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Wanbel: Conflict, Reconciliation and Personhood Among the Sam People, Madang Province

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Wanbel: Conflict, Reconciliation and Personhood Among the Sam People, Madang Province Wanbel: Conflict, Reconciliation and Personhood among the Sam People, Madang Province David Eric Troolin Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In the Discipline of Anthropology, School of Social Sciences University of Adelaide May 2018 Contents Figures..................................................................................................................................... 5 Abstract ................................................................................................................................... 6 Declaration .............................................................................................................................. 8 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................. 9 Glossary ................................................................................................................................ 10 Chapter 1: Wanbel among the Sam people ............................................................................. 16 A glimpse of wanbel ......................................................................................................... 16 The Sam people and the researcher ................................................................................ 17 Wanbel in Papua New Guinea ......................................................................................... 27 Problematising wanbel .................................................................................................... 30 Wanbel, personhood, and modernity ............................................................................. 31 Relationships, communication and exchange ............................................................. 33 Personhood and relationality ...................................................................................... 35 Modernity and Christianity .......................................................................................... 37 Chapter overview ............................................................................................................. 42 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 44 Chapter 2: A personal experience of wanbel ........................................................................... 46 Conflict is embodied ........................................................................................................ 46 Arranging a wanbel meeting ............................................................................................ 49 Revealing and discussing feelings .................................................................................... 51 The power of speech ................................................................................................... 56 Creating wanbel through exchange ............................................................................. 59 Initiatives that bring good results .................................................................................... 65 Giving one’s insides .......................................................................................................... 70 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 72 Chapter 3: Burdens, spirits, and sorcery .................................................................................. 74 Roger’s illness .................................................................................................................. 74 What is kulik? ................................................................................................................... 77 Seek the source of kulik ................................................................................................... 80 Ground sickness ............................................................................................................... 84 Kulik and spirits ................................................................................................................ 86 2 Kulik and sorcery .............................................................................................................. 87 Restoring wholeness ........................................................................................................ 92 Interplay of kulik and wanbel .......................................................................................... 94 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 95 Chapter 4: Personhood and opacity: Revealing thoughts and feelings ..................................... 97 Two sorcery ceremonies .................................................................................................. 97 Defining pari ................................................................................................................... 103 Emotions and thoughts .................................................................................................. 106 Pari is opaque................................................................................................................. 110 Personhood and pari...................................................................................................... 116 Choosing to reveal pari .................................................................................................. 123 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 126 Chapter 5: “Saying sorry”: Speech and wanbel ...................................................................... 128 A grade eight exam mul ................................................................................................. 128 The “right people” in a mul ............................................................................................ 132 Speaking for wanbel ...................................................................................................... 138 What makes speech efficacious? ................................................................................... 142 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 146 Chapter 6: “Doing sorry”: Behaviour and wanbel .................................................................. 148 “Revealing insides” through behaviour ......................................................................... 151 Kastam and exchange: “Doing wanbel well” ................................................................. 156 “Giving good insides”: Restoring equivalence, creating amity ...................................... 164 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 167 Chapter 7: Wanbel in the time of money .............................................................................. 168 Narratives of unfulfillment ............................................................................................ 169 New burdens that hinder wanbel .................................................................................. 171 Ever-distant desires ....................................................................................................... 178 Transforming wanbel ..................................................................................................... 182 Equivalence and inequality: Reconciling wanbel and modernity .................................. 188 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 193 Chapter 8: Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 194 Core elements of wanbel ............................................................................................... 196 Revisiting the anonymous letter .................................................................................... 199 Future wanbel ................................................................................................................ 202 Appendix 1: Buan Village Map 2017 ..................................................................................... 204 3 Appendix 2: Sam Metaphors ................................................................................................ 207 References ........................................................................................................................... 208 4 Figures Figure 1: A Buan father and daughter carrying food from their garden to the village ....... 18 Figure 2: Papua New Guinea Overview Map ....................................................................... 19 Figure 3: Three Sam villages ................................................................................................ 20 Figure 4: The three Sam villages: Songum, Buan, and Wongbe .......................................... 21 Figure 5: An example of a mul to show appreciation .......................................................... 25 Figure 6: Anonymous letter ................................................................................................. 47 Figure 7: Location of clans and the community meeting area ...........................................
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