Landscapes of Relations and Belonging

Classic Melanesian ethnographies are sometimes dismissed as irrelevant in the face of a concern with local engagement with global processes. In contrast, the reflexive potential of anthropology is demonstrated in this book, which revisits, enhances and improves on the insights of a previous good ethnographer at the same time as it offers new material from a contemporary fieldworker equipped with a different analytic toolkit. Pacific Affairs In this monograph, Astrid Anderson takes us through in depth ethnographic descriptions of Wogeo life worlds and how meaning is created in what Anderson sees as a dialogical relationship between embodied experience and representation...This is a well written monograph and as a reader one gets a thorough understanding of Wogeo life worlds. The book is a rich contribution to Melanesian ethnography. Norsk antropologisk tidsskrift the book offers a large corpus of valuable ethnographic data, which can be further analysed and used for comparative purposes, and provides a powerful case for those interested in the politics and gender of movements and placements as an alternative to the more conventional studies of kinship, social organization, and leadership in Papua New Guinea. Oceania Anderson has taken us through several journeys as we explore the world of the WogeoThe result is a crisp yet complex formulation of her perspective as she strives to stay true to the details that Wogeo advocates shared with her. The responses of those Wogeo and other Pacific peoples who read this ethnography will be watched with interest. Anthropological Notebooks This is an honest piece of work, refreshing in its matter-of-fact tone of voice and thorough engagement with the regional and theoretical literatures. I would say it is a model for the enduring power of participant-observation based fieldwork and ethnographic analysis. Anthropos

Astrid Anderson has a doctoral degree in social anthropology from the University of Oslo and is presently a senior academic librarian at the University of Oslo Library.

List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Note on Orthography Introduction Wogeo and Ian Hogbin Wogeo Island The People of Dab The Chapters PART I: WOGEO ISLAND - PLACE AND PEOPLE Prelude Chapter 1: Life in Wogeo Dab Village Main Kinship Categories Daily Rhythms Food, Sharing and Exchange Mission, Colonial Powers and Change Language Chapter 2: The Legacy of Ian Hogbin and the Wogeo Culture Heroes The Origins of Kastom Onka and Mafofo PART II: BODIES, TABOOS AND SOCIALITY Prelude Chapter 3: Differentiation and Connectedness: Blood, Flutes and Gender Polluted Blood First Menstruation Childbirth Male Cleansing and the Male Cult Gendered Differentiation Chapter 4: Desired and Undesired Connections Pollution and Diseases of the Place Germs, Smell and Language Chapter 5: Death and Disconnections Manvara The Death of Ulbaia Decomposing the Composite Person The Last Work for Ulbaia Cutting the Skin PART III: LANDSCAPE, KNOWLEDGE AND LEADERSHIP Prelude Chapter 6: Sides, Pathways and Directions Chasing the Stars The Island as a Canoe Landscape of Paths and Places Village Landscapes Chapter 7: Knowledge and Leadership Forms of Leadership Knowledge and Leadership Everything goes in fours Koakoale and Matrilineages Koakoale and Place Koakoale and Exchange Changing Expressions of Knowledge Knowledge, Truth and the Vatican Council PART IV: POLITICS OF BELONGING Prelude Chapter 8: Kinship, Place and Belonging The dead weight of old kinship categories The problem of Groups Shared Places Shared Blood Houses and Matrilineages Adoption Chapter 9: Dab Village its Land, Houses and People The Construction of Singero Singeros Traditional Design Inheritance of Rights Flexibility and Perceived Permanence in the Dab Landscape Land Rights, Consensus and Corrugated Iron Conclusion Experience and Representation Relations in the Landscape Postlude References Glossary Index