsper square

kilo-meter, are among the mostdensely populatedareas inPapua

NewGuinea

lnguitic Affiliation Linguistically, Abelam forms,

to-getherwiththelatmul, Sawos, Boiken,and Manambu, the

Ndu FamilyoftheSepikSubphylum, whichis classifiedas

part of theMiddleSepik Stock, Sepik-Ramu Phylum.AU of

theselanguagegroups amlocated withintheSepikBasin,

ex-cept for theBoikenwho havespreadoverthecoastalrangeto

thenorth coast

History and Cultural Relations

Inprehistorictimes, theSepik-Ramu Basinwasfloodedwith

saltwater,thisinlandseaprobablyreached itsmaximum

ex-tent5,000to6,000 years ago whenitreachedasfar westward

asAmbunti The sea thenbegantodrop graduallyuntil it

at-tained itspresent levelaround 1,000years ago During that

span of time theSepikBasinwithitsyoungfloodplains began

todevelop and becameseparatedfrom the Ramu Basinbythe

settlementhistory.Linguisticevidencealsosuggests that the Nduspeakersmoved into theSepikPlains from the south of the river The Abelamevidently migrated northward during

the last few centuries untilafter WorldWar11,althoughthere

ismuchdebate aboutwhere the Abelam camefrom andwhen

they beganmovingnorth Exceptforsporadiccontacts with

huntingparties from Indonesia, thefirstdirect contact with the outside worldoccurred immediately beforeWorld WarI,

when theAbelam werediscoveredby the German ethnologist

Richard Thurnwaldwho was travelingthrough Abelam

terri-tory on his way over theAlexanderMountains to the north coast Before long, European goods (andalso diseases) had reachedthe Maprik area Soonmissionariesarrived as well, andby 1937 an Australian patrol post (Maprik) was estab-lished, land was cleared for an airstrip, and a road to the coastal town ofWewakwas built WorldWar1I brought dras-ticchangestothe Abelam way oflife; thousandsof Japanese, Australian, andAmericansoldiers foughtbloody battles on

Abelamterritory usingtechnologyunknownto theAbelam The establishment offurther patrol posts, missionary

sta-tions, trade stores, and schools, the substitution of a cash economy based on wagelabor for theindigenous subsistence economy, and the development of flourishing towns led Abelamlifein newdirections In precolonial times the

Abe-lam-notas awhole group but as many individual villages-had already had continuous relations with neighboring

groups.Those with thePlainsArapeshwerethemosthighly esteemed because the Arapesh villages suppliedthemwith

valuables, shellrings, andother shellornaments in exchange for pigs Relations with theBoilken in the east, the Sawos in the south, anddifferentgroups in the west were restricted more orless tobordervillages

Settlements

Throughout theMaprikarea there werecontinuous popula-tionmovements, not only thegeneral south-to-north pattern but also minormovements within the region These move-ments generally involved small kin groups who affiliated themselves with analready existing settlement or who formed new settlements elsewhere Only after warfare ceased and peace was imposeddidthesemovementsstop and villages be-comerelativelypermanent In the north, the Abelam proba-blyabsorbed many Arapesh people-or, rather, killedthem

orchasedthemoffandtooktheir territory This high mobility

is still reflected in the alliances of small groups in hamlets withother groups in otherhamlets Abelam villages vary in 3

