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Womens' Views on Men's Art in Chambri, East Sepik Province

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Womens' Views on Men's Art in Chambri, East Sepik Province Journal de la Société des Océanistes 146 | 2018 Le Sepik : société et production matérielle Womens' views on men’s art in Chambri, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea Le regard des femmes sur l’art des hommes à Chambri, Province de l’est Sepik, Papouasie Nouvelle-Guinée Nicolas Garnier Electronic version URL: http://journals.openedition.org/jso/8720 DOI: 10.4000/jso.8720 ISSN: 1760-7256 Publisher Société des océanistes Printed version Date of publication: 15 July 2018 Number of pages: 35-44 ISBN: 978-2-85430-135-9 ISSN: 0300-953x Electronic reference Nicolas Garnier, « Womens' views on men’s art in Chambri, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea », Journal de la Société des Océanistes [Online], 146 | 2018, Online since 15 July 2020, connection on 24 July 2020. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/jso/8720 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/jso.8720 © Tous droits réservés Womens’ views on men’s art in Chambri, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea by Nicolas GARNIER* ABSTRACT RÉSUMÉ In anthropological literature, secrecy is a central feature Dans la littérature anthropologique, le secret est une notion that opposes male and female in Sepik societies. Based on centrale qui oppose les hommes et les femmes dans les sociétés an analysis of women’s perception of the men’s house and du Sepik. À partir de l’analyse de la perception que les femmes the way they can occasionally enter it, this paper considers ont des maisons des hommes et de la manière dont elles peuvent the way men’s secrecy defines cross-gender relationship. y pénétrer, cette étude envisage la manière dont le secret des Contemporary accounts and early anthropological descrip- hommes définit les relations entre les hommes et les femmes. tion are compared to shed light on what women know Des témoignages contemporains et des descriptions anthropolo- about male secrets, about what they tend to hide from what giques précoces éclairent ce que les femmes savent des secrets des they actually know on that matter. Three main arguments hommes et de ce qu’elles tendent à cacher de ce qu’elles savent are developed to explain why women do not say anything à ce sujet. Trois principaux arguments sont développés pour about what they may know about men’s secrets: shame for expliquer pourquoi les femmes sont mutiques à propos de ce Mead, the fear of sorcery or the existence of a women’s esote- qu’elles sauraient des secrets des hommes : la honte pour Mead, ric body of knowledge according to contemporary Cham- la peur de la sorcellerie ou l’existence d’un savoir ésotérique bri testimonies. While early observers tend to emphasize selon les témoignages contemporains des Chambri. Tandis que a profound dichotomy between male and female realms, les premiers observateurs mettent l’accent sur la dichotomie recent observations made among the Chambri nuance this entre les mondes des hommes et des femmes, des observations strict opposition. récentes faites à Chambri nuancent cette stricte opposition. Keywords: Margaret Mead, Gregory Bateson, secre- Mots-clés : Margaret Mead, Gregory Bateson, cy, men’s house, Chambri secret, maison des hommes, Chambri In Sepik societies, it seems easy to establish two Most studies devoted to Sepik art have neglected distinctive types of artefacts: men’s versus women’s the way women perceive men’s production. Sym- material productions. Whilst some literature fo- metrically, only a few studies mention the way cuses on production modes and opens innovative men perceive women’s production, apart from perspectives on gender roles in the production of their alleged contempt, as quoted by Gregory artefacts (Kaufmann, 1972; Schindlbeck, 1980; Bateson about the Iatmul (1980: 149-150). This Coupaye, 2013), other scholars have studied the presentation analyses the little we know about role of artefacts in exchange systems and in social women’s perspective on Chambri men’s houses. organisation (Mead, 1934; Bowden, 1983; Gar- Though they are being built to hide men’s se- nier, 2007). Finally some studies have delineated crets, they nevertheless remain visible to women’s stylistic areas (Schefold, 1966; Newton, 1971). gaze. This paper will discuss what is shown, what * Chargé de collections Océanie. Paris, musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, mokumpandi@netcourrier.com. Journal de la Société des Océanistes 146, année 2018, pp. 35-44 36 JOURNAL DE LA SOCIÉTÉ DES OCÉANISTES Photo 2. – Making of the sewas, literally the “skirt” of the men’s house, that is used as a blind at the peri- phery of the structure, 2007 (© N. Garnier) Photo 1. – View of the Holmimbit men’s house, Kirimbit, 2005 (© N. Garnier) focuses on a particular men’s artefact: men’s hous- is