The bilum is the mother of us all : an interpretative analysis of the social value of the Telefol looped string bag

Abstract

This thesis examines the production and use of the looped string bag among the Telefol speakers of Papua New Guinea with emphasis on the interpretation of the string bag as a useful and socially meaningful product. It analyses the practical activities in which men and women engage in in relation to the bilum, and the ways in which it is used within various social contexts to fulfill their different interests. The background to Telefol life is introduced in terms of the distinction between women and men, which encodes the wider themes of the differentiation between nurturing and killing. These dimensions are seen as polarities which frame Telefol social, economic and religious life within the village, and thus the contexts in which the string bag is made and used. Yet it is made clear that the nature of these polarities is also ambiguous. In introducing the object of analysis a detailed visual account of all the types of string bag produced by the Telefol is provided. The use of indigenous labels and categories clearly points to the fact that women, who make the ‘principal form’ of string bag within the domestic realm, classify the bags according to construction processes and correlated looping techniques, while men reclassify according to the elaborations which they add within the realm of the exclusive male cult. This evident gender differentiation provides the basis for the structure of the rest of the thesis. The analysis then focuses on the most characteristic Telefol string bag, and examines the way in which it is constructed as a cultural product. Equal emphasis is placed on the role of the manufacturer in material technical production, and the role of the recipient in extending the potential of the bag through use, and thus completing its production. The morphological, functional and metaphorical attributes of the string bag are all examined and the bag is shown to be a multivalent artefact which is differently perceived according to particular social or ritual context, and the age and gender of the interpreter. The Telefol statement ‘the bilum is the mother of us all' is taken as the key to interpretation. The concluding discussion presents a consideration of the ways in which the bilum is used to differentiate between women and men by emphasising their antithetical natures and polarised activities, and yet simultaneously to highlight their identity of interest in the combined task of social reproduction and cosmic regeneration. The opposing notions of gender antithesis and the interdependence and integration of the sexes are both articulated through the string bag. It is argued that the Telefol string bag is a medium for both women and men to confront dissonance in the paradoxical nature of their relationship.