4 Abelam

size They are much smallerinthesouth withonly50to80

people.Inthenorth, theynownumber upto1,000people.In

thesouth,settlements arebasically hamlets;inthenorththey

arevillages, preferably situatedonahill ridge,consisting of

fortytofiftyhamlets Eachisautonomous,atleast

concern-ing theirrelationswith other settlements.Villagesare

struc-tured as an association of hamlets who have formed

some-thing likealocalizedleague.Thevillageterritoryisgenerally

divided into 'upper" and "lower" topographical units The

structure ofvillagesinthenorthiscomplex Throughrituals

for different root crops, yamfestivals,andinitiation, the

dif-ferentmajorhamlets-eachofwhichhasaspecialrolewithin

this networkofrituals-areboundtogether Buildingssuch

as storehouses, sleepinganddwelling houses, menstruation

huts, and the toweringceremonial houses are built on the

groundin a triangular plan Theyconsistmoreor less ofa

roof witharidgepole gentlysloping downfromthefront

to-wards theback.Mostspectaculararetheceremonialhouses

(korambo) with alargeceremonialground (amei)infront of

it Only major hamlets haveakorambo,whichmay be up to

25 meterstall,with apainted facade.Thekoramboand amei

areconsideredthevillagecenterbutlarger villagesmay have

up to ten orfifteen suchcenters.Thebuildingmaterialis

tim-ber and bamboofortheinnerstructure; sagopalmfrondsare

used forthethatch Lashing techniquesareelaborate

Economy SubidstenceandCommercialActivities The Abelam are

horticulturalists livingmainlyonyams,taro, and sweet

pota-toes Thesoilsinthe area, aswellasthe Abelams' skills in

gardening, yield considerable harvests ofdifferentvarieties

ofyam and taro Inthenorth they are cultivatedmostly in

hillside gardens In the south, in the Sepik Plains, vegeta,

tion is sparse and consists mostly of Imperata grasslands

There yieldsaremuch smaller The Abelamdependalsoon

sagopalms, whichthey exploit onlyseasonally,andon

coco-nuts, bananas, and a large variety ofvegetables and fruits

The Abelam practice slash-and-burn cultivation, allowing

fallow periods ofonlyafew years compared to as manyas

twenty years in the past.Today coffeeandcocoa aregrown as

cash cropsandare amajorcauseofthe shorter fallowperiods

Apart from asakua yams whichgrow in the poorly drained

soilsintheplains,therearedozens ofothervarietiesofyam

In special ritual gardens mencultivatelongyams that may

grow up to 2 meterslong.Theseare notgrown forimmediate

consumption but forritualyamexchange Afterbeing

har-vested,theyaredecoratedwithplaitedorwooden masks and

with various ornaments for display at yam festivals where

competition between the yam growersis important These

yam exchangesareheld either between hamlets ofthe same

village whose residents are members of different moieties

or-in a much more dramatic form-between enemyvillages

The growing and exchanging of yams has pervaded almost all

aspects of Abelamlife, and all male initiations areclosely

linked with it Everythingconnectedwith women is inimical

tolong yams Sexual intercourseduringtheplantingseason is

avoided This seems to have resulted in seasonal births in

suchvillages.Theproductionofalongtuberis,inasymbolic

way, equated with the procreation of a child but with the

em-phasisthatthelong tuberis acreationof menonly The

rela-tionbetween menandwomenhasbeen describedasthat of

complementaryopposition.Whereasyams andtaroaregrown

primarilyfordailyconsumption,the raising of pigs is done for

exchange only Ateach major yam exchange pigs mustbe contributed, too Pigs, likelongyams, may not be eatenby

their owners

industrial Arts All art objects such as elaborately

pat-terned plaitsfor the ceremonialhouse, carvings, and

paint-ings, aswellasdecoratedpots andbonedaggers,aremadeby

menfortheirceremonial life The Abelam artist,though

es-teemedasagifted specialist,is ayam growerlikeeveryother adult male.Meshwork usedasboar-tuskornamentsandworn

bymenduring fightsandceremonies,featherwork,andvari

ousbodyornamentsareproduced bymenwho otherwiseare not artists.Todaythemostimportantpersonalitemsof both menand women are net bags (Informer times both sexes werealmostcompletelynaked in everyday life.) The Wosera areamong themostprolificmakersof netbags.The produc-tion of net bags is known and performed by all women,

thoughthe knowledge ofdyeing is limited to a few Some women are renowned for their artisticskill

Division ofLabo In subsistence activities there exists a more orless strictdivision oflabor Men fellthe trees and clear-thelandfornewgardens.Thenthey fenceitoff, some-timesassistedbywomen Menplantall varieties ofyams;later

women plant tarobetween the yam mounds Weeding the gardens asmany assixtimesbefore harvest-isdone exclu-sively bywomen Menput up sticks fortheyam vines and laterthey digoutthetubers,which women then clean of dirt and excessive roots During all male communal affairs (with few exceptionsduring initiations) theyareprovided with food

bywomen

Trade Pigletsarereared only by women, who invest much

laborinthe production of pigs In former times this was the

only means to obtain wealth in the form of shell rings re-ceivedfromthe Arapeshinexchangefor pigs Occasionally men from northern villages made trading expeditions not

onlytoArapeshsettlements in the mountains (for shell rings,

yellowpaint, andmagical substances) butsometimes even to the north coast Theretheyfilled longbambootubeswith salt water and carriedthem back to their villages They used carv-ings and net bags-as trading goods and as gifts for their

partnerswhoprovidedthem withshelterand food along the track Thelargeandbeautifullypatterned net bags (which are used also asmarriagepayments)were much more important

astradinggoods in the Woserathanthey were in thenorth

Ceremonial earthen bowls, decorated elaborately, were

mostly producedinsouthern villages andtraded to northern

villages In general, however, each community was

self-sufficient Nevertheless, therewere networks ofcooperation betweenvillagesconcerningthe promotion of fertility, tubers,

fruits,andmen Sometimesfertilitywas notpromoted but in-stead inhibited-often by illness and death, believedto be caused by the witchcraft and sorcery for which some villages werewellknown

Land Tenure All land is owned by lineages and clans

(kim). The wealthiestclans, ifthey have enough members, arethemostpowerfulwithinasettlement as theywillown, at leastinpart, thehistoricallyandthus ritually most important ceremonial grounds A lineage's claim on land is

