Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 2 - Oceania - H,I docx

Hawaiian houses were thatched from ground to roof ridge with native grass or sugarcane leaves.. Significant numbersofHawaiiansalso live on leased house lots ingovernment-sponsored Hawaii

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ETHNONYM: Hawaiian Islanders

Orientation

Identification Hawaiiansaretheindigenous people of the

HawaiianIslands Nowadisadvantagedminority intheirown

homeland, theyarethe descendants ofEastern Polynesians

who originated in the Marquesas Islands The name

'Hawai'i" is thatof thelargest islandinthechain Itcame to

refertotheaboriginal people ofthearchipelagobecausethe

firstWesternvisitorsanchoredat thatisland andinteracted

predominantlywith Hawai'i Island chiefs

Location The populated Hawaiian Islandsarelocated

be-tween 15°and 200 Nand 160° and 1550W.The climateis

temperate tropical, and weathered volcanic features

domi-nate the terrain. Rainfall and soil fertilitymay vary

signifi-candybetween the windward and leeward sides of the islands

Demography The aboriginal population isestimated at

250,000-300,000 Because ofrecurrentepidemics of

intro-duced diseases, thenative population hadbeen reducedby

at least 75 percent by 1854 In the late 1880s Hawaiians

wereoutnumbered byimmigrant sugarworkers.Accordingto

the state's enumeration, Hawaiians today number about

175,000,or 19percentof thestate's population Because of

historically highratesof Hawaiianexogamy'pure'Hawaiians

number only about 9,000

Linguistic Affiliation Hawaiian is closely related to

Marquesan,Tahitian, and Maori TheuseofHawaiianwas

suppressedinislandschools during the territorial period, and

thelanguage fell intodisuseduringthe mid-twentieth

cen-tury.FewHawaiianscanspeak thelanguage today.The

collo-quiallanguage ofmostHawaiiansisHawai'iIslandsCreole,

informally knownas"Pidgin." Since the 1970s theUniversity

of Hawaii has beenthecenterofattempts to revivethe

Ha-waiianlanguage through education.Afew hundredchildren

are enrolled in language-immersion preschools where only

Hawaiianisspoken

History and Cultural Relations

Thedate of firstcolonization is constantlybeing revised,but

Polynesians are believed to have reached Hawai'i by about

AD. 300 There mayhave been multiplesettlement voyages,

buttwo-waytravelbetweenHawai'i and other islandgroups

was never extensive.Bythetimeof CaptainJamesCook's

ar-rivallatein 1778,the Hawaiianchieftainship had evolveda

high order of politicalcomplexity and stratification,withthe

Mauiand Hawai'iIsland dynastiesvying tocontrolthe

east-ern portionofthearchipelago.Intheir firstencounterswith

the Hawaiians Cook'smen introduced venereal disease At

Kealakekua,ontheleewardside ofHawai'iIsland,Cookwas

greetedasthereturninggodLono,but hewaslater killedin a

skirmish over a stolen longboat Europeans nevertheless

beganto usethe islandsas a provisions stop,for Hawai'iwas

uniquely wellsituatedtosupply the furtrade and,later, North

Pacificwhalers.TheHawaiianchiefsbecameavidly involved

inforeign trade, seeking to accumulate weapons,

ammuni-tion,andluxurygoods.In 1795 Kamehameha,a juniorchief

of Hawai'i Island, defeated the Mauichiefs in a decisive

bat-tie onO'ahuIsland,thereby unifying thewindwardisles.This date is taken tomark the beginning of the Hawaiian kingdom and Hawai'i's transition from chiefdom to state An astute andstrong-willed ruler, Kamehameha consolidated hisrule and established a bureaucratic government His successors wereweaker and were continuallypressured by foreign resi-dents and bullied by colonial governments High-ranking chieflywomenand theirsupporters convincedKamehameha

