Trobriander

The Trobriand Islands (today officially known as the Kiriwina Islands) are a 170 mi² archipelago of coral atolls off the eastern coast of New Guinea. They are situated in Milne Bay Province in Papua New Guinea. Most of the population of 12,000 indigenous inhabitants live on the main island of Kiriwina, which is also the location of the government station, Losuia. Other major islands in the group are Kaileuna, Vakuta and Kitava. The group is considered to be an important tropical rainforest ecoregion in need of conservation.

History

The first European visitor to the islands was the French ship Espérance in 1793. The islands were named by navigator Bruni d'Entrecasteaux after his first lieutenant, Denis de Trobriand. In the early 20th century, as the British colonial regime extended its influence and control throughout Papua, the southern portion of New Guinea, Losuia station was established and remained an important center for colonial police officers, traders and missionaries. As World War I began, Bronislaw Malinowski came to Papua and ultimately to the Trobriands to begin an in-depth immersive study of a non-western culture. His descriptions of the kula exchange system, gardening, magic and sexual practices, all classics of modern anthropological writing, prompted many foreign researchers to visit the societies of the island group and study other aspects of their cultures. The psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich drew on Malinowski's studies of the islands in writing his "The Invasion of Compulsory Sex Morality."

In 1943, troops landed on the islands as a part of Operation Cartwheel, the Allied advance to Rabaul. In the 1970s, some indigenous peoples formed anti-colonial associations and political movements.

Culture

The people of the area are mostly subsistence horticulturalists who live in traditional settlements. The social structure is based on matrilineal clans who control land and resources. People participate in the regional circuit of exchange of shells called kula, sailing to visit trade partners on sea-going canoes. In the late twentieth century, anti-colonial and cultural autonomy movements gained followers from the Trobriand societies. When inter-group warfare was forbidden by colonial rulers, the islanders developed a unique, aggressive form of cricket.

Although an understanding of reproduction and modern medicine is widespread in Trobriand Society, their traditional beliefs have been remarkably resilient, and the idea that in order to become pregnant women must be infused with spirits from the nearby island of Tuma (where people's spirits go after they die) is still a part of the Trobriand worldview. In the past, many held this traditional belief because the yam, a major food of the island, included chemicals (phytoestrogens and plant sterols) whose effects are contraceptive, so the practical link between sex and pregnancy was not very evident.

"The Trobrianders.. whose culture traces family lineage through mothers rather than fathers." [Eds.] "The Trobrianders eat alone, retiring to their own hearths with their portions, turning their backs on one another and eating rapidly for fear of being observed." (Both quotes from an excerpt from Jenefer Shute's 1992 novel Life-Size in the book, Open Questions.)

Particularly interesting and unique to the Trobriand Islands are the linguistic aspect of the indigenous language. Dorothy Lee's scholarly writings, drawing upon earlier work by Bronislaw Malinowski refer to "non-lineal codifications of reality." In such a linguistic system, the concept of linear progress of time, geometric shapes, and even conventional methods of description are lost altogether or altered. In her example of a specific indigenous yam, Lee explains that when the yam moves from a state of sprouting to ripeness to over-ripeness, the name for each object in a specific state changes entirely. This is because the description of the object at different states of development are perceived as wholly different objects. Ripeness is considered a "defining ingredient" and thus once it becomes over-ripe, it is a new object altogether. The same perception pertains to time and geometric shapes.

Bronislaw Malinowski showed in detail that no matter how strange or exotic various practices might appear to outsiders, they were an integral part of the healthy functioning of the Trobriand community. He showed the logic and function a practice would have within the context of that society. Although most developed world observers might think of magic as being merely superstitious, Malinowski demonstrated that the foundation which it had to the individuals within a particular context. When Trobriand Islanders went fishing in a lagoon, it was a simple matter. But when they had to go beyond the reefs, into the deep ocean, there were many dangers and unpredictable difficulties. This was the occasion in which the magic rituals re-enforced the ability for the fishermen to brave all these problems. The magic rites thus functioned to help them do what they needed to do.

Kula exchange

The word Kula is derived from bita kuli, a verb, meaning both “to form in the likeness or image of another” and “to be formed as a likeness or image of the other.” This is the "reciprocity" that Malinowski wrote about. According to the Muyuw, a good Kula relationship should be "like a marriage." “It is a motion, an action of giving and taking between people—two people (partners) to begin with. This action results in the growth of participants” (Malnic and Kasaipwalova, 1998). Kula is an experience encountered by two personalities. This expands to include and link whole communities and islands that are otherwise very far away.