demon-stratedbytheirregularlyusing land for gardens The

individ-ual plotsowned bydifferentlineages aremarkedby perennial

plants;these areoftenovergrownbyshrubs butarequickly

re-discoveredbyold men whendisputesoverlandarise.Ifaman

dearsland for a newgardenorplantstrees onground not

usedby himbefore and nobodyprotests against it, heis

re-gardedasthe rightfulowner

Kinship

KinGroups andDescent Mostclansaresplitinto

line-ages,membersofwhichoftenlivetogetheras alocalunit Ina

hamlet generallytwo orthree clans (or ratherlineages) are

represented.Thisarrangementmeansthat,within alineage,a

manwith his brothersandtheirsons,aswellas mostofthe

in-marrying wives oftheir children,livetogether Relations

betweensiblingsareclose,expressingthemselves alsoin

con-tinuous mutual assistance in allkindsofmatters, with such

assistance also extended to the children of brothers The

elder brother has someauthorityovertheyounger who pays

himrespect Eachnuclearfamilyhasseveralhouses: a

sleep-inghousefor thefather,adwellinghouse for the mother and

herchildren,and one or several storehouses for the rootcrop

Inpolygamousmarriages not allin-marrying cowives live

to-gether in the samehamlet-wheretheylivedependsonthe

relationshipbetweencowives Buta man wantshiswivesto

live on his own land.Otherwise, ifhis childrenarebornon

anotherclan's land, hisclaim over hischildrenmaybe

chal-lenged.Although, ideally,Abelamclansaresaidtobe

patri-lineal,affiliationswith otherlineagesand clansarevery

flex-ible Continuous relations with one's mother's relatives

(living on the land of the mother'sbrother), fosterage, and

adoption give many opportunities for temporary and/or

per-manent association This flexibilityalso leads to many

dis-putes over landownership, rights of land use, etc And

be-cause of thisassociational flexibilityandalsotheabsence of

elaborategenealogies,clansassocial organizationalunitsare

onlypredominant inquestions oflandownership. Clans are

associated with the names of spirits, specific water holes

where the spiritsaretemporarily found,magicalleaves, and

emblems (mostlybirds).Mostoftheseattributesbecome

rel-evant only inritualcontextbuteventhentheyare notapplied

systematically but rather casually or in a flexible manner

Sometimestheyareusedasattributesfor moietiesratherthan

clans

KinshipTerminology. Kin terms areusedmostlyon

spe-cialoccasions such asduringadisputewhensomebodywants

toexpress howcloselyrelatedhe orsheiswithsomebody else

In mortuary ceremonies, during the wake, and before the

corpse isburied,the deceased isaddressedinkin termsonly

Ineverydaylifemostlyproper names are used Cousin terms

follow the Iroquois system

Marriage and Family Marriage. Lineages are said to be exogamous and

mar-riages within them are frowned upon Marmar-riages take place

within a village In some parts of Maprikregion endogamy

within the ceremonial moieties (ara) prevail in order to

pre-vent competition between father and son-in-law Sister

ex-change is a preferred form of marriage In general,

consider-able freedom of choice is acknowledged to women in cases

where the parents had not arranged intermarriage of their

children In former days marriage took place soon after first

menstruation.Inmarriagetransactions shellrings(nowadays

supplemented by money) play an important role Marriage payments can be substitutedbygiving at least one child back

to the wife'sclan.Sometimes,ifnomarriage paymentatallis given, a man with hisfamily hasto live on hisfather-in-law's land and assist him, as a member of thathousehold, in all communal subsistence activities such as clearing brush, planting, andharvesting.Divorce is notuncommon and

usu-allyoccurs withthewife'sreturn toherownfamily;in such cases thebride-wealth is returnedby her kin orbyhernew husband upon remarriage

Domestic Unit Thesmallestdomestic unitconsists of a manwith one or more wives and theirchildreniftheyall live

in thesame hamlet Butfor most activitiesinthe gardens,

brothers and their wivescooperate,oftenassistedby brothers-in-law.Withina commongarden ownedmostly bymale

rela-tives of alineage,eachfamilyhas its ownplot Each woman ownsherown pigs and chickens and plans her dailywork in-dependently from others She has to be asked permissionif herhusband wants tosell one of her pigs Even in polygynous

households, cooking isdoneby eachwoman separately Inheritance Ideally,inheritance ispatrilineallyorganized

This concerns mainly landownership and clan membership

thoughthere aremany exceptionswhichgive rise todisputes

Socialization. Thepattern of adult roles is transmitted to children at a veryearly agethroughtheirbeingactively moti-vatedtoparticipate ineverydayactivities If leftback in the village, they are put underthesupervision of older children who formplayinggroups At the same timetheyareentrusted with social responsibility Throughvarious stages of

initia-tion, boys and young men attain manhood, which is con

nected with ritual knowledge The most prominent ritual

eventinagirl's lifeis thefirst-menstruationceremony, which

isacted outcommunally byall women of a village

Sociopolitical Organization

Social Organization. Apart from households, lineages, andclans withinthevillage,the nonlocalized moietysystem provides the structureformaleinitiations as well as for yam festivals Members of one moiety (ara) have their personal yam exchange partners, and each am initiates the sons of theirexchange partners Thus, all ceremonial activity is

bal-ancedbetweenara.Althoughmembership is primarily

inher-ited from one's father, the equality of the two aras'

member-shipmaybe maintainedby occasionally transferring members

from one ara to the other

PoliticalOrganization. Within the ara but also within

as-semblies held byhamlets orlargerparts of thevillages (as in disputes) the role of 'bigmen"(nemandu) as the actual leaders becomesapparent Apart from ritualknowledge (often trans-mittedtothe first-born son),whichisusedasreligious legiti-mation for political actions, oratorical skill is an important

qualificationforbecominganemandu or an influentialman

Social ControL Nemandu are mostly conflict resolvers, settlingdisputesbystressing the importance of solidarityand cooperation.Disputes (whichare quite frequent) are held on the ceremonial ground They become settled under the guid-ance of influential men through thesinging of conciliatory ritual songs, by the exchange of shell rings, or by fighting