11to abolish theindigenousreligion shortlyafter his father's death in 1819 Congregationalist missionaries arrived a few months later and came to exert tremendousinfluenceon the

kingdom'slawsandpolicies In the 1840sresidentforeigners

persuaded Kamehameha IIItoreplacethetraditionalsystem

of land tenure with Western-style private landed property

Theresultingland division, the 'Great Mihele," was a disas-ter for the Hawaiian people Theking, thegovernment, and majorchiefs received most of the land, with only 29,000 acres going to 80,000 commoners At the same time foreigners

weregiven the righttobuy andownproperty.Withinafew

decadesmostHawaiianswerelandlessasforeignresidents ac-cumulated large tracts forplantations andranches The 1875 ReciprocityTreatywiththe UnitedStatesensured the

profit-abilityofsugar.Plantersimportedwaves oflaborersfromAsia andEurope, and Hawaiiansbecameanumerical minority A clique of white businessmen overthrew the last monarch, Queen Lili'uokalani, in 1893 Although President Grover Cleveland urged that the monarchy be restored, Congress took no actionandannexationfollowedin 1898.While de-scendants of the Asian sugarworkershave lived the

Ameri-candream inHawai'i, native Hawaiians sufferedincreasing

povertyandalienationduring the territorialperiod.Hawaiian

radicalismand cultural awareness have beenontheupsurge since the mid-1970s.Citingthe precedent of American In-dian tribal nations, activists now demand similar status for Hawaiians, and themovementforHawaiiansovereigntyhas gained increasing credibility among the state's political leaders

Settlements

In precontact timesHawaiianslived indispersed settlements along the coasts and inwindwardvalleys Inlandand moun-tain areas were sparsely populated Hawaiian houses were thatched from ground to roof ridge with native grass or

sugarcane leaves Commonerhouses were low andsparsely

furnishedwith coarse floor mats.Thedwellings of the chiefs were morespacious, with floors and walls covered thickly with fine matsand bark cloth Because of taboos mandating the separation of men and women in certain contexts, a house-hold compound consisted of several dwellings for sleeping and eating The most importantdevelopments affecting

Ha-waiianssince themid-nineteenthcentury havebeenland

al-ienationandurbanization SmallHawaiiansubsistence

com-munities practicing fishing and farming persist in isolated rural areas of Maui, Moloka'i, and Hawai'i OnO'ahu, the leeward Waianae coast is a center of Hawaiian settlement Significant numbersofHawaiiansalso live on leased house lots ingovernment-sponsored Hawaiian Home Lands

com-munities within thecity of Honolulu.Dwellingsin thestyleof

plantation housingpredominateinworking-class communi-ties and neighborhoods throughout Hawai'i, and Hawaiian

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settlementsare noexceptiontothis pattern Inmost

Hawai-ian villages and neighborhoods the houses are of single,

walledwood construction, sometimes raisedoff the ground

onpilings,withcorrugatedironroofs.Rural Hawaiians may

have small houses forcookingandbathingbehind themain

dwelling,apatternthat appearstobeaholdoverfrom

Polyne-sianculture

Economy Substence and CommercialActivines The first

Poly-nesian settlers in Hawai'i subsisted largely on marine

re-sources Inthe ensuing centuries the Hawaiiansdeveloped

extensiveandhighly productive agriculturalsystems.The

sta-ple foodwastaro,astarchyrootthat the Hawaiianspounded

and mashedinto a paste called poi Inwetlandvalleys taro

was grown in irrigated pond fields resemblingrice paddies

Intricate networks of ditches brought water into the taro

patches, some of which doubled as fish ponds In thelate

precontactperiod,concurrentwith increasingpolitical

com-plexity, large walledfishpondswereconstructedinoffshore

areas.Thesewerereserved forchieflyuse.The leesidesofthe

islands supported extensive field systems where Hawaiians

grewdry-land taro,sweetpotatoes,breadfruit, and bananas

The Polynesiansbroughtpigs,dogs,andchickenstoHawai'i

Goatsand cattlewereintroducedbyWesternersbefore1800

Intheearly 1800s, toavoidthechiefs' growing demandson

theruralpopulace,someHawaiians turnedtoseafaring,

ped-dling, andvariousjobsinthe ports Theshift from rural

sub-sistencetowagelaborintensifiedinthe latter half of the

cen-tury.Hawaiians-menandwomen-made up the bulk of the

sugar plantation labor forceuntil after 1875 Accordingto

1980state figures, about23 percentof Hawaiians todayare

employedinagriculture.Someareindependentsmallfarmers

whoproducethe traditionalstaple, taro, for sale to markets

But most Hawaiians are engagedinservicejobs Hawaiians

areunderrepresentedinmanagementandprofessional

occu-pations and overrepresented asbus drivers, police officers,

and fire fighters

IndustrialArts IndigenousHawaiian craftsincludedmat

and bark-clothmaking, featherwork, andwoodworking.

