Antony Francis Cell 1973

639 Pages·2012·45.2 MB·English

SOCIETY, RITUAL AND SYMBOLISM IN UMEDA VILLAGE
(WEST SEPIK DISTRICT, NEW GUINEA)
fay
Antony Francis Cell
1973
ABSTRACT
This thosjis concerns the peopl® of Omocia
on® of that four villages which make up the Waina-Sowanda
Canaus district of the West Sepik district of Hew Guinea.
The thesis falls into three major parts. In the
first pert (Chapters 1 and 2) the rajor features of the
social structure are outlined. The economy (based on
Sago, hunting, and gardening) is described. The discussion
of Social Structure looks at various 'levels' of
organisation starting with the cost inclusive and vorklng
I
downwards. Then© levels are 1) the connufolure., 2) th©
village, 3) Village rr>oi«*ti@3 4) 'Bush associations 5) the
hatftlet 6) hamlet roietios 7) cleng and sub-clans, and
8) the household.
The rr.ain thene of the discussion is the rol© of
marriage alliance, set up through sister-exchangee between
exogenous (patrilincal) elan-hamlets, BR the 'lateral*
bonding eler:*nt in the social structure. It is ahown,
for instance, that ?t«rab<Brs of tiie society conceptualise
its overall structure in terras of 'compatibilities* set up
by alliance relationships. These alliance relations, thoucth
actually shifting slightly with each generation are seen
as permanent structural featurea. This is nlven symbolic
expression in the Village- and Hajplet-Tnoiesty oroantsation.
Th® opposition of kinship relations (within the clan-h.aif.lat)
and alliance relations (outr?ieie it) is postulated as
basis of a pervasive oproa.ltion b©tv?e«n 'central' an<3
'lateral' -- an opposition which underlies the rolety
organisation, and which is also of crucial importance
in under standing the Byinbolic Syateia as found e.g* in
Ritual.
Lator sections of Chapter 2 (viii - xi) discuss
interpersonal relations in frore detail. The problems
posed by sorcery beliefs are discussed in relation to
marriage ana sexual relations generally. The concept
of 'tadv' ** relations (klllimj, eating, shooting, and
copulating with the other} are discussod as the basic
modality of ego-alter relations across sociological
boundaries. Sorcery Is the reciprocal of marriage.
Chapter 3 takes up the second major there of the
Thesia This chapter is devoted to linguistic eynbolista,
particularly in relation to the basic social and kinship
roles. Three form? of linguistic ayr^holiKD (or 'lexical
jTiOtivation*) are distinguished; 1) semantic motivation
2} morphological motivation 3) phcr»ological rotivation.
Chapter 3 concerns itself only with the first two kinds,
Phonological motivation in UfteUa beinq exjolored in
Appendix I as it poraes problems which oo beyond th«
purely Antliropological. It is »ho%>n that the tjteada
vocabulary contains many implicit clues as to the sytabolic
syst«K of the people. A systen of analogies is demcnstrateid,
using lexical evidence, between the structure of the body,
the structure of botanical entities «uch as trees and the
overall structure of the society. Once acain the "central/
lateral* opposition is shovm to be crucial, but thin IB
further elaborated irto s notion of 'organic structure' --
a structural model applicable both to biological and
sociological organisms. Considerable attention is devoted
to an analysis of iteeda tree symbolism: for instance,
the fact that the Mother'9 Brother is (lexically)
identified with the Sago Pa list, the Ancestors* with the
Coconut palm and so on.
Chapter 3 thus performs a 'bridging* function
between th@ firsst part of th© thesis which is basically
concerned with Sociological queations, and the second
part which is concerned with lUtual F-ymbolissr.. Through a
consideration of language, an understanding is gained
botli of th© 'organic' wetaphor at the heart of Ure£a
syihboliftn, and of the way in which this kind of reetaphor
meshe* in with the details? of the functioning of the social
system, dominated by certain basic kinship roles.
Chapter 4 is mainly descriptive. The Ida fertility
rites, performed annually to increase the productivity
of the sago palna are described in detail. A discussion
of the- actual cererwnies is preceded by an account of
the many wonthe of preparations fcr the ritual. It is
argued that the ritual, and the need to accumulate supplies
of food for its performance/ imposes pattern and discipline
on mundane economic activity. The cerer-oni^s then>s©lv«9S
consist of the appearance, owr the course of a night and
the sul>secwent two days, of a sequence of masked dancor-3
(all male) representing various ritual rol©«?. The rest
iiaj^ortant roles v»?re those of 1) casaovaries, 2} fish --- of
which there are two kinds, thf» one red, the other black,
3) sago, 4) tennitea and 5) ipel«i bovif^n, representing
noophytea accompanied by preceptors.
Chapter 5 takes the various ritual roles In order of
their appearance and analyses th«tlr symbolic significance.
A preliminary discussion is devoted to Methodological
issues. Subsequent sections <3i«cuss ritual roles under
a »utsber of rubrics e.g. the significance in practical
OK toythological terms of the aniroal or sspeciea represented,
the significance of the constraints on actors taking
certain roles, the significance of body-paint styles
and mask styles, the (significances of various iMethods of
dancing etc. All th<&se 'role attributes' are set, out in
Tabular rliagrarr-forp. (Table 5) . The problem then be corses
the analysis of the ritual process, seen as a sequence of
transformations taking place in the attributes of succaesivs
ritual actors over the course of th© total rite. It is
cUftcuonstrat&cL that tho Ida ritual can be best understood as
a concrete and dramatic representation of the overall
process of bio-social regeneration. The cassowaries, who
open the ritual, are shovn transfosrpto^, and, reoene,rate<3 ,
ao th«a* (neophyte) bowmen, whose loosino off of n.acical
arrovu (inele) is tho culminating, and concluding, act
of the ritual cycle. This finding is supported, by detailed
anal^'sos of the transformations of triaak-styles and body
paint stylea throughout the ritual. An extended account
is given of Wweda oiour stynbolisi?. This leads?, finally,
to a discwsBlon of the ritual representation of Time.