6 Abelam

Religion and Expressive Culture

ReligiousBeliefs Ceremonial houses(korambo) and

cere-monialgrounds(amei)are thefocus ofmostritualsconnected

withthelife-cydeeventsformenandwomen For agirl parts

of thefirst-menstruation ritualaswellasthe presentation of

shell rings as marriage payments take place in front of the

korambo Duringthedeathritual, the corpseisleft there for

onenight Thekoramboisalso importantforits merepresence

and does not reallyserve as a meetingplace. Itismainlyfor

housingthosespirits(ngwalndu)whovisittheliving

temporar-ilybefore going backtoanotherworld Inaceremonial

build-ingthehuge carvedngwalndu figuresmay be stored untilthey

are used for an initiation The large painted facade of a

korsmbo isvisually dominated by big faces associated with

ngwalnduspirits.Although ngwalnduare tosome extent

an-cestral spirits,nogenealogyisreported linkingthelivingwith

thesepowerful beingswho influence thelife of men, plants,

andanimals.Thesoulofa man(thatsoulwhichisassociated

with clan membership) isthoughttolive after death witha

ngwalndu.Whilengwalnduseemtobe themostimportant

su-pernaturals, there arenevertheless manyothers aswell, both

maleand female

Ceremonies Initiationsofboysandmen intothe secrets

of Abelamreligionaredividedintomany stages,the first

tak-ingplacewhen theboyis5or 6yearsold, the last between 30

and 50 Ineachinitiationboysareacquaintedwithone

cate-goryofspiritualbeings This beginsatanearlyagewith the

least important, andasadultsthey learn,aftertheyhaveseen

ngwalndu,thelastsecretbeyondwhich thereisonlya

bound-less void.Importantpartsofinitiation ceremoniestakeplace

intheceremonialhousewhereartistsarrangeelaborate

com-positionsofcarved,painted,orplaited figures, decorated with

shell rings, feathers, flowers, and leaves No explanationis

giventotheinitiates.Theaimof these ritualsis toshow them

the secrets rather thantoverbalizeameaning Foreach

dis-play of artifacts in aceremonialhousethereis anassociated

dance In these dances men are painted and decorated all

over-thus they are transformed into beings from another

world

Arts Abelam art isrich, with the emphasisonpainting

Paint is seen asamagicalsubstance that gives lifeto apieceof

wood (carving) Onlythendo thefigures becomepowerful

andactive.Paintis ametaphorforamagicalsubstance used

insorcery,whichinthiscaseis notlife-givingbutlife-taking.

Throughout Abelam territory differentartstylescanbe

recog-nized, althoughtherearealsomanycommonalities.Abelam

artistsarehighly respectedbutonly rarelydotheyserve as

po-litical leaders

Medicine The Abelam have a large body ofknowledge

concerningherbs andplantsinthebushthatwere

tradition-allyusedasremedies forvariousdiseases.Afewoldmen and

women wereconsidered experts andwereconsultedregularly

Under the influence of Western medicine the traditional

knowledge isvanishingrapidly.Apartfrom diseases for which

Abelam knew effective cures, they also recognized others

whichthey traced backto magicand sorcery Forthese no

remedies exceptritualand the supernaturalcouldbe ofhelp

Death andAfterlife Thereisalmostno"natural" death

recognized, apartfrom those oldpeoplewho had been sitting

already for a long time "at the ashes ofa fire." All other

deaths are attributedtomagicand sorcery mostly performed

inother villages Symbols ofpeople'slife souls are kept in

spe-cialized villages As soon as a lethal illness is suspected these arechecked in order to find the cause and originof the sor-ceryperformed After death the corpse is displayed infront of the ceremonial house and awake is held The body is buried thefollowing morning There are many rituals held over

sev-eral years until the soul is eternally freed from its bond tolife

Therearedifferent souls, one associated withblood,one with bones.Thelatter is considered the eternal one, who becomes visible during the night as a shining star

See also latmul, Yangoru Bolken

Bibiography

Forge, Anthony (1966) "Art and Environment in the Sepik." Royal Anthropological Institute, Proceedings for

1965, pp 23-31 London

Kaberry,Phyllis M (1941) "The Abelam Tribe,Sepik

Dis-trict, NewGuinea: APreliminary Report." Oceania

11:233-258, 345-367

Kaberry, Phyllis M (1971) "Political Organization among

theNorthernAbelam.' In Politics in New Guinea, edited by Ronald M Berndtand Peter Lawrence, 35-73 Seattle: Uni-versity of Washington Press

Lea, DavidA M (1969) "Access to Landamong Swidden Cultivators: An Example from NewGuinea."Australian Geo-graphicalStudies 7:137-152

Scaglion, Richard (1981) "Samukundi Abelam Conflict Management: Implications for Legal Planning inPapua New

Guinea." Oceania 52:23-38

Scaglion, Richard (1983)."The 'Coming' of Independence

in Papua New Guinea: AnAbelam View."Journalof the Poly-nesian Society 92:463-486

BRIGrITAHAUSER-SCHAUBLIN

Ajie

ETHNONYMS: Canaque, Houalou, Kanak, Kanaka

Orientation Identificadmi Ajii is one of the major southern languages found in New Caledonia Today, Ajii speakers call them-selves "Kanak," which has deep political meaning for them, because along with the vastmajorityof the othernative peo-ples in New Caledonia, they are asking for independence from France "Canaque' wasintroduced to the territory by Polynesian sailors, and in the local context it had apejorative meaning In the early 1970sthe native peoples ofNew

Cale-doniachangedthespellingto 'Kanak" and this marked the

birth of aBlack-powertype ofconsciousness.Iftheyare

suc-cessful intheirquest forindependence,theirnewcountry will

be named "Kanaky."

