They make themselves: Life cycle, domestic cycle and ritual among the Baining. (Volumes I and II) (Melanesia, island, New Guinea, symbolic, socialization, adoption, nature, society) [microform]
- Bib ID:
- 3282782
- Format:
- Book and Microform
- Author:
- Fajans, Jane
- Description:
- 745 p.
- Summary:
-
This thesis describes and analyses the society and culture of the Baining of East New Britain, Papua New Guinea through a model of a generative social system. Social organization among the Baining is relatively simple. The main social and subsistence unit, the household, is generated by activities which imbue it with form and value; these include adoption, food-giving and subsistence work. Such transformative activities generate social and cultural products from natural raw material. The generation of society and culture out of nature emerges as the principal concern of Baining culture. Conversely, the transformation of the social into the natural (through death or decay) is also a major concern, as expressed in mortuary ritual. Adoption, food-giving, work, cooking and child socialization, as transformative activities which produce desired social forms, are highly valued by the Baining and together constitute the framework of Baining life.
Chapters One through Three describe the historical, geographical, ecological, and social setting of Baining life, and outline the general theoretical orientation of the analysis. Chapter Four discusses marriage, the formation of the household, and the transformation of "natural" children into "social" ones through adoption and food-giving. Chapter Five describes the life cycle as a series of transformations from relatively natural to more socialized forms, a process which culminates in the married parent's ability to socialize others. Chapter Six discusses the Baining concept of persons as both socialized and socializing agent. It explains how the set of culturally recognized sentiments gives expression to key Baining values. Chapter Seven gives an account of mortuary ritual. Death is a negation of the values and productive processes of Baining culture, and these rituals reestablish valued social relations.
Baining dances are analyzed in Chapters Eight through Ten, as both a ritual expression of Baining values and as a process of creation and socialization parallel to that which constitutes everyday life. Through these rituals the Baining dramatize the way in which they "make themselves" into social actors. In conclusion, the principles underlying these cultural values and social forms are abstracted to construct a generative model of the Baining social system.
- Notes:
-
- (UnM)AAI8522140
- Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-09, Section: A, page: 2732.
- Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 1985.
- Reproduction:
- Microfiche. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms International.
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Cultural
- Other authors/contributors:
- Stanford University
- Copyright:
-
In Copyright
Contact us for information about copying.
Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Literary Dramatic Musical
- Published status:
- Unpublished
- Creation date:
- 1985
Copyright status may not be correct if data in the record is incomplete or inaccurate. Other access conditions may also apply. For more information please see: Copyright in library collections.
Request this item
Request this item to view in the Library’s reading room.