Trade Althoughthe traditionalHawaiianlocalgroupwas

largely self-sufficient, there was specialization and internal

tradeincanoes, adzes, fishlines,salt, and fine mats Inthe

postcontact period Hawaiians have tended to leave store

keepingand commerce toother ethnic groups

Division of Labor Mostagriculturallaborwasperformed

by men in ancientHawai'i,aswaswoodworkingand adz

man-ufacture Womenmade bark cloth forclothingandmatsfor

domesticfurnishings, chiefly tribute,andexchange.Mendid

thedeep-sea fishing while women gathered inshore marine

foods In most Hawaiian families today both spouses have

salariedjobs outside the home

Land Tenure In the native Hawaiian conception land

was not owned but"caredfor."Use andaccessrightswere

al-located throughthe social hierarchyfrom thehighestchiefs

totheir local land supervisorsandthence tocommoners.The

most importantadministrativeunit wasalandsectioncalled

theahupua'a,whichideallyranfrom themountaintothesea

and containeda full range ofproductivezones. Typically a

household hadrightsin avarietyofmicroenvironments.The

introduction of private land titles resulted in widespread dispossessioninpart because Hawaiians did not understand the implications of alienable property. The lands of the Kamehameha chiefly family descended to Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, whose estate supports the Kamehameha SchoolsinHonolulu for theeducationof Hawaiian children The Hawaiian Home Lands, established by Congress in

1920,areleasedtopersons who can prove 50 percent Hawai-ian ancestry Originally conceived as a 'back to the land"

farming program, the Hawaiian Home Lands are nowused

primarilyforhouselots

Kinship Kin Groups and Descent There were no corporate kin groups among Hawaiians atthe time of contact The chiefs couldtracetheirgenealogies back many generations through bilateral links,opportunistically linking themselves to paric-ularancestral lines as the political situation demanded Com-monersrecognized shallow bilateralkindreds augmented by stipulated and fictive kin

Kinship Terminology In theHawaiian language no

dis-tinction ismade between parents and parents' collateralkin Same-sexsiblings areranked by relative age, but brother and

sister areterminologically unranked

Marriage and Family Marriage In pre-Christian Hawai'i both sexes enjoyed near-complete freedom to initiate and terminate sexual

at-tachments Marriage was unmarked by ceremony and was

hardlydistinguished from cohabitation and liaisons, except

inchiefly unions The birth of children was the more impor-tantceremonial occasion Marrying someone of higher rank was the ideal for both men and women Polygyny was the norm among the ruling chiefs, permissible but infrequent amongthe common people Postmarital residence was deter-minedbypragmatic considerations

Domestic Unit Both commoners and chiefs lived in large extended-family household groups with fluid composition Theindigenous religion mandated that men and women had

tohave separate dwelling houses and could not eat together Inheritance Men were more likely to inherit land rights than women, while women were privileged in the inheritance

of the family's spiritual property and knowledge Since the legal changes of the nineteenth century land inheritance among Hawaiians has been mostly bilateral

Socialization In Hawaiian families today grandparents have an especially close relationship with their grandchildren, andthey frequentlytakeover parenting duties As in other Polynesian societies, children may be adopted freely without emotionalturmoil or secretiveness Emphasis isplaced on re-spect forage and mutual caring between family members

Sociopolitical Organization

At the time ofWestern contact in 1778 the Hawaiian islands were politically divided into several competing chiefdoms Hawai'i was anindependentkingdomfrom1795 to 1893 and

a United Statesterritoryfrom 1898 until statehood in 1959 Social Organization Precontact Hawai'i was a highly stratified society wherethechiefs were socially and ritually set

A

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apartfromthe commonpeople Rankwasbilaterally

deter-mined and chiefly women wielded considerable authority

The commonercategorywasinternally egalitarian.