On these islands, trade is often necessary for prosperity. However, historically there has been an urgent need for a method of fostering harmony between the islands, as they often had very different social practices. For example, some practiced cannibalism on those captured in warfare, while others did not. The Kula ring provides a connection between the environment, the spiritual world, and the other tribes. This allows the distinction of "the other" to be relaxed within a Kula relationship. The social stratification that the exchange reinforces also helps provide a stable social system that can protect the individual.

The Kula ring spans at least 18 island communities of the Massim archipelago, including the Trobriand Islands and involves thousands of individuals.

There is much anticipation and preparation for the Kula season. It begins in the garden, harvesting surplus yams particularly in anticipation of the trading to come. Although taro is a staple, the higher status yams are a favorite item for the Kula trade. The yams will be displayed competitively and are also used in the feasts to come. They provide one of the ways a village can show hospitality to their visitors, old and new partners.

The Kula trading period ushers in a period of trade of various commodities, games such as Trobriand cricket, feasts, catching up on the news, and various other social events. For the new trading partners, it is not until the second visit that a Kula gift is exchanged. All of these elements serve to link islanders and the Kula partners. There is an opening gift and finally a closing gift, all presented within the familiar context of tradition and ceremony, linking them also to the past.

At sea, participants travel sometimes hundreds of miles in a ceremonial canoe (waga) used specifically for this occasion. If, for example, a particular village had presented their visiting partners with necklaces the previous year, then now the villagers fly across the waves in their own powerful Kula canoes to receive armbands. The men who arrive to receive Kula valuables are seen as aggressive visitors by the men in the host village whose turn it is to give. They are met with ceremonial hostility that the visitors must charm away, often by giving lime spatulas and betelnuts that carry magical spells to induce their hosts to return good pieces. The visitors present themselves as being strong and as having immunity from danger, which is seen as physically beautiful.

The hosts in this competition are seen as relatively passive and vulnerable to the strength, beauty, and magical charms of the visitors. The hosts comply because they know that the next time around it will be their turn to be the visitorss. Each man hopes that his own beauty and power will then compel his trading partner to give him the Kula piece he desires.

Carefully prescribed customs and traditions surround the ceremonies that accompany the exchanges which establish strong, ideally life-long relationships between the exchange parties (karayta'u, "partners"). The terms of participation vary from region to region. In Dobu all men can participate whereas on the Trobriand Islands the exchange is monopolized by the chiefs. Historically limited to male trading partners, women may participate in some areas.

On these annual voyages, when a man presents his partner with a valuable, it must be reciprocated with a gift of equivalent or greater value before too much time passes. Each man tries to hold on to the most valuable and greatest number of pieces for as long as possible. If a man keeps an important valuable for longer than a year or so, or takes it out of the ring, he can expect intense disapproval and perhaps sorcery. It takes two to ten years for a shell to make the circuit. The valuables are kept in constant motion, encircling the scattered islands in rings of social and magical power.

Some partners are close by, but many and the most important are far away. Those in a specific cycle (keda) are not usually personally known to each other, but each knows the others’ names and stories as they are passed along together with the exchange of the powerful and magical valuables. Older named pieces which have been around many times increase in value as they are owned by powerful men. Even temporary possession brings prestige and status. Important chiefs can have hundreds of partners while less significant participants may only have less than a dozen (Malinowski, 1920).

It is critical for a successful man to have Kula partners for life. Many young men state that they would rather be successful in Kula than in business, but as both come together it is rather a choice of order than exclusion.

There is a myth that connects to the origins of the Kula exchange (Malnic and Kasaipwalova, 1998). A long time ago, a hero named Tava, who sometimes appeared as a snake, would pass between certain villages and when he was present, good fortune and prosperity were there as well. Only one woman in each village knew where he was, and she would feed and take care of him. It was important that he be treated well because if he felt mistreated or betrayed in any way, he would move on to the next island. When he left, the good fortune left with him. Still, thankful for the goodness he received while he was there, he left something behind as a trade. It could be a surplus of pigs and yams in the Trobriand Islands or perhaps fine pottery made in the Amphletts. In other areas he left gifts of obsidian and betelnuts. This story could be the origin of the Kula ring and the way it operates among the Trobiand islands.