Location Ajii isspoken primarilyontheeast coastofNew

Caledonia's main island, La GrandeTerre, from Monio to

Kouaoua inthe HouailouValley, butithasspreadasfaras

Poya.Ajiiis alsospoken orunderstoodbyotherwesternand

southern language groups in New Caledonia, particularly

thoseonthe Ajii'sborder Rainfall distribution reflects the

classical opposition between windward and leeward slopes,

and thisfeatureisaccentuatedbythemountainouscharacter

of the mainisland.Average local rainfall may exceed400cen

timeters inthe eastandmay be less than 100 centimeters in

the west.Seasonal distributionismarkedbymaximum

rain-fallduringthe firstthreemonthsoftheyear,although heavy

daily rainfall is rare The averagetemperature falls between

220Cand 24° C, withFebruarybeingthehottestperiodand

July-Augustthe coolest

Demogiaphy. In 1774, Captain Cook estimated that

there were 60,000 natives on La Grande Terre and other

sourcesguess that there wereanother 20,000inthe Loyalty

Islands at that time Regardlessofthe actualnumbers, itis

clear that every partof the islandswasclaimedoroccupied by

the local population In 1989 the total populationof New

Caledonia was 164,173, ofwhich 73,598 were Kanak The

Kanaks are the largestethnicgroup in the territory(44.8

per-cent of the total population), followed by the Europeans

(33.6 percent), Wallisians (8.6 percent), Indonesians (3.2

percent), Tahitians(2.9percent),Vietnamese(1.5percent),

and Ni-Vanuatu (1 percent) The Ajii are approximately

3,600 or 5 percent of the native population They can be

foundinthe commune ofHoua~louandinthe territorial

cap-ital of Noumea

linguisticAffiliation NewCaledonianlanguagesbelong

to the Eastern Subdivision of the Austronesian languages

There are thirty-twonativelanguages in NewCaledonia,of

whichtwenty-eight arestill spoken Ajii is one of the nine

majorlanguages of the southernlanguage group Itis from

the sameproto-Melanesianrootlanguageasalltheother

lan-guages in NewCaledonia withtheexception ofFaga Uvea,

which is spoken inthenorthand southoftheislandof Ouvea

andhas Polynesian origins

History and Cultural Relations

Accordingtothearchaeologicalrecord,theearliestancestors

of the Kanakscame to NewCaledonia from southeastAsia

between 6,000and5,000years ago.Theybrought with them

slash-and-bumagriculture, irrigation techniques, a

polished-stone tool complex, pottery, and double-pontoon sailing

craft.There wasalso settlement from withinMelanesia,

espe-cially from the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu After 1840

there wasregular contactwithEuropeanand American

whal-ers, merchants, andsandalwoodtradersin addition to British

and French missionaries After New Caledonia was annexed

by France in 1853, tribal lands were expropriated for the

es-tablishmentof apenal colony, settler colonialism, andnickel

mining This systematic andradicalreduction ofKanaklands

meant that theculturallycohesive andcontiguous clan terri

tories of the past were reduced to a shattered collection of

iso-lated communities By the end of the nineteenth century, Kanakswereconfinedtonativereservesandcompelledtodo

corv&e (forced labor) for the settlers and on publicworks

After World War II, colonial policy was liberalized, forced labor was abolished, and the Kanaks were accorded the right

tovote However, in spite of increased politicalparticipation,

the Kanakscontinued tobe economically marginalized as the financial gap between the Kanaks and the rest of the New Caledonian population continued to widen The early 1970s wasa boomperiod for New Caledoniabecauseoftherise in worldnickelprices(theterritory hasone-fourthoftheworld's

nickel deposits) Urbanization increased as therural areas weredrained of labor Thecollapse of the nickelboom in the mid- 1970s led to unemployment and economic recession Kanakyouthsreturned to overcrowded native reserves only to find that there waslittle place for them At this time Kanak demands forparticipation in economic andpoliticaldecision making increased and the Kanak independence movement grew In 1984 the Kanaksboycottedterritorialelections, set

up aprovisional government, anddemanded freedom from French rule and a"Kanaksocialist independence." A settle-ment known as the Matignon Accords was negotiated in

1988 between Kanaks, the settlers, andthe French

govern-ment Thisagreement heralds a ten-year 'peace period" dur-ing which the Frenchgovernment will attempt to redress the socioeconomic inequalities in the territory, particularly by promoting development and training programs in Kanak communities In 1998, atthe end of this ten-yearperiod, New

Caledonianswill be askedtochoose betweenindependence and staying within the Frenchrepublic

Settlements

Ancient settlements were collections ofround men's and women's huts, rectangular collective kitchens, oblong meet-inghouses, and variously shaped ateliers Each woman had a hut whereshe raised her small children These structures were built alongside onelargedwellingknown asbweamwvainAjii, whichwasthesymbolofthe clan This large centraldwelling,

usedby the chief and adult males,was erectedona raised mound with a centralalleyway lined with coconut palms and tropical pinesleadingup to it and two smaller alleyways

flank-ing it The centralalleywayserved as a collective ceremonial ground for activities such as public speeches and yam

redistributionwhile thesmalleralleywayswere used for more intimateritualssuch asceremonial exchangesofshellmoney

Around inland settlements wereyam mounds and irrigated tarogardens onhillsides.It wasthissocialspace of family

res-idences, agricultural lands, water channels, and hunting and gathering territories that formed the basis for ritual, eco-nomic, political, and social action in traditionaltimes

