Cannibalism

Having never researched PNG before, I had not been familiar with much of anything to do with the PNG culture. At some point I cannot recall, however, I had learned that PNG was one of the last cannibalistic cultures on earth. Basically this was the only thing I had ever known about PNG up until my research began for this blog (hence my interest in the area). Therefore, I decided to look into the validity of my previously held assumption.
As it turns out, cannibalism is still found to be a practice performed by a handful of indigenous tribal communities, the most well known being that of the Korowai tribe of southwestern PNG.
Before researching, in my mind's eye, I invisoned those whom were cannibals to be of a very savage and animalistic nature: mercilessly scowering the jungles of PNG for another unsuspecting human, killing and eating him, then moving on. The best way I can equate this image is to that of a zombie in a cheesy horror movie. In looking at the Korowai, this is shown to be a significant falsehood.
Cannibalism is performed in the Korowai in the event of an unexplained death of a tribesman due to illness. On their deathbed, the dying man may whisper the name of someone else in the tribe whom he is certain is the cause of his death. This signifies that the dying man has identified a khakhua - an evil sorcerer disguised in human form. A khakhua is believed to, while the victim is sleeping, eat out their guts and replace them with ash, thus leading to an fatal disease. Once the man dies, the family and friends of the deceased hunt down the owner of the whispered name. Regardless of the age, sex, or relation to the tribe, the khakhua is tied up and shot with arrows until dead, dismembered, and cooked over a fire. Aside from bone, teeth, hair, finger/toe nails, and penis, the cooked body is eaten in full by all members of the tribe, except pregnant women and children. In consuming the flesh, the spirit of the khakhua is driven away from the tribe.
The most telling aspect of this ritual for me is that for the people of Korowai, they do not consider themselves to be cannibals: They aren't eating humans, they are eating the khakhua. Unlike my previous misconceptions, these people are not bloodthirsty savages taking the human lives of their fellow man, but rather they are merely doing what is necessary to protect the health of the rest of the tribe.
In learning this, I am pushed to understand what it is that leads people of the western world to automatically equate cannibalism with the savage image I had in first researching. Most likely it is because the idea of eating human flesh is so highly stigmatized among those of civilized societies. Thus, when learning of a culture that holds such practices, I can see why our society is inclined to consider such a culture to be not only uncivilized, but also as inhumane as humanly possible.

Scarification

Scarification is used in initiation ceremonies and to distinguish tribes from one another.
In the Sepik River region of PNG, scarification is used prevalently to symbolize a boys crossing over into manhood. Similar to the Nama cult described in the previous blog entry, those tribes in the Sepik River region incorporate an animal god into the ritual; in this case, it is the crocodile instead of the bird. They believed that traveling packs of crocodiles had first given birth to the human populations of the area. In honor of their 'ancestors', young men are scared on their backs, chest, and buttocks using a bamboo sliver. Hundreds of individual wounds are made by the adult men of the tribe, testing the young man's strength and self discipline in the process. Once healed, the scars represent the teeth marks of their crocodile ancestors, who had ingested the young man and spit out a "crocodile-man."
I haven't personally ever had scaring done on my body (at least on purpose), but I have been aware of the recent popularity scaring has gained in Western society. Similar to the tattoo culture seen in the United States, scarification has become popular among body artists who have become bored with just tattoos and are looking for something that will push the limits of body modification.

Art

The Tribal art of PNG, like most other aspects of PNG culture, is diverse and largely based around spiritual and religious beliefs.
The most popular medium of artwork is wood carving/painting. New Guineans use crude instruments, such as stone chisels and bone to carve the wood. In carving, the wood is made to depict mythical spirits and gods. Pigs, birds, crocodiles, and other animals native to PNG are commonly carved, for they are intertwined into the religious belief systems, and are paid homage to. To pay even greater respect, carvings are often times painted. The paint used is made by the artist, who searches for certain roots and leaves that, once ground up and mixed with water, produce rich and vibrant pigments. These pigments are then used to decorate the wooden carvings, fittingly incorporating colors found in their natural environment. Once finished, carvings are placed in ceremonially and religiously important areas, and are then honored and prayed to in the hopes of yielding a prosperous harvest and protecting the tribe from evil spirits.
Although I am not a very religious person per say, I understand how art made of the land can reflect artistic creativity in a way that brings about a feeling of spiritual significance by paying homage to the land of which it was created.
My mother is the current owner of an art gallery in my home town of Groton, Massachusetts, representing over 80 artists from the New England area. Aside from being a gallery owner, she is also an artist herself, working in mediums ranging from water color to tapestry weaving.
Her weaving, in particular, demonstrates how, when using materials gathered from the nature of the area, a piece of is connected to the land of which it was created from. Instead of going to a store and buying wool in which to weave with, she goes and collects raw wool from the sheep of a farm in a neighboring town. She then washes the wool, dyes it with "New Englandy Colors", as she puts it, and spins the wool into yarn. From the yarn, she weaves tapestries inspired by the natural landscape and wildlife of the area. For her, her pieces of art are not representative of the area because of the images depicted, rather she feels that there is a stronger unity between the piece and the land when the materials are truly from the land. I find it interesting to find a technique my mother has used in her artistic methodology found to be the same as those in a culture located half way around the world.