PoliticalOrganizatio. Each islandwas dividedinto

dis-trictsconsisting of several ahupua'a landsections Districts

andahupua'awereredistributedby successfulchiefstotheir

followers afteraconquest The chief thenappointedalocal

land agent to superviseproduction andmaintenance of the

irrigation system Thecommoners materially supported the

chiefswithtributeatritually prescribedtimes.Rebellions and

powerstruggles were common In legendary historiescruel

andstingy chiefs are deserted bytheirpeopleandoverthrown

bytheirkinderyoungerbrothers

Social Control The chiefs had absolute authority over

commoners.They couldconfiscatetheirpropertyorputthem

to deathforviolating ritualprohibitions Inpractice,

how-ever, chiefs were constrainedby theirrelianceonthe

underly-ingpopulace ofproducers InHawaiian communities today

thereis no sense ofinborn rank and anegalitarianethic

pre-vails Pretensionsareleveledbythe use ofgossip and

tempo-rary ostracism

Conflict Warfare wasendemicinthe Hawaiian

chieftain-ship in the century ortwo preceding Cook's arrivaL After

Kamehameha'sconquest the Hawaiian warrior ethicdeclined

tothe extent that themonarchycould be overthrown in 1893

by a company of marines Interpersonalconflictsamong

Ha-waiians todaytypify the tensions presentinanysmall-scale

community,andtheyareforthe most part resolvedthrough

theinterventionoffamilyand friends Hawaiiansarevery

re-luctant to call in outside authorities to resolve local-level

conflicts

Religion and Expressive Culture

Thereligiondescribedinethnohistorical sources waslargely

the province ofmale chiefs Sacrificial rites performed by

priests at monumental temples served to legitimate chiefly

authority

Religious Beliefs Chiefs were genealogically linked to

gods andwerebelievedtohave sacred power(mana).Under

what wascalledthekapu system women weredenied many

choicefoods and could not eat with men.Pre-Christian

be-liefspersisted at the local level long after thechieflysacrificial

religion wasoverthrown.Theindigenousreligion recognized

four major gods and at least one major goddess identified

withthe earth and procreation Ku, thegod of war, fishing,

and other male pursuits, was Kamehameha's patron deity.

Another god, Lono, represented the contrasting ethos of

peace and reproduction Womenworshipped their own

pa-tron goddesses Commoners made offerings to ancestral

guardian spirits at their domestic shrines Deities were also

associated with particular crafts and activities Although

Congregationalists were the first to missionize inHawai'i,the

sect has few adherentsamong Hawaiians today Roman

Ca-tholicism has attracted many Hawaiians, as have small

Prot-estant churches emphasizing personal forms of worship

Religious Practitioners Before the kapu abolition

younger brothers normativelyserved their seniors as priests

Majordeities had their own priesthoods.Thevolcano

god-dess Pele is said to have had priestesses.Amongthe

common-ers there were experts in healing and sorcery, known as

'Kihuna,"and suchspecialists are still utilizedby Hawaiians

today

Ceremonies The Hawaiian ritualcalendarwasbasedon lunar phases Ku ruled the land for eight months of the year Lonoreigned for four winter monthsduring theMakahihd fes-tival when warfare was suspended andfertility was celebrated Arts Chiefly men were sometimes tattooed, but this was not ageneral customand most of thedetailshave beenlost The carved wooden idols of the gods are artistically impres-sive, but few survived thedramatic end of the native religion The hula, the indigenous dance form, had numerousstyles rangingfrom sacred paeans to erotic celebrations of fertility Variouspercussioninstruments used induded drums, sticks, bamboo pipes, pebbles (like castanets), gourds, rattles, and splitbamboo pieces

Medicine Hawaiians today utilize Western medicine but may also consult healersandspiritualspecialists, some linked

toHawaiian culturalprecedent and otherssyncretic, drawing

on otherethnic traditions Hawaiians are particularly prone

tospiritpossession,and many believe that evil thoughts have material consequences onother people Illness is linked to so-cialgrievances or imbalances

