Mortuary Practices, Genetics and Other Factors Relevant to the Transmission of Kuru in Papua New Guinea
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Mortuary practices, genetics and other factors relevant to the transmission of kuru in Papua New Guinea Mr Jerome T Whitfield University College London PhD in Neurology 1 ‘I, Mr Jerome T Whitfield, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis.’ ................................................................... 2 Table of Contents Title page..............................................................................................1 Table of Contents .............................................................................. 3 List of Tables and Figures ............................................................... 36 Abstract ........................................................................................... 41 Introduction ..................................................................................... 44 Chapter 1: Prion diseases of humans and animals ........................ 49 Introduction .................................................................................... 49 Prion diseases of animals ............................................................... 53 Scrapie ......................................................................................... 54 Transmissible mink encephalopathy ......................................... 56 Chronic wasting disease in North American cervids ................ 58 Prion diseases of humans ............................................................... 61 Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker disease ................................. 62 Fatal insomnia and sporadic fatal insomnia ............................. 64 Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease .......................................................... 65 Kuru ............................................................................................. 70 New prion diseases ......................................................................... 75 3 Bovine spongiform encephalopathy ........................................... 75 Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease ............................................ 78 Conclusion ....................................................................................... 81 Chapter 2: ........................................................................................ 88 A history of the kuru-affected region and of kuru research ........... 88 Chapter 3: Review of the literature establishing the research questions .........................................................................................114 Introduction .................................................................................. 114 Summary of the key epidemiological features of kuru ............... 116 Spatial and temporal epidemiological questions ........................ 121 Conclusions ................................................................................... 125 Chapter 4: Research design ............................................................130 Research questions ....................................................................... 132 Historical background to kuru investigation .......................... 133 Requirements of the field team to ensure successful fieldwork . 136 Relationships with participants and ethical considerations ...... 137 Methodology .................................................................................. 141 Conclusion ..................................................................................... 143 Chapter 5: Ethnographic descriptions of mortuary rites and related practices in the kuru-affected region: South Fore .........................144 Introduction .................................................................................. 144 A summary of Hertz’s analysis of mortuary rites ....................... 146 Traditional mortuary rites amongst the South Fore .................. 148 4 South Fore (pamusakamana dialect) / English glossary ............ 150 South Fore cosmology ................................................................... 152 The creation of the land, ancestors and humans ........................ 154 How the bagina (the land) created the amani (clan ancestors) .................................................................................................... 154 How the amani dispersed across the land and created humans .................................................................................................... 158 The continual role of the amani ............................................... 164 Kwelanamandi .............................................................................. 175 The five souls of the South Fore .................................................. 177 Auma .......................................................................................... 177 Ama ............................................................................................ 178 Kwela ......................................................................................... 181 Yesegi (occult power) ................................................................. 183 Aona (abilities) .......................................................................... 184 The incorporation and departure of the souls ............................. 190 The souls and personhood during rites of passage ................. 190 The death of an adult and departure of the souls ................... 191 Death of a child and the departure of the souls ...................... 192 5 Death of a baby and the departure of the souls ...................... 193 Tuvuana ........................................................................................ 194 Looking after the sick and dying ................................................. 195 Close to death ................................................................................ 197 Death ............................................................................................. 198 Bakana (divination by spirit possession) .................................... 206 Autavana ....................................................................................... 208 Mourning over the body ............................................................... 208 The journey of the auma to kwelanamandi ................................ 213 Sites chosen for the disposal of the body ..................................... 215 Movement of the body to the sepulture ....................................... 218 Isosoana ......................................................................................... 219 Transumption: rules for claiming and primary distribution of the corpse ............................................................................................. 221 Bodies that were not eaten ....................................................... 221 Rules for claiming and distributing a male body .................... 222 Rules for claiming and distributing a female body ................. 228 Suicide and death during childbirth ........................................ 229 Rules for claiming and distributing the body of a baby .......... 230 Grieving ..................................................................................... 230 6 The dismemberment and preparation of the body for transumption ............................................................................. 232 Possible parenteral inoculation of participants and cross- infection during mortuary rites ................................................ 242 Transumption: subdivision and consumption of the corpse ....... 245 Division of the share of the anagra, anaso and anatu with the ename ......................................................................................... 245 Ename ........................................................................................ 246 Sharing amongst the affines and agnates during the obsequies .................................................................................................... 248 The transumption of the remaining meat from the body during the night in the house of the widow or an anatu .................... 251 Andagosa ................................................................................... 256 Rules surrounding participation in transumption ..................... 256 Children’s attendance at mortuary feasts in other communities .................................................................................................... 256 Children’s participation in mortuary feasts in their own community ................................................................................. 258 7 Women’s participation in transumption .................................. 264 Women who did not participate in transumption ................... 265 Male transumption ................................................................... 266 Ikwaya ana .................................................................................... 269 Transumption during wartime .................................................... 274 Pepatakina .................................................................................... 278 Isosoana ......................................................................................... 279 Aindu ............................................................................................. 280 Kavunda ........................................................................................ 282 Pugapugana .................................................................................