PETRA M. AUTIO HARD CUSTOM, HARD DANCE SOCIAL ORGANISATION, (UN)DIFFERENTIATION AND NOTIONS OF POWER IN A TABITEUEAN COMMUNITY, SOUTHERN KIRIBATI Academic Dissertation to be publicly discussed, by due permission of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Helsinki, in Auditorium XII of the Main Building, April 17th, 2010, at 10 a.m. PETRA M. AUTIO HARD CUSTOM, HARD DANCE SOCIAL ORGANISATION, (UN)DIFFERENTIATION AND NOTIONS OF POWER IN A TABITEUEAN COMMUNITY, SOUTHERN KIRIBATI Research Series in Anthropology University of Helsinki Academic Dissertation Research Series in Anthropology University of Helsinki, Finland Distributed by Helsinki University Press P.O. Box 4 (Vuorikatu 3 A) 00014 University of Helsinki Finland fax +358-9-7010 2374 http://www.yliopistopaino.fi ISSN 1458-3186 ISBN 978-952-10-6150-9 (paperback) ISBN 978-952-10-6151-6 (PDF) Helsinki University Print Helsinki 2010 To my daughter Oili Raakel Maria CONTENTS List of illustrations vii Notes on names, citations and typographical conventions viii Acknowledgements ix 1. INTRODUCTION 1 Social Differentiation, Undifferentiation and Power in Southern Kiribati 3 Kiribati Introduced 11 The Kiribati Custom 15 Tabiteuea and Its Northern District 17 Tabiteuean Custom and Its Hardness 19 Kiribati Studied 21 Fieldwork and Research Questions 27 The Approach and Course of Chapters 29 2. THE ANCESTOR WITHOUT DESCENDANTS: DIFFERENTIATION AND NOTIONS OF POWER IN TABITEUEA 33 Chiefs Are Forbidden? Myth, history, concept 33 Story of the Story 36 The Story of Kourabi (Karakin Kourabi) 42 Lines of power: The Karongoa clan 46 The apical ancestor: Tematawarebwe the first-born 50 Children of many fathers 52 The twofold ancestor: Akau the younger brother 53 Karongoa clan and power 56 Dualities and Transformation of Power 58 Power in the (Un)making 62 Making men, making chiefs 64 Making women 68 Binding but Not Unbinding: Remaining tabu 76 Power in his things 77 Power in the bones 80 Summary: Differentiation and its cut-off point 83 3. IINAKIS AND THEIR WORK: (UN)DIFFERENTIATION AND DECENTRALISATION IN THE MEETINGHOUSE 88 On Meetinghouses (Maneabas) 88 v Obaia the Feathered‟s Arrival and the Foundation of Atanikarawa 92 Meetinghouse Kourabi‟s Arrival at Atanikarawa: The reconfiguration of power 96 Rivalling Arrivals 99 Iinakis, Land and Succession Temanoku/Buota 101 Upper-level and Lower-level Iinakis in Atanikarawa 106 „Work‟ as the Notion of Differentiation 109 Work for Kourabi 114 Moving the Elder (Tabekan te Unimwaane) 115 Placing the thatch (Katokarau) 117 Social Differentiation, Undifferentiation and the Decentralisation of power 121 4. PEOPLE OF OUR VILLAGE, WHICH IS BUOTA: THE VILLAGE COMMUNITY AND HOUSES AS SOCIAL UNITS 125 A Village by the Road 125 Houses as Social Units 128 Household Composition and Mobility 129 The Village Prepares for a Visit 133 The Undifferentiation of Houses 137 Churches and Work Co-operatives 142 Village Community as a Social Unit and the Iinakis of the Villages 144 Junctures of Sameness and Difference 148 5. SITTING PROPERLY: SPACE, LANGUAGE AND THE BODY IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF IDEAL COMMUNITY 153 Arranging and Attending Feasts: Social organisation of a bootaki 155 Elements of a Bootaki 159 Welcoming guests 159 Feeding guests 164 Delivering speeches 168 Giving and acknowledging gifts 170 Entertaining guests 173 Resting 174 Ending the feast and restoring independence 175 Constituting and Reaffirming the Community 176 Hierarchical organisation of space 176 Producing sameness and difference ideally and practice 178 “The independent man is independent”: Autonomy and its surrender 180 vi Tabu and the centre of the maneaba 182 Community 184 6. PEOPLE OF OUR DANCE: KNOWLEDGE, SOCIAL RELATIONS AND GENDER IN DANCE GROUPS 186 Style and Social Relations in Kiribati Dancing (mwaie): 186 Knowledge(s) as the Foundation of a Dance Group 189 Dancing and Everyday Life 192 The Teacher and His People 194 Contextualising the Account 196 204 Other Dance Teachers in Buota 198 Necessary Competition Between the Groups 199 Precedence, Unity and Continuity Within the Groups 202 Differentiation and the Emergence of Dance Groups 203 Group Composition and the Authority of Women 207 Displaying Undifferentiated Reproductive Power 210 Summary: The groups and the dancers 213 Group relations 214 Gender matters 215 7. DANCING IS ON! CONFLICTING LOYALTIES AND EQUIVOCAL AUTHORITY 218 The Coming Out: Dress-rehearsals (koroun) 220 Round One: Christmas dances 224 Round Two: Dancing at the ordination feast 228 Respite: Enjoyable dancing at the village feast 235 The Dance Prevails? Dance competition at Teabike College Cultural Day 240 Importance of Dancing 244 Social Configurations of Performance 245 When „People Talk‟: Community, fame and authority 250 8. CONCLUSION 255 Appendix: Karakin Kourabi – The Story of Kourabi 269 Glossary 274 References cited 277 Archival sources 297 Subject index 299 vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Map 1. The Republic of Kiribati 10 Map 2. Gilbert Islands grouped according to their traditional polities. 