Book Reviews - A.P. Borsboom, Fredrik Barth, Cosmologies in the making; A generative approach to cultural variation in Inner New Guinea, Cambridge studies in social anthropology, Cambridge University Press, 1987, 99 pp., - H.J.M. Claessen, Paul van der Grijp, Sporen in de Antropologie; Liber Amicorum voor Jan Pouwer, Nijmegen: Instituut voor Kulturele en Sociale Antropologie, 1987. Bibl., tab., ill. 330 pp., Ton Lemaire, Albert Trouwborst (eds.) - Simon Kooijman, Adrian Horridge, Outrigger canoes of Bali and Madura, Indonesia, Bishop museum special bulletin 77, Honolulu: Bishop museum press, 1987. xii + 178 pp., 4 maps, 1 colour photograph, 19 black and white photographs, 71 line drawings. - Jelle Miedema, D.K. Feil, The evolution of highland Papua New Guinea societies, Cambridge: University Press, 1987, xii + 313 pp. - Jelle Miedema, James F. Weiner, Mountain Papuans; Historical and comparitive perspectives from New Guinea fringe highlands societies. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1988, 230 pp. - Jetta Wille, Paulus M.F. van der Grijp, Produktie en denkwijzen in Polynesië; Sociale asymmetrie, ideologie en verandering op de Tonga-eilanden, Proefschrift Nijmegen, 1987. In: Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 144 (1988), no: 4, Leiden, 565-576

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Fredrik Barth, Cosmologies in the making; A generative ap- proach to cultural variation in Inner New Guinea, Cambridge Studies in Social Anthropology, Cambridge University Press, 1987, 99 pp., ISBN 0-521-34279-1. . A. P. BORSBOOM

The focus of this book is in particular the local variations in cosmoldgical traditions among the OK people. The OK are a population of cultivators and hunters living in a remote part of Inner New Guinea. The OK people comprise a number of cognate communities, who pos- sess similar material and ecological traditions and speak similar lan- guages. Yet, their social organization and cosmology vary, and Barth, rejecting the existing anthropological theory as inadequate for explaining this vari- ation, presents a new model of the mechanisms of change. This model emphasizes the role of individual creativity in cultural reproduction and change. It asserts that cosmologies can be adequately understood only if they are regarded as knowledge in the process of communication, embedded in the social organization, rather than as fixed bodies of belief. Barth formulates various theoretically grounded hypothe- ses and shows that these hypotheses fit the actual patterns of variation that are found among the OK. i His aim is to contribute to the development of a comparative anthro- pology of knowledge and to develop the relevant theory in constant confrontation with empirical data: 'I subscribe, to a methodology that meets the challenge of fitting theory to the broadest possible range of facts' (p.l). The author convincingly develops the proposed methodology and illu- strates on the basis of fieldwork material how the process of reproduction and modification of earlier knowledge takes place in OK cosmology today. He demonstrates how processes of codification, transmission and creati- vity operate to generate the pattern of variation which the ethnographies record, and not how the first bit of knowledge may have been created. The emphasis is on cosmology as a living, dynamic tradition of knowledge and not as a set of abstract ideas 'enshrined', as Barth calls it, in collective representations. Not abstract collective representations or the received tradition, but the way in which ritual specialists reproduce and modify these in communication with their social environment is the most import- ant. This is the process that accounts for the many variations in the cosmology and social organization of the OK. The book, with a foreword by Jack Goody, provides a fine example of the interaction between factual observation and theoretical constructs. Barth's theoretical model not only is inspired by a puzzling variation in field data within an otherwise similar material and ecological setting, but as it stands also explains the mechanisms of change generating the vari- ations.

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Paul van der Grijp, Ton Lemaire en Albert Trouwborst (red.), Sporen in de Antropologie; Liber Amicorum voor Jan Pouwer, Nijmegen: Instituut voor Kulturele en Sociale Antropologie, 1987. Bibl., tab., ill. 330 pp. ISBN: 90-6915- 005-0. H. J. M. CLAESSEN