It is aryiwd that the ritual is a ntctanis of (symbolically)
renewing Tiff?®. Certain contradictions inherent in the
notion of temporality are specified, and tho ritual ic seen
*« a wwana of overcoming thea« contradictions within
tho cultural and symbolic milieu of Ui«e4a, >.•*-?• I,—
1"b.ii3 chapter concludes the wain part of the thesis.
Two &|>p«ndlc«s deal I) with phonological motivation in
It <« arga«<S th«t articulatory P«at«r©s are
«xpr®SQively in the structure of Umeda lexical
II) An appendix giv®$ the coe.plet« Pui-tod Myth -
& K^th r€»f*rr0d to at varioua r-ointe In th« thesis,
concerning the adventures of the 'Oedipal 1 hero, Pul-tod
LIST OF FIGURES
1 Mythological relationships of the Urceda harslets
2 A) Descent Construct B) Alliance Construct
3 Social composition of the tfrueda hamlets
4 Coconut compatibilities
5 Ba»ic kinship t&rminoloqy
6 Uzfseda kinship categories
7 The four baaic categories*
3 The sequence of transformations in the relations
of intermarryimr lines
9 Th«a piol"-cycle
10. Usaeda Clans
11. Villages and liaislet liioieti©©
12. Breadfruit ij>r anil garden ana*
13. ."efiting of village and hamlet moieties
14. Alliance relations between village and hastlet is,oieti©B
15. The Sowai-Wasa v/orking group
1C. The social field of the hawlet
17. Pul
IS. Areca and Coconut
19. ?iai£o
20. A saan, his little sister, and hln dog (ud_a, ud«)«
21. (a) Agi
(cid:9)(J») The synisolisr^ of the fingers
22. '^he annual cycle
23. The ajfeli ia«»X
24. nli (Ca»»ovary)
25. Aba
26. T@h
8
2 7 . The tjagzwa mctsk • •
28. Ahoragw'ana tajBftm
29. Classification of Body -paint styles at Ida
3®" ±®Jfe®9^BB.®. tayawa designs
31. Awov
32. Ritual and sociological r.iovec'jents between bush
and village
33. !Ueh«
34. Statistical interpretation of garden magic
35. black — re<2
36. Mythological oppositions of senior and junior
38. A) Crown of Coconut pains
(cid:9)B) Leaf -bearing branch of hreecl fruit
39. The attributes of the i,g«JLe
40. Hair styles
41. The Transformations of tfask-- tyrxas
42 . Structural relations batweon th® tanjwa and teh mask a
43. Mask fringes
44. Colour, structure and process
45. Th© sequence of colours at ids
46. The Radiation of black and red
47. Structural significance of the ipele designs
48. Th© generational structure of Ida
49. Three kinds of 'tiiae*
50. (aftsr Leach)
51. JJon-nonsal behaviour
52. Syncshrony and diachrony
53. Senior/Junior pairings
54. Ter-rporal oscillation
55. Cycle of ritual roles st ida
56. Dialectical structure of ida
57. Contraativ© analysis of Ho
58. Syllabic inversion
59. Th« jgaj/afi inversion
60. Phonological, articulate ry, and symbolic tUironaiona
61. Tot
TABLES
1 Marriage and alliance relations in the umeda-
£»u!ida ccnnubiurc
2 F-alc> spacics
3. Casting of roles at ida (1S7G)
4. Senior and junior roles at itl
5. Tabular di a err am of Ida
6. The attributes of the
7. £vil_ vs. ^.gi_la
8. lir^adfruit vn,
10. Black -- Ked contrasts
11. Table of Urwda consonants
12 , Table of Oreda vov/«ls
MAPS
Hap 1
Map 2
10
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER 1 „ THE UMEDA SETTING
i0 Introduction 17
ii. Contact and administration 17
iii. The land 29
iv. settlement 32
v. .The People 35
vi. Material culture 37
vii Economic activity 40
CHAPTER 2. THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF UMEDA VILLAGE
i. Introduction 46
ii The Umeda Punda Connubium 46
iii. The Village 60
iv. Village Moieties T\
v. Bush associations 89
vi. Hamlet and Clan 92
Vii. The Kinship System Io9
viii Agnatic Units 138
ix. Hamlet Moieties 150
x. The Household 162
xi . Parents and Children 165
xii Bachelorhood, Betrothal, and Marriage 183
CHAPTER 3. LANGUAGE AND SYMBOLISM
i. Introduction - 206
ii. Words 207
iii. Lexical Motivation 210
iv. Pul - an instance of semantic motivation 213
v. Morphological motivation 221
vi. Central versus Peripheral ed vs. ag 228
vii. Relations vithin the hamlet 234
viii. Relations outside the hamlet 243
ix. The triple analogy 250
x. Organic structure 258
CHAPTER 40 THE IDA FERTILITY RITUAL
i. Introduction . 262
ii. Ida smav 266
iii Huf smav 269
iv. Economic Activity The annual cycle 273
v. The taboos on performers 285
vi. Preparation of the enclosure and masks 287
vii. The first assumption of the peda 297
viii. Ritual roles at ida 299
ix. The eJLi &ab_bra (cassowaries) 304
x. The aba dancers and the y_is ceremony 300
xi. ulateh 312
xii. The ahora/^wana jamvra and the tetagrrana T. 314
xiii. Subsidiary figures 328
xiv. Ar/sego 336
xv. The second day and conclusion (amov) 340
xvi. The ipele bowmen 344