12 Map 3. Tabiteuea atoll, showing villages and the division into administrative districts. 18 Photograph 1. Unimwaanen Buota (Buota elders) in August 2000. 42 Figure 1. Legend for genealogies. 50 Genealogy 1. Kourabi‟s descent from Tematawarebwe. 51 Genealogy 2. Kourabi‟s descent from Akau. 54 Photograph 2. Atanikarawa meetinghouse (maneaba) in Buota village, Tabiteuea Meang. 89 Genealogy 3. Founders of Atanikarawa meetinghouse. 95 Figure 2. The founders of the iinakis in Atanikarawa, their sitting places in the maneaba and their principal kainga lands. 103 Figure 3. Floorplan of Atanikarawa maneaba showing the iinakis which have resulted from the segmentation of the original five iinakis. 105 Photograph 3. Men of Tanimeang working on the roof of Atanikarawa maneaba in Buota, placing the thatch. 119 Photograph 4. Men of Tanimaeao working on the roof of Atanikarawa maneaba in Buota, placing the thatch. 119 Photograph 5 .Men of Tanimeang eating a meal, hosted by Tanimaeao. 119 Photograph 6 .Men of Tanimaeao eating a meal, hosted by Tanimeang. 119 Photograph 7. Food distributed among member households of Tanimaeao. 120 Photograph 8. Food distributed among member households of Tanimeang. 120 Chart. House occupancy in Buota between November 1999 and September 2000. 130 Figure 4. Division of Tabiteuea Meang villages into two tiba and the iinaki positions of the villages in the maneaba. 146 Figure 5. Floor plan of a maneaba during a feast (bootaki) 158 Photograph 9. A singing group in a bootaki arranged by the Protestant Women‟s Association (RAK), showing the customary coconut leaf bow decoration. 163 Figure 6. Organisation of meetinghouse space in terms of „up‟ and „down‟. 177 Photograph 10. Kiribati dancing (mwaie); a dance type locally called kateitei. 188 Figure 7. Authority of women concerning dance group membership. 209 Table. Age and gender distribution of Buota dancers 1999-2000. 210 Photograph 11. In a koroun. 221 All photographs and figures by Petra Autio unless otherwise indicated. viii NOTES ON NAMES, CITATIONS AND TYPOGRAPHICAL CONVENTIONS Names The names used in this work are, as a general rule, pseudonyms. The only exception is when I quote stories by story-tellers, thereby acknowledging those sources. Though pseudonyms are the usual custom in social scientific writing, I decided on using them only after some deliberation. I feel that in certain contexts it would probably have made more (Kiribati) sense to use real names, and I surmise some may find it strange or even be offended by not seeing their name in print. However, in other contexts I am less sure of people‟s personal preferences and, most importantly, in still further contexts I deem the protection of people‟s identities important. Therefore I opted for consistency in this regard, using pseudonyms throughout the work. I hope this resolution is understood by those concerned. The first time I use a name in a given context it is followed by an asterisk (*) to indicate that it is a pseudonym. Citations Unless otherwise indicated, quotes from people are from my written fieldnotes. Quotations from transcribed audio and video tapes are marked using the following indicators: . Medium: At = Audiotape; Vt = Videotape . Date and location . Gender and age of the focal individual: M = Male, F = Female; age in numbers; „~‟ denotes approximate age Thus for example “At 7A/180400/Buota, TabNorth/M~60” would refer to a recorded interview, story-telling session or event as follows: Audiotape 7A, recorded April 18, 2000 in Buota village, Tabiteuea North, focal person male, approximately 60 years of age. All transcriptions and translations from Kiribati language are my own, if not otherwise specified. Typographical conventions . Italics are used for non-English words and for emphasis, as well as in ethnographical vignettes which I have wanted to separate from the main flow of the text. Underlining is used to draw the reader‟s attention to particular portion of a text which is being analysed. „[?]‟ in a translation means that it is tentative, either because an original recording was obscure (when transcribed from a tape) or I have otherwise been unable to ascertain the meaning of a word or phrase. ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Doing research requires material, intellectual and mental support from others, even as it feels a most lonesome endeavour. Furthermore, this dissertation has been long in the making, with unwanted breaks along the way, and often other people have had much more confidence in its completion than I