The highly decorated waga, or ceremonial canoe used for the Kula trade, illustrates some of the investment of meaning in the journey. The waga is made to hold approximately 15 men traveling comfortably over hundreds of miles at open sea, and are quite different from the smaller canoes used normally for fishing. The symbols carved and painted on the lagim (splashboard) on the bow of each canoe show the social ranking of that waga and the party on board. A bwalai (small man figure) at the bow represents the spirit of the man in charge of the canoe and allows his spirit to search the ocean. They utilize designs of minudoga sandpipers, a bird that floats on the ocean, which symbolize the care that must be taken by the leader for his crew and his community. The leader may need to push the others to the extreme but must also be aware of their physical well being. The journey reinforces the ideas that status has obligation, and that each social position has its unique value.

Kula ideally allows communities to obtain Mwasila. Mwasila is the creation of good feeling between people—to be happy, free, and to have no worries. Individually, it involves creating a clear path between oneself and one's environment. This technique enables one to link with the environment and to eliminate all other thoughts that clutter the mind and make problems. Mindful thinking can thus be restored. The Kula exchange becomes an opportunity for cleansing on a community level, smoothing relationships, and rectifying any bad behaviors in the past.

Kaitari, the enchantment of the waves and the tides, is a link to the environment of the ocean and those in Kula must remind themselves of its power. Men on a Kula expedition are at physical risk from the sea and also at magical risk from witches and sorcerers. The excitement, potential for advancement, and structure of Kula helps provide meaning and motivation to endure this day to day difficulty.

Kula is a source of stability in the personal and social well-being of the islanders. The men are away and must be strong and fit, and the women must find harmony and ways to cooperate while they are gone. The Kula circle has always been associated with making contact with far off neighbors. It has been suggested that the trade is one way to avoid inbreeding, as many romances may form with far away partners during the trading times.

"When attention is directed onto an object, it remains in the object. Throughout the mystery of Kula, trading the Mwali and Soulava became ‘living personalities’ with definite cultural identities" {Malnic and Kasaipwalova, 1998). The Kula tradition is carried by word of mouth and is symbolized by the objects Soulava and Mwali, or Bagi as they are known in different parts of Papua New Guinea. It is a motion, an action of giving and taking between two people as partners to begin with, but Kula is also the sacred experience of entire communities. The act of giving, as Marcel Mauss wrote in The Gift, is a display of the greatness of the giver, accompanied by shows of exaggerated modesty in which the value of what is given is actively played down. Such a partnership involves strong mutual obligations such as hospitality, protection, and assistance. Kula is the simple human experience of growth and growing as an individual and as a community engaged in giving and receiving.

Similar Outlooks in Other Cultures

Other cultures have practiced similar forms of gift exchange:

Potlatch is a similar practice among some Native American and First Nations peoples of west coast North America Koha, a similar practice among the Māori of New Zealand Moka, a similar practice in the Mt. Hagen area of Papua New Guinea Sepik Coast exchange, a similar practice in the Sepic Coast of Papua New Guinea Although the Kula exchange has continued, naturally the interaction with modern economic exchange and cultures has changed the events. Currently, there is much less ceremony and care in the preparation and execution of the events of the Kula exchange. Some women exchange Kula, and sometimes Kula objects are sold at the marketplace in exchange for money. As early as 1922, there was some notice of the deceit and manipulations that some men would go through in order to obtain particular Kula objects or arrange matters in ways favorable to them. It is unknown to what extent their contact with more modern cultures has influenced them. Many in Papua New Guinea, however, still practice and value this traditional social custom.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Malinowski, Bronislaw. Argonauts of the Western Pacific (1922)
• Malinowski, Bronislaw. The Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia (1929).
• Malinowski, Bronislaw. Coral Gardens and their Magic (1935).

• Annette B. Weiner The Trobrianders of Papua New Guinea (1988)
• Paul Theroux Happy Isles of Oceania (1992)

External links

• Trobriand Islands Online
• Sorcery and Seduction The Art of Influence in the Trobriands - A travel story about the Trobriands by Roderick Eime
• Dorothy Lee Lineal and Non-Lineal Codifications of Reality
• Trobriand Islands rain forests (World Wildlife Fund)

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