Bakoiudu : resettlement and social change among the Kuni of Papua

Abstract

The research for this thesis was carried out under the terms of a scholarship awarded by the Australian National University. Fieldwork was undertaken between July 1963 and April 1965. The object of research was to describe the resettlement of the mountain Kuni which began in 1961, and to analyse the process of change which resulted from this movement. Chapter 1 describes the traditional way of life of the Kuni prior to resettlement and even before European contact about 1900. Attention is drawn to the interesting combination of so-called Melanesian and Papuan traits in Kuni culture, and to the light which this may throw on the question of population movements in New Guinea in the past. Chapter 2 gives a detailed description of the process of evangelization in Kuni dating back to the first contact in 1896, between these people and the Roman Catholic Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. Special emphasis is laid on the nature of present day Kuni religious beliefs, and on the distinctive syncretic characteristics of Kuni Catholicism. The discussion of the Mission's role in Kuni is continued in the next chapter which describes the reasons for resettlement, how it was implemented and outlines the main problems which confronted the settlers when they arrived at Bakoiudu. These problems are discussed primarily in terms of changes in residential organization and corresponding changes in group solidarity. Chapter 4 deals exclusively with problems of economic organization and economic change under resettlement conditions. Particular attention is drawn to the difficulties posed by the introduction of cash cropping, and to the various attempts made by the settlers to reconcile this activity with the traditional attitudes and work patterns associated with subsistence horticulture. Problems of leadership and social control are discussed in Chapter 5. The approach has been to contrast the structure of leadership which existed before the arrival of the Europeans with that which prevailed after contact, and to compare both of these forms again, with that which has recently emerged at Bakoiudu. The same comparative historical approach has been applied to the analysis of methods of social control. In both cases it emerges clearly that the premises of traditional leadership and authority are no longer suitable or effective under resettlement conditions. To some extent this is also true of kinship organizatior Chapter 6 shows how rules regarding the payment of bride-price, post-marital residence and descent have changed from pre-contact times down to the present day. Conversion to Catholicism and changes in the social significance of spatial separation have also engendered many important changes in traditional kinship organization. The concluding chapter reviews the data and arguments set out earlier. The final analysis attempts an explanation of the changes which have taken place in Kuni in the light of a threefold distinction between precipitating, enabling and inhibiting conditions of change. Four appendices are also included. The first discusses the position of persons who have refused to resettle and describe: how resettlement has affected them; the second gives additional examples of changes in traditional Kuni customs and values which resulted from resettlement; the third gives an account of how the Kuni Club was established at Bakoiudu and how it has fared there; and the fourth discusses the attitudes of Port Moresby Kuni to resettlement. Show more