seen, what is meant to be hidden, and what is es (called irman in Chambri) that is supposed to actually known from what was supposedly not to symbolise women’s exclusion from male politics be known. Women’s view and knowledge about and rituals. Today, the proportion and the size of men’s houses reveal to what extent they know the building, the complexity of the bindings at- about men’s secrets. The level of women’s knowl- taching the various wooden structures together, edge about men’s secrets blurs the presumed op- the choice of the material, the style of the painted position between male and female realms. sculptures that cover the posts and the beams are Sepik men’s houses are perhaps the most famous the object of intense debates. They consider these Gesamtkunstwerk from Melanesia. They combine buildings as an artistic achievement. It is also the the Sepik artistic achievements at their highest visual focal point of the village skyline. Irmanpari level of quality. They are pieces of architecture of (the plural of irman) emerge far above the other extraordinary complexity. Many techniques such houses and of many trees; only the oldest coco- as sculpture, plaiting, bindings, stitching, paint- nuts that are planted in the vicinity dominate ing, and flower arrangements give these works of these spectacular pieces of architecture. While art their spectacular features. Occasionally they walking in Chambri, and in many Sepik villages, become stages for dance and music performances it is impossible to ignore their presence. whose elaboration equals the artistic ambition of its First, early testimonies on cross gender art architecture. Men’s houses have been both the ob- appreciations (Mead and Bateson) will be ject of scholarly research (Hauser-Schäublin, 1989; compared with contemporary narratives from Garnier, 2007; Coiffier, 1994 among many others) Chambri people. After starting work with the and the topic of innumerable non-academic publi- Chambri in 1997 I noticed that most things that cations. In literature, Sepik men’s houses are the ut- are made by men (men’s houses, tools, musical most expression of men’s culture and are opposed to instruments, canoes, artefacts made for local the women’s realm (including female activities, rit- use or for tourist trade) or by women (artefacts uals, worldviews…). For most commentators, writ- made of looped strings, skirts, baskets, and flow- ing about men’s houses signifies taking the point of er arrangements) are often discussed and need to view of men. As men’s houses are their creations, conform to a set of qualities, such as visual beau- as they shelter men’s secrets and as they seemingly ty, respect of tradition, technical strength but exclude women, it seems at first that only the men’s also innovation and individual sensibility1. Fore- point of view can be considered legitimate. most, visual creations, whether made by men or This paper draws on a previous article exploring women, need to provoke excitement, surprise, the audience appreciation of a masked dance in fear, puzzlement or amusement. Chambri (Garnier, 2015). In the domain of peo- Mens’ houses embody many of the aesthetic ple’s appreciation of visual artworks, one should qualities prised by the Chambri, meanwhile this pose a double question: what are women’s under- amazing architectural envelope is considered by standing and appreciation of artworks, on the one the Chambri as a fence that hides men’s secrets. hand, and on the other hand, what women know However we would like to question to which ex- about men’s secrecy and consequently womens’ tent the preservation of male secrecy is efficient reactions towards its partial exposure. This paper to delineate distinctive and independent male 1. I have been working with the Chambri since 1997. After spending several consecutive long fieldworks in 1997 and 1998, I spent two years in the village between 2000 and 2002. Since then I established myself in Port Moresby at the University of Papua New Guinea. There many Chambri resided for months or sometimes years when they had matters to deal with in the capital city. Between 2003 and 2016 I returned to Chambri several times each year. WOMENS’ VIEWS ON MEN’S ART IN CHAMBRI, EAST SEPIK PROVINCE, PAPUA NEW GUINEA 37 and female realms. The last part of this paper draws on Tuzin’s reflec- tions on the contemporary chal- lenges faced by Arapesh men that drive them to publicly unveil their male secrets. My first argument is that an ar- tefact made by a man is not only a man’s concern and reciprocally, a woman’s artefact is not only meant to concern women. A few years ago I demonstrated that string bags, wom- en’s artefacts by excellence, are high- ly regarded by men in Papua New Guinea (Garnier, 2009). They collect them, they parade with them, and they use them as signs of identity Photo 3. – Women dancing around the men’s house Walindimi, but also as a form of sexual attrac- 2008 (© N.
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