Economy

Subsistence and Conmercial Activities Inland settle-ments cultivated several varieties of bananas, yams, and taro

using elaborate irrigation methods.Yamswere,andstillare, considered 'noble" and were used in ceremonial exchanges in thepast It was the yam's annualcyclethatestablished the rhythm of the Kanak year Fishing was a regular activity for settlements by the sea and on riverbanks In the forest Kanaks gathered fruit, nuts, and palm-tree buds Captain Cook

intro-duced pigs and dogs to the islands and other Europeans

in-8 ARie

troducedavarietyofplant and animal speciesincluding deer,

which the Ajiinowhuntinthe forest Colonization affected

Kanak agriculture dramatically Lands were confiscated by

settlers, gardenswereravaged bymaraudingcattle,and

irriga-tion networks were destroyed by miners The fallow period

wasshortened, which led toerosion andadiminished

pro-ductive capacity Subsistence crops gave wayto cash crops

such ascoffee, which the AjiEbegan producing asearly as

1900 and which remains an important source ofincome

Yams aretheonly crop that has offered some resistance to the

overallregressionofKanaksubsistenceagriculture.A

power-fhl mining andmetallurgical industry coexistswith

agricul-ture in NewCaledonia In addition, tertiary activities have

expanded quicklyinkeepingwith theterritory's highly

devel-oped private andpublicsectors.Oneof the major nickel and

cobalt centers onthe eastcoastwasopenednearthe Ajie's

territory in 1901, andalthough agriculture, fishing, andfor

estry arestill the majoremployers, miningis adosesecond,

followedby publicservice

Industrial Arts Kanaks manufactured various tools,

weapons, and ceremonial objects out of serpentine, which

was collected atthe base ofmountains and inriverbedsby

men.Ceremonial axes were the most important, measuring as

much as 30 centimeters indiameter These items were

pro-duced for ceremonial exchangein Houallou up until 1908

Womenproduced fiberskirts,capes,baskets, mats, and shell

jewelry Thereisevidencetosupportthe idea that thewomen

had theirowncircuitofexchange

Trade Traditionally, each local community was

inte-grated into a largerpoliticalandgeographicalsystemof

alli-ance and exchange In addition to ceremonial exchanges,

trade occurredbetween villagesonthecoastand thoseinthe

interior mountain chain Seafood (including fresh, salted,

and smoked fish) was tradedin aritualized fashion for tubers

(taroand yams) and wild plantsfrom the mountains

Division of Labor The nuclear and extended families

were the basic production unit with neighbors and allies

being calledin tohelp accordingtothesizeof the task The

division of labor occurredaccordingtogenderand age, and

workwasorganizedaccording to aritual, seasonal calendar

overseenby clan elders Both menand womenhunted

sea-food individuallyandcollectivelyusing spears, fishing lines,

and nets Men hunted what little game there was-birds,

bats, and rats-with spears, built hutsand boats,and looked

after yamproduction,irrigationworks,andheavy agricultural

duties The womencollected wood and water, looked after

children, and did the repetitiveagricultural chores such as

weeding Men worked with stone and wood, constructing

tools and weapons, andwomenworked withclayandplant

fi-bers, making pots, mats,baskets,andfiberskirts.Today,

fam-ilies continuetocooperate inagriculture

Land Tenure In traditionaltimes Kanaks maintained

in-dividual rights toland Theywere offour types:

(1)Firstoccupationrights-landbelongedtothefamilythat

first cleared and occupiedthe land

(2) Inheritance rights-amaninherited land from his father

and throughhis father therighttocultivate landinanyof the

successive sitesoccupiedby hispaternal ancestors.

Succes-sion wasusuallymasculine.However,ifa woman wasthe last

in her line, she inheritedaccess toherfamily'sland untilher

son (who then took the name of his maternal grandfather) wasold enough to inherit it

(3) Acquiredrights-through marriage a manestablished a relationship with his brothers-in-law who could thengivehim someoftheir land A man could also give land to his allies if

he was unable to give a sister or daughter in marriage exchange

(4) Ceded rights-even though the first cultivators of thesoil always had rights over that land, they could welcome new-comers orharbor refugees on that land and givethem the

righttosettle there on a temporary or permanent basis Land claims have been a central issue in the independence

struggle and the French government has set up a series of land development agencies to deal with the problem but the population pressure in the Kanak reserves continues to mount Although theAjii are approximately 80 percent of the population in the commune ofHouailou, the native re-servescoveronly 20 percent of the land

Kinship

Kin Groups and Descent The nuclear family was the basic unit of Kanak society The family wasincorporated into

anextended family (usually three generations deep), lineage, and clanthat did not represent territorial groups but rather successively larger patrilineal units sharing the same rites and symbols and the same marriage customs Extended families wereassembled into wider groups of affiliation by reference to

a common place (homestead mound) oforigin Genealogy wasspatially manifested by routes marked by a succession of occupied sites or mounds, and within each clan the lineages were positioned hierarchically according tothe antiquity of their first residence in the genealogical itinerary During the colonial period, clans were arbitrarily associated with a terri tory so that previously social groupings became geographic groupings on reserves

KinshipTerminology On La GrandeTerre there were at least two distinct kinship systems In the first system, in

Hienghene, Balade, Pouebo, and Voh,all sisters and female crossandparallelcousins werecalled by the same term The unique attribute of this system was itsasymmetry, as a father's sister's husband wascalled maternal uncle even though his

wife (father's sister) wascalledmother Inthesecond system,

adistinction was made between consanguines and affines, that is, between sistersand female cross and parallel cousins

Marriage and Family

Marriage Each man and woman had aseries of obligatory and optional social actions in terms ofresidence and mar-riage Marriagetraditionally was exogamous, patrilineal, and between cross cousins However, the system wasflexible Dis-tantcousins married and sometimes it was sufficient just to

be symbolic cross cousins Residence was usually virilocal; however, uxorilocal residence was always an option Mar-riageswerenegotiated by families ofsimilar rankthrougha

se-riesof ceremonial exchanges, andalthoughthere are"love"

marriages occurringtoday, many young people, particularly thoseof chiefly rank, still have arranged marriages Polygamy was sometimes practiced, but because of the influence of