Dit boek, een 'Liber Amicorum' in de beste zin van het woord, is ge- schreven door vrienden en collega's van Jan Pouwer, sinds 1976 aan het Nijmeegse Instituut verbonden. De aard van zo een boek brengt mee dat uiteenlopende artikelen tezamengebracht worden. Er zijn artikelen bij zonder enige pretentie, waarin de persoonlijke relatie met Pouwer wordt beschreven (Wassink) en artikelen met pretentie, zoals dat van Abbink, waariri in 12 pagina's een poging wordt gedaan om (inhevig jargon) de betekenis van de biogenetische optie in de antropologie uit- een te zetten. De meeste artikelen reflecteren duidelijk de invloed van Pouwer op het denken en doen van de auteurs. Verschillende stukken handelen over de rol en de betekenis van 'ideologic' - een stokpaard van Pouwer, waar hij zeer eigen opvattingen over ontwikkelde. Haenen stelt er kritische vragen over, Van Meijl probeert Pouwers visie verder uit te werken en Otto bespreekt nieuwe vormen van ideologic bij de Paliau beweging. Aridere artikelen gaan over het concept wederkerig- heid. Lemaire onthult socialistische bewogenheid bij Mauss en Bloem- berg zet verschil en overeenkomst tussen geschenkenruil en liefdadig- heid uiteen. Paula van den Berg bespreekt Vrouwen en OntwikkeHng in Papoea Nieuw Guinea (maar waarom 'subsistentie-landbouw' ge- noemd wat in normaal Nederlands 'bestaans landbouw' heet?). Morenc .gaat in op de dialectiek tussen ontwikkelingsdenken en ontwikkelings- praktijk. De mythenanalyse - een ander belangstellingsveld van Pouwer -komt aan bod in artikelen van Metge, Serpenti, De Wolf en De Ruyter; . laatstgenoemden zetten verschil en overeenkomst tussen mythe en we- tenschap uiteen en concluderen dat mythen niet minder rationed zijn dan wetenschappelijke kennissystemen ('tenminste voor zover we se- mantische intersubjectiviteit als criterium nemen' - wat dat dan ook moge wezen . . .). De etnografie komt aan bod in artikelen van Bors- boom (stervensritueel bij de Aborigines) en Van der Leeden (verwant- schapsterminologie bij de Ma'ya), en in de reeds genoemde artikelen van Haenen, Otto en Serpenti. Van der Grijp geeft een historische beschouwing over de eerste contacten tussen Tonganen en Westerlingen (waarin blijkt dat de Tonganen minder onder de indruk van de Wester- lingen waren dan op de eerste pagina's gesuggereerd wordt). Kooijman stelt vast dat Pouwer een matige museum antropoloog was, maar geeft daarnaast aan dat juist diens gedetailleerde informatie het hem mogelijk maakte een aantal voorwerpen uit de Mimika-cultuur te interpreteren. Trouwborst gaat in op de problematiek van 'keuze en regels'•- aangesne- den in Pouwers oratie - en Molenaar behandelt de moeilijkheid om concepten als kaste en clan toe te passen in Mali. Ploeg, tenslotte, behan- delt de toekomst van de Oceanistiek (in feite de Melanesie-studie) in ;het post-Pouwer tijdvak.

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Sporen in de Antropologie is een waardig afscheidsgeschenk voor Jan Pouwer, een Nederlandse etnograaf/etnoloog. Het boek heeft vakgeno- ten, in de ruimste zin des woords, iets te bieden.

Adrian Horridge, Outrigger Canoes of Bali and Madura, Indonesia, Bishop Museum Special Bulletin 77, Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 1987. xii+178pp., 4 maps, 1 colour photograph, 19 black and white photographs, 71 line drawings. SIMON KOOUMAN

Before becoming Professor of Neurobiology at the Australian National University in Canberra, Adrian Horridge worked as an aircraft engin- eer. Sailing and windsurfing were his favourite hobbies. The book under review, which sprang 'purely from curiosity and spirit of adventure', as the writer modestly puts it (p. x), has been written against the background of these professional and spare-time activities. The author's professional skill is particularly manifest from his meticulous descrip- tions of the construction of sailing craft and from the highly illustrative line-drawings which provide supplementary technical information. The book is based on field research and the study of written sources, photo- graphs, and models in museums in the Netherlands, Berlin, Jakarta, London and Salem, Massachusetts. The information supplied by the models is not always reliable, however, since '. . . (they) can (easily) be incorrectly rigged when suddenly needed for an exhibit or before reaching the museum . . .' (p. 90) - the regrettable truth of which statement few museum curators would dare to deny. The author became interested in the sailing craft of Indonesia in 1975, when he spent three months as chief scientist aboard a research ship in the Moluccas. His fieldwork, carried out during a number of visits to various islands in the Archipelago, extends over a period of ten years. His research consisted in the observation of the design and construction of the canoes and the ceremonies pertinent to this, and of sailing techniques, as well as interviews with the fishermen and boat-builders with whom he was able to communicate in Bahasa Indonesia. Horridge was attracted to Balinese people. He was able to establish friendly relations with his informants and even had the good fortune of becoming familiar with Ua Wa Lusin, the best canoe-builder of south Bali. As a pande jukung, or master boat-builder, Lusin had at his disposal the kind of know-how which is found in all Indonesian boat- building cultures. This involves the use of a system of numbers which determines the proportions of every part of the canoe (p. 62). Thus, Part 1 of the book, which deals with Balinese canoes, also provides informa- tion on canoe ceremonies, in addition to data of a technical and nautical nature. Obviously, the greater part of this information was supplied by Lusin. •,.: A description of four ceremonies is presented. One of these, the kawinan ceremony, which takes place when the canoe hull is impreg-