Death andAfterlife Ancient Hawaiians secreted remains

of the dead in burial caves Thedeceased's personal power or mana was believed to resideinthe bones Chiefs were particu-larlyconcerned that their enemies notfind their remains and showdisrespect tothem after death.Those who broke the ta-boos, on the other hand, were killed and offered to the gods, andtheir remains were allowed to decompose on the temple Seealso Marquesas, Tahiti

Bibliography

Kirch, Patrick V (1985) Feathered Gods and Fishhooks: An Introduction to Hawaiian Archaeology and Prehistory.

Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press

Kuykendall, Ralph S (1938) The Hawaiian Kingdom Vol 1, 1778-1854 Honolulu: UniversityofHawaiiPress

Linnekin,Jocelyn(1985) Children of the Land: Exchange and Status in a Hawaiian Community New Brunswick, N.J.: RutgersUniversity Press

Valeri,Valerio (1985) Kingship and Sacrifice: Ritual and Soci-ety in Ancient Hawaii.Chicago:UniversityofChicago Press

JOCELYN LINNEKIN

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98 larmul

latmul

ETHNONYM:Yatmul

Orientation Identification The latmul live along the banks of the

MiddleSepikRiverinthe EastSepikProvince ofPapuaNew

Guinea

Location TheMiddleSepikarea is dominatedbythe

me-anderingriver thatregularlyfloods the wholevalleyand

con-tinuouslychangesits course as it flows from west to east into

the Bismarck Sea During thewet season, extremely heavy

rains raisethewaterlevel4-6 meters, turning the whole

re-gion into alake that extendsfarintothe northerngrasslands

(turning them into swamp) and to the Sepik Hills in the

south.Floatinggrassislands,sometimeswith wholetreesand

birdsonthem,aretypicalforthatseason as therising

flood-waters tearoffpartsof riverbanks andcarrythemdownstream

untiltheyget stuck somewhere else latmul territory begins

about 230 kilometers up from the mouth of theSepik and

endsabout 170kilometers fartherupstream.The latmullead

analmostamphibianway oflifewithin the two main seasons,

wetand dry, eachlastingfor five months withtwo

intermedi-atemonths inbetween

Demography. The latmul number about10,000,and

clas-sifythemselvesintothreeterritorialsubgroups:eastern

(Wo-liagui),central(Palimbei),andwestern(Nyaura) Duringthe

last fewyears manylatmul have left the MiddleSepik,with

nearly 50percentofthepopulation todaylivingelsewherein

Papua NewGuinea, temporarilyor even permanently.There

are latmulcolonies, sometimes ofconsiderable size, in the

towns ofWewak, Madang,and Rabaul (onNew Britain)

LUnguisticAffiliation latmulisjoinedwithAbelam,

Boi-ken, Sawos,and otherPapuanlanguagesintheNduFamily

of the Sepik-Ramu Phylum

History and Cultural Relations

The latmul believethattheyalloriginated fromaholeinthe

groundinSawos (Gaikundi) territory. Other oraltraditions

tell ofdrifting down theriver on rafts, having started

some-whereinthewest.The Sepik Basinis,from thepointofview

of geology,relativelyyoung,havingachievedits present

char-acteraround 1,000years ago.Thewholearea wasflooded by

theseauntilabout 5,000years ago;onlygradually, whenthe

coastline withdrew untilit reached its present location, did

the alluvial plains form and marine conditions change to

those of freshwater. Linguistic andarchaeological evidence

suggests that the Ndu speakers came down into the Sepik

Basinfromasoutherntributary.TheSepikRiver(calledthe

Kaiserin-Augusta-FlussduringGerman colonialtimes) was a

main passagewayfor colonialadministratorstravelingupriver

by ship DuringGermanrule the first officialSepik

explora-toryexpeditiontookplacein1886,andit wasfollowedby

sev-eral others.After World War 1,when Ambunti Patrol Post

was established, the newAustralian administration tried to

suppress head-hunting They finally succeeded in the

mid-1930sbypublicly executingconvicted latmul warriors. The

pacification of thelatmul-a cultureinwhich much

empha-sis wasplacedonmale aggression andhead-hunting raids-broughtfar-reaching culturalchange from the outside world Iatmulvillages wereincontinuouscontactwithneighboring groups tothe northandsouth, oftenin asymbiotic subsist-ence relationship with the latmul trading turtles and fish in