Nama Cult Initiation

In researching the importance of the Nama flute in PNG music, I came across an article written about the Nama cult of the Central Highlands of PNG. The Nama cult is a secret, exclusively male cult in which tribal values, sentiment, and history are learned, shared, and defined in order to be passed to further generations. The cult also builds camaraderie within the male society, and again emphasizes the societal boundaries which cast men as the superior gender.
In order to become initiated, young boys are subject to four stages of initiation that occur over the course of 6-7 years.
The first stage is completed when a group of boys are around the age of 6. In this stage, the boys are taken into the jungle by the adult males, their ears are pierced with bamboo slivers, they are fed pork (which is held to be a very important food in PNG culture), and are led back to the tribe the same day.
The second stage takes place when the same group of boys have reached the age of 9 or 10. Similar to the first stage, they are led away from the tribe and given pork to eat. This time, however, their septum's are pierced, then they are led back to join the tribe, again in the same day.
The third and most grueling stage of initiation occurs when they have turned 12-13 years of age. The boys are taken to a secret location in the jungle to spend a substantial amount of time away from the tribe. The mothers of the boys are told that the boys have died as to discourage them from looking for their sons. Over the course of the initiation, the boys are subject to extreme physical and psycological rituals: training in using the kata (a narrow cane which is forced down the throat in order to battle sickness and 'contamination' by women), bloodletting from the nostrils, urethra and tongue, and regular beatings if rules are broken (such as eating certain foods, walking on paths that women walk, etc). Flutes are played during the rituals, summoning Nama, the bird-like creature discussed in my previous post, to help the boys as they begin to assume their roles as the tribe. These rituals continue until the elders believe the boys are ready to be reintroduced into the tribe as men. They are then instructed to live in the men's house and to have limited interactions with women.
The fourth and final stage occurs when the boys are 16 or 17. For this stage, the boys are forced to remain inside the men's house for a period of one month, in which they are held to a strict diet of bananas, pork and sweet potatoes. Over the course of the month, the boys are trained to become yehube - warriors. After the month has ended, the boys emerge from the house, are donned with new clothing to symbolize their new status in the tribe as adult men. This group of men are said to be "age mates", the strongest relationship these men may ever have in their lives.
Looking at my own culture, the closest initiation practice I could relate this to would be in the United States Army. In order to create a hardened warrior, the Army subjects groups of young men to physical and psychological challenges. Being segregated from their community and participating in these challenges together, these groups develop a strong camaraderie with one another, and emerge from training as hardened soldiers/warriors.
It is interesting to compare these two separate initiation practices, for they appear to be achieving a similar end in opposite points in life. The Nama cult takes young boys and brings them through adolescence to become men and leaders. The Army, on the other hand, focus' on taking men and breaking them of their sense of individuality as men, in essence creating boys whom are able to be molded into an elite soldier. I know that this is pushing the envelop a bit, however I can't help but recognizing these similarities and differences between the two practices.