Christianity monogamy is nowthe rule and divorce is not

common,althoughcouplessometimesseparate and take up

common-lawrelationships with other partners

Domestic Unit The nuclearfamilyisthe basic socialunit

Childrenmove aroundfrequently among relatives andit is

notuncommon for a childless family to receivechildren to

raise astheir own Olderparentswilllive withoneof their

children

Inheritance Underthecurrentsystemreservelandis

inal-ienableandisownedcollectively,andthereforeoneinherits

therightofaccess tolandinthereserveratherthan the land

itself Homes and movable property are inherited by the

spouseandchildren

Socialization Children are raised by both parents,

sib-lings,andother relatives Childrenaretaughttorespect clan

elders andit is the elders who will collectively discipline a

wayward youth.Boys arebroughtupthrougha seriesof

initia-tion rites and girls receive instruction during menstrual

seclusion

Sociopolitical Organization

New Caledonia is an overseas territory of France and itis

ruled through the office of thehighcommissioner.The

terri-tory has some autonomyover regional matters, but France

controls all areas ofeducation, defense,lawandorder,justice,

etc Today, everyone in New Caledonia is considered a

French citizen

SocialOrganization. The traditional social structure was

closely related to a set ofspatial reference points such as

homesteadmounds,inhabitedplaces,andvariousother

nat-uralfeatures,all of whichwerecarefullyinventoried and

de-limitedtherightsof the humanpopulationover itslandsand

waters Those people descended from the first homestead

moundsoccupiedbytheclanwereconsideredclaneldersand

they were consultedonall moralissues (e.g.,landdisputes)

andmatrimonialmatters Ceremonial exchanges reinforced

families' social and political identity vis-i-vis one another

Forexample, maternal andpaternalkin-grouprelationswere

defined by theceremonialexchangessurroundingbirth,

mar-riage, and death

PoliticalOrganizaion. Headsoflineageswereseen asthe

guardians of the social and symbolic relations that united

families into communal and regional political alliances

These'chiefs"were alsofocalpoints in aredistribution

net-work.They receivedapart of the first yam harvest anda

cer-tain portion of all theland animals andfishcaught. Some

haveseen theseofferingsas atype oftributebutinfactthe

chiefquickly redistributed these offerings and sometimes

even supplemented the redistributionwithfood fromhis own

garden Chiefs were reduced by colonial civil service into

labor-recruitment officers and tax-collection agents.The

ter-ritory is now divided intothirty-two districtsknownas

com-munes and organized into three provinces that send elected

officials to a territorialcongress Alarge number of

tradi-tional chiefshave entered themodem politicalarena

Social Control The structural model for Kanak society

was the family where the juniorfamilymemberswereunder

theauthority of the senior members.Similarly,juniorlineages

traditionallyowed'service'toelderonesandconverselythe

elders hadresponsibilities toward the cadet lineages, just as adults wereresponsiblefor thewell-beingof the children who owed themobedience

Conflict Prior toFrenchoccupation,Kanakmen engaged

in clan warfare.The Kanaks also strongly resisted French oc-cupation,killingsettlers andmissionaries The largest rebel-lion against French presence took place in 1878 when the

Kanaksalmostregained controlof their islands In the twen-tieth century, the clash of Kanak nationalism against the mass of entrenchedsettlers has catapulted the territory into

world headlines

Religion and Expressive Culture ReligHi Beliefs The majority ofAjii were converted to

Christianityin theearly1900sby thefamousFrench Protes-tant missionary and ethnologist, Maurice Leenhardt, who built his churchand school in the heart ofAjiiterritory Prior

to that, theAjiihad a number of important totems such as theshark,thecaterpillar,thelizard,andthunder In the

tradi-tionalreligionthegodsinhabited allimportant geographical features ofthe Kanak landscape-mountain summits, river sources, grottos, etc Each clan had its own gods that had given birth to the clan ancestors orwith whom theclan an-cestors had formed alliances It was these gods who gave powertohumanritualsandsymbols.Gods were worshipped

onclan altars, andeachtime aclanchangedlocationthe clan gods were moved to the new site Spirits of the dead also were believed to roam the Kanak landscapeand to be dangerous to

humanactivities

Religious Practitioners Each clan had a special magic knowledge that they specialized in Within the clan there were alsospecialists who dealt with specific magic and rituals such as preparingthe gardens for planting or the warriors for

battle Sorceryexisted butit wasnotpracticedby specialists; rather, it wasavailableto all who caredto use it since it was occult power and not the person that was the source of the ill will

Ceremonies Themostelaborate ceremonywas thepilou pilot,which couldtakethree to fouryears of preparation and last several weeks It was the culmination of Kanak social life, expressing the vitality of the host clan and its alliances through orations, collective feasting, dancing, and a distribu-tionof ceremonial objects and food

Arts Petroglyphs have been found in New Caledonia; however, their origins remain uncertain Kanak sculpture was primarily part ofthe architecture of the large central dwelling: carved supportposts, ridgeposts, and doorways Elaborate ar-rowheads were the main art form and representation of the clan ancestors was the principal theme.The male artists were specialists andrecognizedas such Thereputationof a well-known artistwould continue after his death Kanaks also pos-sessed a rich oraltradition of historical tales, myths, humor-ous and moral stories, poetry, and proverbs Kanak music consistedofsongs and percussionmusic Dances were often narrative, a choreographed version of a traditional activity such as fishing oryam production Men and women both

par-ticipatedin thecollectivedances thataccompanied all cere-monial events and were part of the preparations for battle