exchange for sago The Sawos were regarded as nurturing mothers in this regard Women conducted the trade while

men wereinvolved injoint rituals withneighboring groups

Settlements

latmulvillages, containing 300-1,000 people,arebuilt high

on riverbanks Villages often consist of three distinct sec-tions,with amen'shouse in the center Houses were often builtintwo rows,parallelto orat aright angletothe course of theriver The men'shousewasusually builtinthe center of

an open space, the dancing ground Older latmul men's

houses,which werehugebuildings up to 20 meters high and

40meterslong, are among the most impressive architectural

achievementsin New Guinea.Theyservedasmen'sassembly housesindailylife andasreligiouscentersduringrituals The dancing ground contained a ceremonial mound on which heads weredisplayed when brought back from a successful raid Eachsectionof the tripartite village ownedalong war canoethat was asymbol of its cooperation during warfare, as was the ceremonial house for ritual life The whole village

usuallyconstitutedadefensive unit, whereas only a section of

it mayhave made araid on an enemy village A village often was surrounded by fences and watchtowers Traditionally, latmul houses were huge pile dwellings with the families of brothers living together in one house Clans are classified intomoieties, a fact that can be recognized in the layout of thevillage and the distribution of the houses there

Economy Subsistence and Commercial Activities Traditionally the latmul were mainly hunters and gatherers, depending on fish andsago, with horticulture a secondary activity as the gardens on riverbanks are often inundated before the root crops(yams andtaro) are ripe Bananas and coconuts are reg-ularly consumed The hunting of game (wild pigs, crocodiles,

and, rarely, cassowaries)ispracticedonlyirregularly Fishing

ismainly women's work, using hooks, nets, and traps; when menfishtheyusespears.Among women there is aninformal systemof redistributionthatprovides fish to women who are unable toleavetheir houses because of illness, menstruation,

childbirth, or old age Although most latmul villages have sagostands,theyhave neverbeen productive enough to

guar-antee acontinuoussupply.Therefore,latmuldepend on sago producedby Sawosvillages to the north and by some Sepik Hills villages to the south Every few days latmul women transport fresh and smoked fish in their canoes to market places, most of which are located in Sawos territory There, theybarter fish for sago with women from bush villages The women's trading expeditions take a full day and are carried out mostly by elderly women who are commissioned by youngerwomen todo the bartering for them

IndustrialArts andTrade Mostlatmulvillages specialize

in theproduction of different kinds of goods that are used for trading.Aibomiswell knownfor pottery, which traditionally

wastraded forsago throughout the latmul area; today it is

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soldfor moneyaswell.Chambri,anon-latmul border village

tothesouth, specializesinfirmly plaitedmosquitobags

man-ufacturedbywomen InallSepik villages,wheremosquitoes

and malaria areendemic, thesebagsareusedbyentire

fami-lies sleeping inthemcommunally. Tambunum isrenowned

for its plaited bags, alsoproduced bywomen, with various

col-oredpatterns.latmulcarvingsareamong themost artistic in

NewGuinea Menbeganproducingtheminlargequantities

when theyfound earlytravelers andartdealersinterested in

them.Anthropologistsarguethat latmul attainedsuperiority

andcontrolovertheirneighbors by beinga'culturalfactory,"

