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ANTHY308-22A (HAM)
Many Worlds: Melanesian Cultures
15 Points
Staff
Convenor(s)
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Fraser Macdonald
9315
J.2.08A
fraser.macdonald@waikato.ac.nz
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Paper Description
This paper is designed with two specific and interconnected aims in mind: (1) to give students a thorough understanding of the different cultures that make up Melanesia, the most culturally and linguistically diverse region in the world, and also (2) to foster an appreciation of the central importance that anthropological research conducted in this area, for so long characterised as 'primitive', 'savage', or 'exotic', has had within the discipline as a whole.
The cultural region of Melanesia exhibits an immense array of indigenous cultural variety that has been made even more complex by the introduction of western influences. More than any other culture area in the Pacific region, Melanesia defies any essentialist definitions, since it reveals the presence, co-existence and dynamic interplay of a range of political, religious, linguistic, moral, and economic systems. The paper aims to plunge students directly into this bewildering cultural mix, and covers both the traditional cultural areas that exist within Melanesia as well as how indigenous cultural configurations have been reworked, challenged by, and sometimes erased, by wider western spheres of influence.
The ethnographic research that has been undertaken in Melanesia for over a century, and the anthropological descriptions of Melanesian people and their customs that have resulted from this research, have exerted a massive influence within the discipline of anthropology and also acted to powerfully shape how the wider public view local Melanesians. To understand these influences, the paper gives students a detailed overview of the history of Melanesian ethnography. Beginning with the first anthropological forays into the region which were closely associated with colonial systems of domination, through to the rise of Malinowski's relativism in the Trobriand Islands, the post-war boom of studies into ceremonial exchange and warfare in the New Guinea highlands, and in to contemporary Melanesianist anthropology looking at the complex interaction between new and old cultural forms, students will get a comprehensive understanding of what anthropologists have done in Melanesia, what they have said about its peoples, and the academic and popular consequences of these representations.
Paper Structure
In terms of content delivery, the paper will be organised into two classes per week, all of which students are expected to attend. While physical attendance in all sessions is expected, there will be online options for those students unable to make class. The first session, Monday 3pm - 5pm, will be a 2 hour lecture within which the core content of the course will be delivered. In addition to the lecture, this session will also include the screening of relevant ethnographic films, and will also be utilised for spontaneous class discussions of lecture content, should the need arise.
The second session, Tuesday 1pm - 2pm, will be organised mainly around a thorough discussion and critique of the week's readings. For these classes, students are expected to arrive having completed the readings and should be fully prepared to enter into a productive and critical discussion about them with their peers. This class will also be an important forum within which different assessment items will be discussed and any queries about the course answered.
Regarding how the course content will be structured, each week will be dedicated to a different topic. The first half of the course will look mainly at the main culture areas throughout Melanesia, particularly Papua New Guinea, and will examine the foundational anthropological work that has been undertaken on these issues. The second half of the course will turn more directly towards contemporary Melanesian society and examine new forms of religion, politics, and economy, as well look at challenges faced by people throughout the region such as climate change and rising sea levels.
Learning Outcomes
Students who successfully complete the paper should be able to:
Assessment
Assessment Components
The internal assessment/exam ratio (as stated in the University Calendar) is 100:0. There is no final exam.
Required and Recommended Readings
Required Readings
Provided is a list of the compulsory readings that students must complete before attending that week's discussion session and which will be covered in each week's reading summaries. Students who wish to learn more about any given topic are free to consult with myself for more readings and direction. All readings will be posted to Moodle for each week's topic.
Week 1: Melanesia as Culture Area
Thomas, N. 1989. "The Force of Ethnology: Origins and Significance of the Melanesia/Polynesia Division". Current Anthropology 30 (1): 27-41
Narakobi, B. 1980. The Melanesian Way. Port Moresby: Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies. Pages: vii-ix, 7-23.
Stella, R. T. 2007. Imagining the Other: The Representation of the Papua New Guinea Subject. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Chapter 2: 'Locating the Subject: The Indigenous Construction of Space', Pages: 29-46.
Week 2: The Beginnings of Melanesian Ethnography
Wax, M. 1972. "Tenting with Malinowski". American Sociological Review 37 (1):1-13.
Stella, R. T. Imagining the Other: The Representation of the Papua New Guinea Subject. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Chapter 6: 'The Subject as Savage', Pages: 124-139.