Medicine Illness was associatedwith atotem: for exam-ple, weight losswith the lizard, hysteria with the caterpillar,

10 Ajie

swelling with the shark, anemia with the rat Each illness

could be cured by aspecificherb that would bechewed or

choppedandthensucked on Theherbacted on thetotem,

notthe illness Plantsfrom theforest, fish andplantsfrom

thesea,andsometarospecieswerealsousedformedicinal

purposes inpoultices, infusions,etc

Death andAfterife Thespirits of the deadinhabitedan

underworld and could surface at times In order toensure

thattheydidnottakeup residence intheirformerbodies,the

Kanaks boundcorpses in fetal positions Mothers wereburied

withawooden sticksothattheywouldthinkthattheyhada

child intheirarmsandwould not comelooking fortheir

off-spring.Geographicalfeatures that weretraditionally believed

tobethe gateways to theunderworldremainknownand

re-spected and arestilltheobjectofofferings and prayer This

practice is part of theAjii'sunique bond with the land

SeealsoLoyalty Islands

Bibliography Clifford,J.(1982) Person andMyth:MauriceLeenhardt in the

Melanesian World Berkeley: University of California Press

Connell,J. (1987).NewCaledonia orKanaky?The Political

History of a French Colony Australia National Center for

DevelopmentStudies, AustralianNationalUniversity.

Leenhardt,M.(1979).Do Kamo:PersonandMythinthe

Mel-anesian World Chicago: UniversityofChicagoPress

Thompson,V.,and R.Adloff(1971). The FrenchPacific

Is-lands:French Polynesia and New Caledonia.Berkeley:

Univer-sityof California Press

Ward, A (1982) Land and Politicsin NewCaledonia

Aus-tralia Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian

Na-tional University

DONNA WINSLOW

Ambae

ETHNONYMS: aBai, Angai Tagaro,Aoba,Butona, Leper's

Is-land, Lombaha, Longana, Nduindui, Oba, Omba, Opa,

Waluriki

Orientation

Identification. Ambae is an island that has had many

names. The earliest European who wrote on the region

adopted the explorer Bougainville's designationofthe island

as liedeLepreuxorLeper'sIsle;after1880,mostEuropean

writersusedoneoffive variantspellings ofAoba, usually

pro-nounced Omba Peopleon the islandinsistthatAobais a

name of nonindigenousorigin, possibly a European

misap-propriationof the local word for"seabird." In1980,nearthe

time of Vanuatu's Independence, the Aoba Council of Chiefsofficially renamed the island Ambae Acrimonious de-bate between customary chiefs andWestern-educatedyoung

leaders preceded the council's decision to give the island a new name.OnAmbae, as in many parts of Vanuatu,

knowl-edgeofaplace's 'true' name is a vital aspect of establishing control over the placeitself

Location Ambae is situated in northern Vanuatu between

167°40'and167°46'E and between 15°13'and15'24'S It

hasatotalland area of 399 squarekilometersand is one of thelargest islandsin northern Vanuatu Itsvolcano (which is dormantratherthanextinct) has a centralcalderathat rises

to 1,300 meters withcloudcoverabove 450 meters Erup-tionshaveoccurred in small craters along the NE-SW spine

of the island The mostrecent spilled down the northeast coast in theearly 1900s There are nopermanent rivers on Ambae but lack ofwater seldom is aproblem, evenduring the dryseasonfrom ApriltoOctober parts of the island receive

up to 400centimeters of rainfall per year Dark volcanic loam carpets much of the island, and in most years Ambaeans enjoy a rich harvest of root crops, greenvegetables, fruit,and nuts Two shoulders of the central mountain separate the eastern and western sides of the island The mountainous

ter-rain makes foot travel between East andWestAmbaediffi cult, and there is little trade or intermarriagebetweenpeople living on the two sides of the island

Demography In 1885, a British colonial official esti mated thepopulationofAmbae to be between 10,000 and 12,000; however, a 1919 census recorded only 4,000 people living on the island According to the last official census in

1979, the island's population of 7,754 resides in 306 separate localities The two halves of the island have roughly equal numbers ofinhabitants,but two-thirds of thepopulation of WestAmbaelive inNduindui, a densely settled area of 18.2 square kilometers over which households are more or less

evenly distributed Throughout the rest of the island, clus-tered householdsform hamlets.Typically, these include three

or four nuclear families Forexample, in Longana in 1982,

hamletsize averaged 16 people Occasional hamlet clusters, such asdevelop aroundachurch,may have populations that

approach 100.Hamlets are scatteredalongthecoast andin the hills, up to a maximum of about 3 kilometers inland

LinguisticAffiliation Thereare twolanguagesspoken on the island, Nduindui (West Ambae) and Northeast Aoban (EastAmbae) Both aremultidialectal on theeastern

por-tion of the island alone,linguists have found overfifteen dia-lects People from East and West Ambae understand each other's native language only with difficulty and usually com-municate with each other in Bislama, the lingua franca of Vanuatu

History and Cultural Relations

On 23 May1768,Louis deBougainvillebecame the first Eu ropean to lead alandingparty to the rocky shores of Ambae

He was dispatched back to his vessels with avolleyof stones and arrows Almost acentury elapsed before other Europeans visited the island and,from firstcontact until independence

in 1980, whites in thearchipelago stereotypedAmbaeansas intractable and sometimes violent Conversion to Christian-ityreached apeakin the1930s.MostWestAmbaeansjoined