producing sacred artifacts, spells, and knowledge and then

exportingthem.However, noreliableinformationconfirming

thiscanbefound,except foranexchangeofritualitemsthat

must have taken place in both directions as indicated by

Abelam paintings collected by early German explorers in

latmulvillages.Asfaras canbedetermined, irregular trading

expeditions tookplace up southern tributaries andviceversa,

with paint, edibleearth,andbarkusedfor medicinalpurposes

importedfrom theseareas.Shellrings,turtleshellornaments,

andothervaluablesarrived inthe MiddleSepik throughthe

AbelamandSawosregions and alsofromthe upper regions of

theSepikRiver Stone blades as wellaspearlshellscamefrom

thehighlands tothe south

DivisionofLabor Subsistenceactivities,mainlythe

gath-eringoffishandsago, arecarriedoutbywomen Menmake

almost allimplementsusedfor subsistence (canoes, paddles,

and tools forsagoproduction) except fish traps, nets, and

bags Menbuildthehousesand are alsotheritualspecialists

Land Tenure Lagoons and the openriver areconsidered

the property of thevillages.Clansownrightstospecific

fish-ing and gatherfish-ing locales Garden land is also owned by clans

or lineages and isallottedamong the male members of the

clanat the end of eachflood season

Kinship

Kin Groups and Descent. latmul patrilineal clans

(ngaiva) are theorganizationalbasis of the social order Most

clans areorganizedintopairs,withoneconsideredthe elder

brother and the othertheyounger,bothtracing their origin to

a pair ofbrothers whoarethefoundingancestors

Genealo-gies are important evidence oflandownership, the right to

produce and possess ritual paraphernalia and ritual

knowl-edge, and the right to perform specific ceremonies Clan

membershipalso determines aman'splace withinthe men's

house Withinclansthere exists a furtherdifferentiationinto

pairsoflineages, withtheseniorlineagehavingsome

author-ity over the junior one

Kinship Terminology Differentterms areused for

matri-lateral and patrimatri-lateralkin.In eachgeneration siblings of the

same sex areclassifiedtogetherasareparallelcousins, andin

the parent's generation affinal relatives are addressed in terms

used also forconsanguinealkin

Marriage and Family Marriage Three rules ofmarriage are reported: marriage

with iai (father'smother'sbrother's son'sdaughter),marriage

with na (father's sister'sdaughter),and sisterexchange But,

marriages with other categories of women alsotookplace In

marriage ceremonies the asymmetric relationship between

wifegiversand wife takerswereactedout by an unequal

ex-change of goods (shell valuables, classified as male, and

household goods, classifiedasfemale).Postmarital residence

waspatrilocal

Domestic Unit Several closely related nuclear families livetogetherin asingledwelling.Eachfamily has its own

sec-tion andwithin it husbands and wives have their separate compartments Cowives and wives ofbrothersaresupposed

to form acorporateunitfordailysubsistence activities Inheritance Inheritanceoflandand ritualknowledge

fol-lows rules of seniority insofar astheeldest sonusually inherits

knowledge, and thuspower, that hissiblings are denied In rare cases adaughtermaybecome the heir if a man has no son Informer times,the girlwasthen initiatedwiththe men Later, hersonsinherited theknowledgefrom her father Socialization. Growing up in latmul culture is a gradual process of learning and experiencing tasks performed by

adults Children participateactively in the subsistence

econ-omy.Theacquisition of a newskilland the first performance

ofagender-specifictaskarecelebratedfor eachgirl andeach

boy individually Theseceremonies, naven,were carried out

spontaneously by themother'sbrotherand/or his wife. Chil-dren spendmuch oftheirtime inindependent and autono-mousgroups Girls growgraduallyintowomen's roles Boys,

onthe other hand,haveto undergo an initiation which severs

them from thewomen's world and forces them to adopt a

malelife-style.

Sociopolitical Organization

SocialOr0nization. Local organization mirrors the social division into moieties, withnamed clans representedinmany villagesbetweenwhom relationsare traced.Themoieties are classified into"sky" (nyaui) and"earth" (or "mother," hnya-mei) Each moiety is responsible for carrying out the

initia-tion fortheboysof theother; thus,boysgetscarified bymen fromthe othergroup latmul men areclassified alsointo an

age-grade system, with four to sixdifferent degrees, depend-ing onthevillage.Amongthe eastern latmul there exists a secondnonlocalizedmoiety systemthatworksas a comped-tiveexchange system

