From Land to Mouth: The Agricultural "Economy" of the Wola of the New Guinea Highlands

596 Pages·2011·2.333 MB·English

by  Paul Sillitoe

Yale Agrarian Studies Series
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Paul Sillitoe: From Land to Mouth: The Agricultural “Economy” of the Wola of the New
Guinea Highlands
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From Land
to Mouth
The Agricultural “Economy” of the
Wola of the New Guinea Highlands
Paul Sillitoe
NEW HAVEN & LONDON
Copyright © 2010 by Yale University.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sillitoe, Paul, 1949–
From land to mouth : the agricultural “economy” of the Wola of the New Guinea highlands / Paul Sillitoe.
p. cm. — (Yale agrarian studies series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-300-14226-6 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Agriculture—Economic aspects—Papua New Guinea. 2. Wola (Papua New Guinean people)—
Economic conditions. I. Title. II. Title: Agricultural “economy” of the Wola of the New Guinea
highlands. III. Series: Yale agrarian studies.
HD2196.5.S55 2010
338.1089'9912—dc22
2010013155
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FOR
J again, as always
And Mum and Dad
We live from hand to mouth, most of us, with a small family of immediate desires.
—GEORGE ELIOT, THE MILL ON THE FLOSS
Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,
Ground his axe-blade to sharpness
And began to fell the forest,
Toiling hard to clear the country . . .
Then the bird of the air struck fire,
And the flames rose up in brightness,
While the north wind fanned the forest,
And the north-east wind blew fiercely.
All the trees were burned to ashes,
Till the sparks were quite extinguished.
Then the aged Väinämöinen
Took the six seeds from his satchel,
And he took the seven small kernels . . .
Then he went to sow the country,
And to scatter seeds around him . . .
Make the blade arise and flourish,
Let the stalks grow up and lengthen,
That the ears might grow by thousands,
Yet a hundredfold increasing,
By my ploughing and sowing,
In return for all my labour.
—FROM THE RUNO ON SHIFTING CULTIVATION IN THE FINNISH EPIC POEM
KALEVALA: THE LAND OF HEROES
Contents
List of Illustrations viii
Preface xvii
CHAPTER 1 The Agricultural “Economy” 1
CHAPTER 2 Economics and the Self-Interested Individual 26
CHAPTER 3 Community and the Other-Interested Individual 56
CHAPTER 4 Land Tenure and the Collective-Interests Individual 85
CHAPTER 5 Selection of Cultivation Sites and Individual Choice 126
CHAPTER 6 The Land Issue: Scarce Resource? 169
CHAPTER 7 The Population Issue: Too Many People? 216
CHAPTER 8 Pioneering Gardens: Men’s Labor 253
CHAPTER 9 Cultivating Gardens: Women’s Labor 295
CHAPTER 10 The Labor Question: Scarcity of Time? 330
CHAPTER 11 Exchange: Taro Gardens 376
CHAPTER 12 The Exchange Economy? 417
CHAPTER 13 No Economy, No Development? 454
Appendices 1–3 483
Notes 487
References 529
Index 561
Illustrations
Maps
1.1. New Guinea: Wola region and neighbors 20
6.1. Vegetation cover of Wola region 177
6.2. Series of maps showing gardens and houses in part of Was Valley 180
Figures
1.1. Sweet potato garden with clumps of sugarcane 17
1.2. Taro garden 17
1.3. Small mixed-vegetable garden 17
1.4. Garden area under coarse grass fallow 18
1.5. Looking northward up the Was Valley 21
1.6. View across the Was Valley looking northwestward with a sweet potato
garden in the foreground 21
1.7. Ridge under montane rain forest 22
1.8. Homestead on a knoll surrounded by dense cane grass 23
2.1. Sa longhouse 31
2.2. Constructing a vine suspension bridge across the Was River 31
2.3. Late afternoon, and a woman has tethered her pigs along the fence adjacent
to her house 43
2.4. At a pig kill at Ungubiy, men remove hot stones from earth oven 43
2.5. Cutting up cooked pork at pig kill prior to distribution 43
3.1. Individual and cooperative behavior grid 59
3.2. A man argues his point during a dispute 73
3.3. Threatening violence, men wave axes and bows in a show of aggression 76
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ix
3.4. Walking aid devised by a man with a leg wound caused by an arrow during
armed hostilities 77
3.5. Discussing an ol gwat (mortuary exchange), with wealth displayed along
fence 81
4.1. Schematic genealogy illustrating land tenure principles 90
4.2. Cordyline shrubs mark an old fence line 97
4.3. Genealogy of disputants in case 1 99
4.4. Mayka Sal 100
4.5. Genealogy of disputants in case 2 102
4.6. Mayka Muwlib 103
4.7. Wenja Waenil 103
4.8. Genealogy of disputants in case 3 104
4.9. Huwlael Em 105
4.10. Maenget Tensgay 105
4.11. Genealogy of disputants in case 4 106
4.12. Mayka Pes 107
4.13. Wol Saembuwt 107
4.14. Garden area disputed by Pes and Saembuwt at the mokombai (regrowth)
stage 107
4.15. Land tenure relationships at Ganonkiyba site 108
4.16. Wenja Oliyn 108
4.17. Wenja Unguwdiyp 108
4.18. Wenja Neleb 109
4.19. View of the Ganonkiyba garden during fencing 109
4.20. Schematic genealogy after gardeners’ land rights 113
4.21. Schematic genealogy showing occurrence of males and females in land
tenure kin equations 114
4.22. Schematic genealogy showing occurrence of collateral connections in land
tenure kin equations 115
4.23. Land tenure compared with social status 120
5.1. Distance from homesteads to gardens 130
5.2. Distance to gardens compared with social status 137
5.3. Distance to gardens compared with age 138
5.4. Fence with beading attached, dense cane grassland behind 140
5.5. Enclosure with natural features, a rock overhang that also serves as a shelter
and cooking place 140
5.6. Enclosure of gardens compared with social status 145
5.7. Aspects of gardens 146
5.8. Aspect: looking out from sweet potato garden 147
5.9. Slopes of gardens 149
5.10. Slope: a steeply sloping sweet potato garden 150