Week 3: An Anthropological Love Triangle in the Sepik
Dobrin, L. M. and I. Bashkow. 2010. ""The Truth in Anthropology Does Not Travel First Class": Reo Fortune's Fateful Encounter with Margaret Mead." Histories of Anthropology Annual 6: 66-128.
Palmer, C. and J. Lester. 2007. "Stalking the Cannibals: Photographic Behaviour on the Sepik River." Tourist Studies 7 (1): 83-106.
Week 4: Cargo Cults: Ancestral Communication Breakdown?
Worsley, P. 1968. The Trumpet Shall Sound: A Study of "Cargo" Cults in Melanesia. New York: Schocken Books. Chapter 4: The Vailala Madness, Pages: 75-92.
Williams, F. E. 1976. The Vailala Madness and Other Essays. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Week 5: The Highlands of Papua New Guinea
Macdonald, F. and J. Kirami. 2017. "Women, mobile phones, and M16s: Contemporary New Guinea highlands warfare". The Australian Journal of Anthropology 28: 104-119.
Weiner, J., McLeod, A. and C. Yala. 2002. 'Aspects of Conflict in the Contemporary Papua New Guinea Highlands'. SSGM Discussion Paper 2002/4.
Week 6: Children of Afek: The Min Culture Area
Jorgensen, D. 1996. "Regional history and ethnic identity in the hub of New Guinea: The emergence of the Min". Oceania 66 (3): 189-210.
Macdonald, F. 2016. "From Blood to Oil: Mining, Cosmology, and Human Sacrifice in Central New Guinea". Oceania 86 (1): 40-56.
Week 7: Music in Melanesia
Webb, M. and C. Webb-Gannon. 2016. "Musical Melanesianism: Imagining and Expressing Regional Identity and Solidarity in Popular Song and Video". The Contemporary Pacific 28, (1): 59-95.
Week 8: The Extractive Industries in Contemporary Melanesia
Teaiwa, K. 2015. Consuming Ocean Island: Stories of People and Phosphate from Banaba. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Prelude, Preface, and Chapters 1 'The Little Rock That Feeds' and 5 'Land From the Sky', Pages: xi-xvii, 3-27, 94-112.
Week 9: Sorcery and Witchcraft in Melanesia
Eves, R. and M. Forsyth (eds.) 2015. Talking it Through: Responses to Sorcery and Witchcraft Beliefs and Practices in Melanesia. Canberra: ANU Press. Chapter 2: Cox, J. and G. Phillips 'Sorcery, Christianity and the Decline of Medical Services', Pages: 37-54.
Luker, V. and S. Dinnen (eds.). Civic Insecurity: Law, Order, and HIV in Papua New Guinea. Canberra: ANU Press. Chapter 11: Haley, N. 'Witchcraft, Torture, and HIV', Pages: 219-235.
Week 10: The Anthropology of Melanesian Christianity
Scott, M. 2005. "'I was like Abraham': notes on the Anthropology of Christianity from the Solomon Islands. Ethnos 70 (1)): 101-125.
Macdonald, F. 2018. "Back from the dead? Souls and the afterlife within Oksapmin Pentecostal-evangelical Christianity". Paideuma: Zeitschrift für kulturanthropologische Forschung (Journal of Cultural Anthropological Research) (64): 149-165.
Week 11: Climate Change in Melanesia
Readings for this topic to be set by Professor John Campbell and will be posted to Moodle.
Week 12: HIV, Sexuality, and Gender
Wardlow, H. 2006. Wayward Women: Sexuality and Agency in a New Guinea Society. Berkeley: University of California Press. Chapter 4: 'Becoming a Pasinja Meri', Pages: 134- 165.
Dundon, A. 2007. "Warrior Women, the Holy Spirit, and HIV/AIDS in Rural Papua New Guinea". Oceania 77: 29-42.
Recommended Readings
Online Support
Moodle will be the principal medium through which readings, lecture slides, and assessment information will be disseminated.
Lectures will be recorded using Panopto and for students unable to physically attend tutorial sessions, a Zoom meeting option will be made available.
Workload
Linkages to Other Papers
Prerequisite(s)
Prerequisite papers: ANTH101 or ANTHY101 or ANTH102 or ANTHY102
Restriction(s)
Restricted papers: ANTH308