The Abelam people are a tribe of horticulturalists in New Guinea who are famous for their artwork and for their majestic, towering spirit houses that dominate village skylines. They are also well-known for growing and exchanging huge ceremonial yams that often exceed 3 meters (10 feet) in length. I have written about how yam beliefs act to organize and synchronize many aspects of their lives. Anthropologists and food studies scientists are interested in how foods are used by people in non-nutritive, symbolic and expressive ways, and the Abelam provide a good example of how food helps to build social identities.
Like many other peoples of New Guinea, the Abelam traditionally have an egalitarian social organization, lacking formal political offices and social hierarchies. How do they maintain social order with no police, courts, judges or jails? They have very rich ceremonial and social lives. How do they organize their activities without formal political or religious leaders?
In some parts of the Pacific islands, most notably in eastern Polynesia, there are complex chiefdoms with formal leaders who orchestrate public works. How and why did these chiefdoms arise? Why didn’t they develop in the highlands of New Guinea, which has dense populations based on agricultural intensification and other characteristics generally associated with the growth of social differentiation?
I have had a special relationship with the Abelam for over forty years. I’ve described their conflict management techniques in my PhD thesis, studied their social organization, worked on legal development projects to establish Village Courts (which to blend together introduced and customary legal systems) in their territory, and have assisted in their efforts to achieve sustainable economic development.
Key Publications:
Scaglion, Richard. "Abelam: Giant Yams and Cycles of Sex, Warfare and Ritual." In Discovering Anthropology: Researchers at Work- Cultural Anthropology. C.R. Ember and M. Ember (eds.), pp. 21-31. Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2007.
Scaglion, Richard. “Multiple Voices, Multiple Truths: Labour Recruitment in the Sepik Foothills of German New Guinea.” The Journal of Pacific History 42(3):345-360, 2007.
Scaglion, Richard. “From Anthropologist to Government Officer and Back Again.” In Anthropology and Consultancy: Issues and Debates. P. J. Stewart and A. Strathern (eds.), pp. 46-62. Berghahan Press, Oxford, 2005. (reprinted from Social Analysis).
Scaglion, Richard. "Juxtaposed Narratives: A New Guinea Big Man Encounters the Colonial Process." In In Colonial New Guinea: Anthropological Perspectives. N. McPherson (ed.), pp. 151-170. ASAO Monograph Series No. 19, University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, 2001. |