Music/Instruments

Many different types of instruments are used in traditional PNG music, including shell whistles, ornate drums, bamboo flutes, and so on. In each culture some instruments are likely to be nothing more than objects for personal amusement or even toys for children, while others may be endowed with symbolic value and religious significance.
The Tangu tribe of the Madang Province exhibits this social importance in using the slit-gong (pictured). This hollowed out log is hit with wooden paddles to create a range of musical notes. The Tangu have created a musical language which is implemented by the slit gong. Everything is assigned a “call-sign,” enabling messages to be broadcast throughout the tribe to announce special ceremonial events, such as a wedding, or a birth. Although the Tangu have a language of their own, it is customary to use the slit gong as a means of communication during rituals.
A similar attachment to a musical instrument can be seen in the ceremonial practices of the Gimi tribe of the Labogai region. Instead of a drum though, the instrument of choice is the flute, or the nama. Exclusivly played by adult men, the nama plays a pivitol role in the initiation of young boys. In playing the nama, a bird-like spirit (also named nama) is called upon to assist in the initiation process. The ceremony is so exclusive, in fact, that women and uninitiated children are forced to look away.
Instruments and music appear to be a very powerful apparatus’ in PNG culture. They have the capability of conveying powerful messages, strong feelings of emotion in rituals, and even bring a boy into manhood.
Growing up as an individual who listend to a lot of music, I can see how submissive one can become to the power of music. It is not difficult for me to think back to a time in which I felt my emotional state completely change due to a single song or chord progression. Music has a way of taking control of people. When the power of music is then interwoven with a highly spiritual belief system, such as found in most PNG societies, it is no wonder why such an experience would seem deeply religious and moving.

Agriculture

It is estimated that PNG was first inhabited somewhere around 60,000 years ago. These inhabitants initially were primarily reliant on the hunter/gatherer system of providing food, however, it does not seem it was long after their arrival that they began to cultivate the natural resources of the area. This emergence of agriculture in PNG is thought to have been occuring at the same time as agriculture was in the Mesopotamia and Egyptian region, also known as the Fertile Crescent.
When Europeans first arrived, inhabitants of New Guinea and nearby islands--while still relying on bone, wood, and stone tools--had a productive agricultural system. PNG is home to some of the most fertile areas in the world, mostly located in the highlands of the island. Agriculture was mostly devoted to the natural resources of the area, such as sugarcane, Pacific bananas, yams, and taros in the begining, however in the past few decades, a shift has moved to focusing in the growth of sweet potatoes and pigs.

The aspect of this which intrigued me the most is in regards to how uniformly the use of agriculture seems to have been mastered all over the island. Again, I must come back to the idea that PNG is made up hundreds of separate cultures. To me, it seems as if it would be necessary for there to be at some form of communication present between different PNG cultures, a communication perhaps based upon watching and learning, considering the diversity of languages. This uniformity in agricultural practices may be a key in being able to tie all of these separate cultures together.

Drug Culture

The Drug Culture of PNG is prevelant among most, if not all, of its population. The two most commonly consumed drugs are Betel and Kava. Betel is actually a combination of three main ingredients: the nut of a Areca Catchu palm, the leaves of a Piper vine, and "slaked lime" from seashells or coral. Socially, the use of betel is likened to the drinking of coffee or tea in Western societies. Betel is "chewed to stimulate social activity, suppress boredom, enhance work, and increase personal enjoyment" (AE pg 221). For Betel, there are no social constraints; thus, the use of it normally begins in early childhood (8 years of age), and continues throughout their lifetime. It is said that the only time in which one does not have a use for betel is when there is no betel to be had.
Kava is not chewed, but rather made into a tea-esque, concoction from a plant native to the Oceanic region of the South Pacific. Unlike Betel, the consumption of Kava is reserved for adult men of high status. Kava is consumed every evening by these adult men of distinction at a special kava drinking ground located off the premisis of the villiage, which is exclusive to men. Women are not allowed to consume Kava because men fear that women intoxicated on kava would become "wanton" and not want to cook anymore.

Kinship

PNG societies are held to both patrlinial and matalinial lineages. All the members of a kin group must participate in clan affairs, contributing to bride-prices and other exchanges and helping with initiation and mortuary ceremonies. Persons join other clans, allying themselves with their wives' clans or being adopted as children.
An important asset is the land a clan's members hold in common. Land is valuable and a way of life for 85 percent of the population. Inheritance of land is most commonly passed down from parents to children, or even from Uncles to neices and nephews.
For all intensive purposes, given the overwhelming hierarchy of gender in PNG, I was not expecting to see the inheritance of land handled in this way. Since most of the population lives under a sustenance system, and there is so much importance riding on the land for agriculture, it is suprising to learn that there is no clear distinction of whom is to have the rights to family land. This does, however, show the importance of kin and the family system.
Kinship in PNG also entails great importance due of the diversity of language, as seen earlier in the blog. If a member of a tribe of 200, who had their own distinct language and specific societal structure, decided to wander away from his tribal land, he would soon be confronted by a world of which he is unfamiliar, not only in scenery but in language and culture as well (talk about Culture Shock). It is not suprising see how tightly knit family systems become. Furthermore, this also shows the importance of the tribe as a whole. Nonkin may become "sons" and "daughters" of a family if they contribute generously to group affairs, such as bride prices. A similar idea is held in the United States, given the idea of God parents and such; however, it seems as though ones acceptance is dependent more on gifts than on personal relations.

