Communicating with Transculturation1 by

Elfriede HERMANN*

K: transculturation, Cuban history, M- : transculturation, histoire cubaine, échan- exchange, Ngaing (Papua New Guinea), Banabans ges, Ngaing (Papouasie Nouvelle-Guinée), Banabans (Fiji) (Fidji)

Transculturation is fundamentally involved in recognizes that the process per se stems from the formation and continuous shaping of cultu- social interactions and the power relationships res. For this discussion, I have slightly modified these involve. the original concept, as developed by Fernando The concept of «transculturation» was coined Ortiz ([1947] 1995), to mean the adoption of by the Cuban sociologist Fernando Ortiz ([1947] cultural practices and their socio-cultural recon- 1995). In his book on the history of tobacco and textualization. What’s more, this recontextuali- sugar in Cuba indeed he deliberately created it as zation involves a conceptualization, which is, at a neologism. Ortiz gave the chapter where he once, a reconceptualization, in that the meaning introduces his concept of transculturation the of the adopted aspects is combined with the following title: discourses of the recipient culture. The process «On the Social Phenomenon of ‘‘Transculturation’’ of transculturation «is a phenomenon of the and Its Importance in Cuba.» (Ortiz, 1995: 97) contact zone», to use the graphic phrase of Mary Louise Pratt (1992: 6). Nor should we conceive Drawing on his case study of Cuba, he poin- this process as something that only occurs in the ted out that when cultures encounter each other, recipient culture (or the recipient group). Rather each of the parties invariably exerts a strong what we have is a «two-way borrowing and len- influence on the other(s) (Ortiz, 1995: 100). Ortiz ding between cultures», as Renato Rosaldo makes clear, in the course of reviewing Cuba’s (1995: ) summed up. From this observation we history, that oppressors and oppressed alike may conclude that also the socio-cultural confi- were all locked in a «painful process of transcul- guration from which something is borrowed ¢ turation» (Ortiz, 1995: 102). He showed that the donor culture, as it were ¢ does not remain often enough force of a physical and mental kind uninfluenced by the transaction to which it is was exercised, and alerted his readers to the way party. Thus the concept of «transculturation» power relationships were always, at bottom,

1 Participated into this session: Emmanuelle Crane & Grant McCall, Jean De Lannoy, Adi Hastings, Junko Edo, Emma Gilberthorpe, Elfriede Hermann, Steffen Herrmann, Lisette Josephides, Mark Mosko, Anton Ploeg, Nancy Pollock, Ropate Qalo, John Taylor, Jaap Timmer, Ghislaine van Maane, Polly Wiessner. * University of Göttingen, [email protected].

Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 125, année 2007-2 258 SOCIÉTÉ DES OCÉANISTES implicated in transculturation. It is against the lizing «transculturation» for cultural and social background of his commentary on Cuban his- anthropology, try asking some further ques- tory that Ortiz tells us «the process also necessa- tions: rily involves the loss or uprooting of a previous - What components in the definition of trans- culture» (Ortiz, 1995: 102). culturation are of especial importance in our But he goes on to point out that the concept of research? transculturation implies «the idea of the conse- - What are the merits and demerits of the quent creation of new cultural phenomena» concept of transculturation? (Ortiz, 1995: 102-103). The latter defining com- Aside from the issue of anthropological ponent was likewise stressed by Bronislaw Mali- conceptualization, what we should note, I sug- nowski in the introduction he wrote to the first gest, is how various societies deal with processes edition of Ortiz’s work. This concept of transculturation coined by of transculturation. For in order to conceptua- Ortiz opens for us, in any event, valuable pers- lize these, they have naturally developed terms of pectives on the matter of transcultural exchange their own. They have at their disposal cultural under conditions of unequal power rela- rules of transfer; and they negotiate their cultu- tionships, so stresses Fernando Coronil (1995: ral logic more or less explicitly in interaction -) in his own introduction to Ortiz’s with others. book, which he wrote for the 1995 edition. Coro- nil (1995: -) notes that Mali- nowski broke the undertaking he gave Ortiz Problems of indigenous conceptualizations of when borrowing his concept, namely that he transculturation. Two examples, the Ngaing of would only use it in his sense and always ack- Papua New Guinea and the Banabans of Fiji nowledge its paternity. Coronil points out that only very few anthropologists, literary critics That societies in Oceania do conceptualize and exponents of cultural studies have so far processes of adopting alien cultural elements been willing to seriously address Ortiz’ book. into their own culture and of transferring to Amid those studies that have injected the cultural others elements of theirs, dawned on me concept of «transculturation» into contempo- during my fieldwork, first, with the Ngaing of rary debate a noteworthy study is by Mary Papua New Guinea and, second, with the Bana- Louise Pratt (1992), coming from within literary bans of Fiji. Their respective conceptualizations theory. Also worth mentioning besides the are present, and assume relevance, in the actions various works cited by Coronil are the following they perform, even if this is often more implicit anthropological sources: Rolf Husmann (1984); than overt. Gundolf Krüger (1986); Karl Wernhart (2001); Older men and women among the Ngaing in Claudia Hirsch (1995); Silvia Spitta (1995); Wol- Papua New Guinea affirmed, to take one exam- fgang Kempf (2003) und Quetzil Castaneda ple, that a man called Yali, who at one time (2004). It remains to be seen whether this list, spearheaded a social movement in Madang Pro- which by the way is not at all exhaustive, indica- vince, had adopted this or that practice from tes a growing interest in the concept of transcul- European culture. Thus Yali had, among other turation. things, picked up the idea of laying out villages in As Silvia Spitta (1995: 6) has stressed, the an orderly way while travelling in Australia, an notion of transculturation must «continually be idea he then followed up upon returning to his redefined for specific contexts». And as Coronil home region (Hermann, 1995: 90-91). From the (1995: ) explains, the concept readily lends narratives of the Ngaing it is apparent that Yali itself to being thus modified; indeed it has much had assumed (no less, by the way, than the to offer to anthropology, not least in respect of Ngaing had) that Australian culture was offering how interacting anthropological theories are to itself to Papua New Guineans for transfer ¢ for be conceptualized. what other motive could the Australians have In encyclopedias of anthropology to date, had for bringing Yali to Australia, if not to show there is little or no point in searching for any- him everything they had? Yali, I was told, opera- thing under «transculturation». Does this mean, ted on the assumption that the Australians had then, that the concept is not part of the standard promised them a similar lifestyle to that in Aus- terminology of our discipline? And if not, tralia. But when the colonial masters saw the should we not perhaps think of adding it to our amount of power Yali had amassed, they did familiar repertoire of terms? To answer these their best to weaken his power (Hermann, 1995: questions, we might, for purposes of conceptua- 118). The older men and women know that COMMUNICATING WITH TRANSCULTURATION 259 alongside the influence the Australians had on ses such as cultural borrowing, incorporation, and Yali stands the impression that Yali had on the exchange? Or more exactly: Australians. This knowledge they pass on to the ¢ How do members of a society see it when elements younger generations, to the extent that it is in the from other cultures are adopted into their own cul- present of relevance to the latter. ture? The Banabans, a people originally from the ¢ How do they see it when elements from their own island of Banaba (part of «Micronesia»)who culture are transplanted into other cultures? were relocated in 1945 to Rabi Island in Fiji, ¢ To what extent do people living in Oceania distin- were in the habit of alluding, when telling me of guish between discrete contexts of transculturation? their contemporary culture, to exchanges of cul- ¢ What is defined as transferable or non transferable tural practices as having taken place with other and under what conditions? ¢ And the last question is this: Can we when com- ethnic groups living in Fiji. What they repeatedly paring the conceptualizations of different groups mentioned, for example, was a two-way process identify any common ground? ff of borrowing each other’s foodstu s or recipes. In terms of the far-ranging topic of our conference, Fijians from the neighbouring islands, they liked Pacific Challenges: Questioning Concepts, Rethinking to tell me, had taken over from the Banabans the Conflicts, another possible question would be to ask: practice of eating raw fish te ika ae e menaai, «fish that is fresh» as the Banabans call it. Prior ¢ What role is attributed to processes of cultural to their coming, the Banabans say, the Fijians adoption in the genesis of conflicts? were in the habit of eating their fish uncooked ¢ Does transculturation contribute to conflict reso- ¢ only if first marinated in lemon juice, coconut lution and intercultural communication and if so, to what extent? milk, chili or vegetables ¢ a recipe the Fijians know as kokoda. Only at a later date did I learn I would assume, based on what the Ngaing and the that an «ex-change» had occurred here in the Banabans told me, that in every society a certain cul- true sense of the word: turally specific consensus can be found on three ques- «After staying with the Fijians for sixty years, we tions: have learnt how to prepare kokoda which we now call a) on the processes of transfer; miti and Fijians in areas close to Rabi (Vanua Levu b) on the agents doing the transferring; and and Taveuni) have learnt that the best way to eat fish is c) on the knowledge that is transferred. by eating it as it is.» (Nei Miri and Na Toki, 15.02.1998) a) On the question of processes, we find that social groups have developed specific rules governing the Let me just add in passing that miti is itself a transfer of cultural aspects ¢ for example, rules about Fijian word that the Banabans have «transcultu- taking but also about giving, rules about recognizing red». Miti refers to foodstuffs (apart from fish) sources and origins, rules about the extent to which marinated in uncooked coconut milk. In any something may be transferred, rules about the event, the Banabans deem food a domain emi- domains in which transfer is permissible and the nently suited to cultural exchange. domains where it is not. The Banabans are highly aware of these cultu- b) As for the agents, what we might expect to find are ral adoptions of theirs: culturally specific ideas on how members of the society in question are expected to deal with novelty ¢ «We have taken on new cultures, some part of the should they retain the new in the form in which it cultures that we live in» presents itself or should they combine it with what is already there? as Na Tom put it incisively (13.11.1997). And c) With regard to knowledge, there prevails, it might Nei Rebo declared: be argued, in some societies a certain consensus on whether knowledge of a specific transfer should be «Because they [the Banabans] are now living in the kept alive across a specific phase of time or may ins- Fijians’ land. So they communicate, they make tead be forgotten. friends, so they exchange!» (18.02.2005)

Questions on indigenous conceptualization BIBLIOGRAPHY  Let me wind up this introduction of mine by B Thomas (ed), 1997. The Dictionary of reviewing several questions on the indigenous concep- Anthropology, Oxford, Blackwell Publishers. tualization of transculturation, questions that possi- B Alan and Jonathan S (eds), 1996. bly merit our closer attention: Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology, ¢ How do Oceanian societies conceptualize proces- London, Routledge. 260 SOCIÉTÉ DES OCÉANISTES

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