We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Myth, Primogeniture and Long Distance Trade-Friends in Northwest New Britain, Papua New Guinea.
- Authors
McPherson, Naomi
- Abstract
The origins of ceremonies for firstborn children and long distance trade networks are embedded in Bariai mythology and cosmology. Based on my ethnographic research and the ethnographic reportage contained in the Australian colonial Patrol Officers' Reports, this paper explores the pre- and post-contact trade networks of Bariai parents as they pursue a reputation for 'renown' by entering into complex trade-friendships (sobo) and exchanges for the necessary wealth to undertake one (of seventeen) firstborn ceremony, the mata pau or 'new eye.' My intent in this paper is to (1) reiterate that a people and their culture can only be understood within regional systems of relationships; (2) indicate the manner in which long distance trade-friendships were created and maintained over a long period of time; (3) show how these socio-economic institutions are embedded in Bariai cosmology and thus made meaningful; (4) attest to the vitality and importance of these systems despite the impact of modernity, missionization and money.
- Subjects
NEW Britain Island (Papua New Guinea); PAPUA New Guinea; MANNERS &; customs; MYTHOLOGY; METAPHYSICAL cosmology; FIRST-born children
- Publication
Oceania, 2007, Vol 77, Issue 2, p129
- ISSN
0029-8077
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1002/j.1834-4461.2007.tb00009.x