Gender

PNG has a heavily male dominated society. Women are considered to be possessions of men, just as a pig or land is considered to be possessions. Although men are assigned the role of being hunters and warriors, the biological trait of having a penis is accepted as a sufficient reason for not fulfilling the duties of gardening and manual labor; thus, this is left as the responsibility of women, who tend to their responsibilities without question.
In establishing authority and control over women, men frequently beat and rape women. Every year, there are a 80 sexual assaults reported per every 100,000 people. This percentage is one of the highest in the world, and is even more striking when one considers that only 15% of the population of PNG lives in the urbanized sectors, where such reports are claimed.
Although it would be difficult to estimate how many sexual assaults there are over the entire population, looking at the makeup of the population helps put it into context. 40 percent of the population is under the age of 15, 56 percent between ages 15 and 65, and 4 percent over the age of 65. The 1997 total fertility rate was 5.4 children per fertile woman, with adolescent pregnancy a major contributing factor. Thanks to the prevalence of sexual assault on women, and the lack of birth control, not only is the population on track to double by the year 2020, the spread of HIV and Sexual Transmitted Infections is expected to increase exponentially.
When looking at all of this general information,. one must take it with a grain of salt, considering how diverse the country is when looking from one tribe to the next. For example, in most of the highland areas, women are taken advantage of not only by the men of their tribe, but also by those in surrounding tribes. Due to strict rules found revolving around incest, men from tribes consisting of only a few hundred people are prone to traveling to a neighboring tribe in the hopes of stealing a woman to make his wife. This action is not taken kindly, however, and most commonly results in either a reciprocal stealing of women, or even violent conflict between the tribes. Therefore, “Marriage in these societies, and the sexual relationships within marriage are always fraught with fear, hostility and anger” (Davenport 1997).
This is interesting to look at, especially when comparing this sort of society to that of the Dobo tribe. The Dobo live on a small island off the coast of the main island. The men of the Dobo live in constant fear of "sorcery" from their wives; Because they believe that they are particularly vulnerable during intercourse, Dobo men have to continually weigh their need for sexual gratification against the possibility of sorcery when they try to satisfy that sexual need.
These are two very different ways in which women are considered, but the possession value of women appears to be very similar in both.

Language

To start out my anthropological study of Papua New Guinea, I decided to begin by first investigating the language. Since a countries culture is in large part reflected and defined by its language and its relation to its social constructs, I thought that I would be able acclimate myself to the country in doing so. Why not? Seems logical enough, right?
The phrase "Boiling Pot" is often used in describing the culture of the United States, and rightly so. The U.S. has taken on the identity of a culture shaped by the combination of a multitude number of different cultures and ethnicities, which, when "boiled down", or combined, form our society. There are a number of languages which are used, stemming from years of immigration from countries all over the world, however English, and arguably Spanish, are considered to be official languages. Naturally, dialects are created and associated with different regions, however, when one is confronted with a distinct dialect of which they are not accustomed, for example when a Bostonian talks to a Texan, communication is achieved nonetheless. Dialects may vary, but the core language of our culture is still upheld, and enables to communicate to others in our country, no matter where they are located.
I bring this up because I was startled to see the diversity of the Papua New Guinea language structure. According to the U.S. Department of State, there are 3 official languages: English, Tok Pisin, and Motu. It is not the official languages that shocked me, rather it was the unofficial ones.
All 860 of them.
It is said that most of the languages are spoken by only 5,000 people each, and that a number of languages have less than 500 speakers. Furthermore, of these 860 languages, only an estimated 350-450 of them are in any way related, leaving about half of the languages as being distinct and personalized to their respective tribes/communities.
I need to do some more research on this specific topic, but I feel that much will be explained in looking at other aspects of the culture (which are soon to follow).