Dobu : : Ethics of Exchange on a Massim Island, Papua New Guinea / / Susanne Kuehling.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Hawaii Press eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2015
• VerfasserIn: Kuehling, Susanne,
• Place / Publishing House: Honolulu : : University of Hawaii Press, , [2022]; ©2005
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (326 p.)

This is an ethnography of Dobu, a Massim society of Papua New Guinea, which has been renowned in social anthropology since Reo Fortune's Sorcerers of Dobu (1932). Focusing on exchange and its underlying ethics, this book explores the concept of the person in the Dobu world view. The book examines major aspects of exchange such as labor, mutual support, apologetic gifts, revenge and punishment, kula exchange, and mortuary gifts. It discusses in detail the characteristics of small gifts (such as betel nuts), big gifts (kula valuables, pigs, and large yams) and money as they appear in exchange contexts. The ethnography begins with an analysis of the construct of the Dobu person, and sets out to examine everyday practices and values. The belief system (incorporating witches, sorcerers, and a Christian God) is shown to have a powerful influence on individual conduct due to its panoptic character. The institutions that link Dobu with the outside world are examined in terms of the ideology concerning money: the Church receives offerings for God; the difficulties faced by trade-store owners evince conflicting notions concerning monetary wealth. The last two chapters delve into lived experience in two major domains of Dobu exchange: kula and the sagali feast.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- MAP OF SOUTH-EAST NEW GUINEA -- MAPS OF DOBU ISLAND -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- 1 WHAT IS A ‘DOBUAN’? -- 2 THE DOBU CONCEPT OF THE PERSON -- 3 PATHS AND PATTERNS OF EVERYDAY EXCHANGES -- 4 ‘BIG GIFTS’ AND THE CLAIM TO FAME -- 5 THE GIFT THAT KILLS – WITCHCRAFT AND SORCERY -- 6 GIFTS OF CASH FOR GOD AND GOODS -- 7 STRATEGIC FRIENDSHIPS AND PRECIOUS MEMORIES: THE DOBU WAY OF KULA -- 8 THE PRICE OF LOVE: MORTUARY FEASTING AND PATERNAL DUTY -- EPILOGUE -- APPENDIX 1: Words for ‘inner’ states -- APPENDIX 2: List of Affinal exchanges -- APPENDIX 3: Glossary Notes -- BIBLIOGRAPHY