PoliticalOrganization. The men's houses are not only the religious center of latmul life but the political center as well Therediscussions areheldconcerning all public matters on which a decision has to be made or action taken Discussions are usually led by influential men who occupy the structural positionof being endowedwith ritual knowledge, a prerequi-site forpoliticalleadership Among men there is considerable competition and rivalry forpolitical leadership.Speech mak-ing is an important factor in the decision-making process, and oratorical skill is a necessary condition for leadership Speeches are delivered near the ceremonial"chair,"a totemic representation of a founding ancestor whose judgment is so-licited as awarrant for the truth Another means to political leadership was to have a reputation as a powerful sorcerer or

to be talented as a chanter

Social ControL Traditionally, the men's house was also the center ofjurisdiction in quarrels between members of different clans Withinaclanconflicts were settled by its own

influentialmen Womenhadinformal power in social affairs; for example, awife couldrefuseto provide her husband with

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I00 latmul

food,and in serious mattersshecould callonherownfamily,

mainly herbrothers At thecommunity level, women were

feared for their supposed polluting capacities, which were

considered responsible at least in part for sorcery and

witchcraft

Conflict Warfare was an important male activity and

head-hunting was part of the initiation rite Most attacks

wereagainstother latmulvillages, particularlyintheeast

Religion and Expressive Culture

Religou Bell The men's house is acondensation of

Iatmulreligion, anditalsorevealsthe connectionsbetween

clans and theirfoundingancestors.Informerdaysthe house

postswerebeautifully carved, depictingparts of clan

mythol-ogyandconstitutingtherebythefoundationnotonlyof the

housebut, symbolically,ofthe wholesociety Thebuildingon

therectangular dancing ground representedthe first grass

is-landfloatingdown theSepikRiver as it isdescribed in amyth

of world creation Atthe same timeitrepresented the first

crocodile, theprimevalancestor whoemergedfromthe

bot-tom ofthe flood.Today,thegroundlevel of the men's house

isused ineverydaylifebyinitiatedmen Itcontainsslitgongs,

fireplaces, and sitting platforms as well as ritual objects of

minorimportance.Theupperfloorisusedmainlyfor rituals,

and thelongflutes and other sacredparaphernaliaarekept

there Iatmulculture is rich in mythsthat constitute the

idea-tional background explaining how everything came into

being Myths inlatmulculture are known by many people but

only a few know the names oftheactors and of the places

Namesrange among thehighlyvalued secrets of clans Myths

canbecome reactivatedthrough rituals,wherebytheprimeval

time becomes the present andthe dancing ground and the

men's house become theoriginalstage

Religious Practitioners The latmul acknowledged men

andwomen whogained personalstatusthrough their

knowl-edgeand useof supernaturalpowers forhealingandas

inter-mediaries with thesupernatural world

Ceremonies The men's house was the focus of different

types of rituals: initiation, celebration ofsuccessful

head-huntingraids, performancesbymasked figures,and

celebra-tionsof death ceremonies for important persons In

initia-tionsboys were scarified, receiving the distinctive marks of a

crocodile, thesymbolof arituallymature man

Arts latmul art is well known for its superb carvings,

which wereusually painted in acurvilinearstyle.Almost all

artobjectswereused in ritual contexts andonly throughsuch

use didthey receive meaning Also famous are theskulls

over-modeled withclayand then painted Apartfrom such

pre-servable artifacts, latmul art consists ofephemeralart, such

asbodypainting anddecorationsmade ofleaves,flowers,and

feathers

Medicine Illness and difficult childbirths were treated

withspellsdesigned toinvokethepowers ofancestors or

su-pernatural forces such as the sun or moon.Healingoften

fo-cused on symbolically casting off the illness

Death and Afterlife Legitimation of the present outof

the pastwas accomplished through the preservation of relics

(bones) of ancestors and through eating scrapings from

them.Death meant crossing the border between the present

and the past The corpsewashandledonly bywomen.If the deceased had been an important man or woman, a represen-tational figure waserectedand his or her merits displayed

Occasionallyafterinterment theskull was exhumed, modeled overwithclay,and then installedduringaspecialceremony

as aninfluential ancestor Ghosts ofrecentlydead relatives arerelevant inshamanic seances as mediators between the living and the dead

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