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Tracing the Melanesian Person This book is available as a free fully-searchable pdf from www.adelaide.edu.au/press Tracing the Melanesian Person: Emotions and Relationships in Lihir by Susan R Hemer Discipline of Anthropology and Development Studies School of Humanities and Social Sciences The University of Adelaide Published in Adelaide by University of Adelaide Press The University of Adelaide Level 1, 230 North Terrace South Australia 5005 [email protected] www.adelaide.edu.au/press The University of Adelaide Press publishes externally refereed scholarly books by staff of the University of Adelaide. It aims to maximise the accessibility to its best research by publishing works through the internet as free downloads and as high quality printed volumes on demand. Electronic Index: This book is available from the website as a downloadable PDF with fully searchable text. © 2013 Susan R Hemer This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), no part may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior written permission. Address all inquiries to the Director at the above address. For the full Cataloguing-in-Publication data please contact the National Library of Australia: [email protected] ISBN (paperback) 978-1-922064-45-5 ISBN (ebook) 978-1-922064-44-8 Project Editor: Patrick Allington Cover design: Emma Spoehr Cover photograph: Norm Hanson Book design: Zoë Stokes Paperback printed by Griffin Press, South Australia Dedicated to the memory of Emma Zanahien, who taught me to approach the world with good humour and love despite hardship, and of Mesulam Aisoli MBE for his wit and enthusiasm for learning. CONTENTS List of maps and figures vii Acknowledgements ix Prologue: Yumi lus pinis 1 Part I: Connections and relations 1 Navigating the seas of relationship 23 2 Nurturing children, visitors, pigs and yams: household 57 relationships 3 Piot, personhood and place 83 Maps and figures 119 Part II: Moral conduct and conflict 4 Christianity and the moral universe 147 5 Conflicts of moral conduct and the individual 175 6 Perceiving inequality: social relations, mining and conflict 201 Part III: Loss and its transformations 7 Dying, grieving and forgetting 231 8 Relations at stake: performing and transforming personhood, 261 emotions and relations Afterword: Being Lihirian and tracing the Melanesian person 287 Bibliography 291 LIST OF MAPS AND FIGURES Map 1 Map of Papua New Guinea and New Ireland Province. Map 2 The Lihir Islands, New Ireland Province. Map 3 Kuelam Village, Mahur Island. Figure 1 Aerial view of Masahet (foreground) and Mahur Islands. Figure 2 View from Niolam of Masahet (left) and Malie (right). Figure 3 The author doing fieldwork in Kuelam village. Figure 4 Lalakam a rih (men’s house) in 1998. This is a ‘family’ men’s house and so has no ‘Y’ shaped stile. Figure 5 Linge and Kso clearing a garden atop Mahur. Note the rockiness of the terrain. Figure 6 Toetna practising yientnes: digging under a yam to loosen the soil to encourage further growth. Figure 7 A carefully weeded mature yam garden with long poles on Mahur. Figure 8 The large yams produced by intensive gardening. Figure 9 Wengbeh descends one of the difficult and steep paths from the gardens to the beach on Mahur with a basket of tubers suspended from her head. viii Tracing the Melanesian Person Figure 10 Boats such as these provide an easy source of mobility for most Lihirians. Photo taken of Londolovit boat harbour 1999. Figure 11 Kuelam’s new church built in late 1998. Figure 12 Celebrations for Confirmation/pindik. Figure 13 One of the altars present in each hamlet with a statue of Mary. Figure 14 Preparation of the pako (canoe) for Sion’s burial. Figure 15 Painting the pako. Figure 16 Sion’s burial. Figure 17a Heating stones atop a lon (ground oven). Figure 17b Constructing the lon: spreading out the hot stones. Figure 18 Constructing the lon: placing leaf parcel of pork and vegetables on top of the hot stones. Figure 19 Food distribution within the rih (men’s house). Note the Y-shaped stile. Figure 20 Pigs lined up at Malie feast 1999. Figure 21 Lawrence Klamga calling out the person each pig is dedicated to. Figure 22 Zna bol: to bring pigs to the feast. Malie Island. Figure 23 Sham fighting betweenhukarot (hosts) and wasir (pig donors). Figure 24 Zna bol with sham fighting. Figure 25 Making relations visible in the dance. Nalo and Kolie approach their cross-cousin Niez to put lime on him. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book would not exist without the knowledge, encouragement and nurturance I received from many people. My greatest debt is to the people of Lihir. A puet sna e makil yo se muel torme te die. Go i tnien puet te e yo na e nien ka erem puet. Yo nanse mle e pu snieng torme ki giet i anio. Yo kasi ertawet no nanse baliye go i Mahur. Special thanks go to Wengbeh for her gift of friendship, and to her son Gas, who gave me coconuts. Thanks go to the families of Kso, Wengbeh, Pangpang, Tumdi and Nalo for many hot meals. Also to Pangpang and Atzo for providing accommodation while on Mahur, and to the Tniltalgo clan for building my house. My gratitude goes to the patience and perseverance of Isidore Lakiah, who schooled me in the Lihir language, and to Loeng, who conveyed the nature of Pindik and other customary matters to me. Thanks also to Denita Kaimua for providing me with the first opportunity to laugh on Mahur. At Samo village thanks are due to the family of Aisoli, who accepted my occasional visits over a period of many years, and who accepted me and my son Oliver as part of their family. On Malie I owe a debt of gratitude to Morpo for his interesting conversations about matters of kastam, and to Biorbi and Pulerau for accepting me as part of their family. Also to Moktel for demonstrations of the continuing practice of trepanation. My time on Lihir was enriched by many of the staff of the Lihir Management Company, particularly members of the Community Relations Department. Especially notable are Mesulam Aisoli, Leonard Lagisa, Martin x Tracing the Melanesian Person Asu, Emma Zanahien, Clothilda Molong and Jacky Membup, both for their encouragement during my doctoral fieldwork, and later as my colleagues and friends. This book began life as a doctoral thesis first through La Trobe University and later the University of Melbourne. La Trobe University supported me with a generous fieldwork grant, and a context to engage with fellow students. Wendy Mee, Ju-Lan Thung and Yekti Maunati in particular enriched my experience there. I followed my doctoral supervisor, Dr Martha Macintyre, to the newly formed Centre for the Study of Health and Society at the University of Melbourne. I am deeply indebted to her, particularly for the integrity I have seen in her dealings with people both in academia and in the field. Having someone to discuss issues and situations with who worked in the same field site made the experience far richer for me. I am very grateful for her ongoing friendship. My deep gratitude goes to the original examiners of the thesis, and the reviewers of this manuscript. In particular I would like to extend my thanks to Dorothy Billings for her unique contributions to New Ireland ethnography and for the support she has shown me over the years. I thank my colleagues at the University of Adelaide, and in anthropology more generally. Nick Bainton followed me to Lihir for his doctorate, and I am very grateful for many conversations over the years, and his astute observations and analysis. More recently, Kirsty Gillespie has provided new insights into Lihir culture through her work on songs and stories. In particular, discussions with Alison Dundon enriched the sometimes isolating process of book writing and reviewing. The many coffees with fellow staff and postgraduate scholars in Adelaide eased the frustrations of writing. Thanks also to Sharon Lewis for many discussions and laughs. Finally, to my friends and family, who accepted my disappearance to another country for a year with grace, and then later for another two years. Thanks to Melissa, Anne and Lucy for continuing friendship, support and Susan R Hemer xi advice. Thanks especially to Catherine: this book would not exist but for her. During my doctoral fieldwork my mother, Jo Hemer, managed my finances and kept a group of friends and family in touch with photocopies of letters. She also kept me supplied with food parcels and a fruity birthday cake. My family gave me life, and gave me the resources to seize the opportunities it presents. Finally, to John, Oliver, Lucy and Adele, thank you for your love and support during this time. This monograph and the fieldwork on which it is based has been the context for the experience of great love. PROLOGUE YUMI LUS PINIS On Wednesday, 6 May 1998, a boat called ‘Maria’ belonging to the Tnialen clan of Mahur Island went missing.