Downloaded from Brill.com09/26/2021 01:13:09AM via free access 568 Boekbesprekingen nated with life, receives special emphasis in the summarizing discussion of these ceremonies. In this ritual, the canoe hull, consisting as it does of five parts (hull, two gunwales, stem and stern) 'is a married couple, combining split stem and dugout hull as male and female in a consum- mated, magical union that attracts and holds the spirit of the canoe' (p. 72). According to the author, kawinan, in spite of its Hindu para- phernalia, is essentially a canoe-building ritual of pre-Hindu origin similar to those recorded by Malinowski for the Trobriand and by Elsdon Best for the Maori (p. 73). The scant information on boat- building ceremonies on Madura is derived from written sources, since the author's own research on the island was unsuccessful in this respect. The author notes that 'although the adherence to the old ceremonies has been weakened by Islam..., nevertheless a good deal still goes on that is not admitted to strangers' (pp. 115-116). The information supplied in Part 2, which deals with Madurese outrigger canoes, is restricted to an historical account of Madurese trading and seafaring activities and to data pertaining to the construction of Madurese jukung and to naviga- tional techniques. Many anthropologists will probably be particularly interested in Horridge's account of the social and ceremonial aspects of the 'canoe complex', such as the description of the Balinese ceremonies and their interpretation. His ideas and theories concerning the whole of the Pacific area with regard to the distribution of canoe types and the development of watercraft will also be of interest. In this connection, A. C. Haddon and J. HornelPs Canoes of Oceania (Bishop Museum Special Bulletin 27-29, Honolulu 1936-1938) is evaluated and criticized. Though desig- nated as a 'monumental summary of almost all early accounts and early models' and 'the primary repository of facts on Pacific canoes' (p. xii), the author raises objections to the theories presented, more or less implicitly, throughout the text. Horridge is convinced that Haddon and Hornell's main conclusions in particular, which are based on the distri- bution of canoe types in the Pacific area, are no longer tenable in the light of recent data in the fields of linguistics, archaeology, and anthro- pology (p. xii and pp. 141-147). One limitation of Haddon and Hornell's book is that it does not deal with Indonesia. In Water Transport: Origins and Early Evolution (Cambridge 1946), however, Hornell compares the double outrigger canoes of Indonesia with the traditional sailing craft of the Pacific, the single outrigger canoe and the two-hull boat. On Pacific sailing canoes the mast is placed in the centre, leaning towards the stem at an angle of approximately 60 degrees. The point of the triangular sail is attached to the stem. In changing tack, the mast is hauled over lengthwise and brought into a similar position towards the stern. When the point of the sail has been attached to the stern, the latter becomes the stem and the boat is sailing in another direction against the wind. In the process, the outrigger float has been kept on the windward side, which is necessary to keep the boat balanced. To change tack in this way only takes half a minute with a well-trained crew, as was experi- enced by this reviewer when travelling on a single outrigger canoe in Fijian waters. This method of shunting into the wind, which may be difficult to understand from a verbal or written description, is illustrated

Downloaded from Brill.com09/26/2021 01:13:09AM via free access , Boekbesprekingen 569 in a fine, accurate!drawing (fig. 87, p. 147). It is also explained in S. Kooijman's Fai-lLa! Zeilen op de Zuidzee, Guide to an exhibition at the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden, 1972. According to Homell, this canoe type, which is still in use in Micronesia and Fiji, evolved from the double outrigger boat as an adaptation to a different environment, i.e., an ocean which, in spite of its name, is far from quiet and is vastly different from the calm waters of the 'Indonesian Mediterranean'. There, changing tack with a double out- rigger canoe was a time-consuming matter, as is shown in fig. 46 (p. 84), the boat having to make a complete circle in order to sail in another direction against the wind. It is obvious that the use of this method on the open ocean would be a dangerous venture. Also, a canoe with outriggers on both sides would hardly have been suitable for oceanic conditions, since that on the lee side could easily be pushed underwater by a squall, thus unbalancing the boat or even causing her to capsize. Regrettably, James Hornell's theory with its discussion of environmental influences on the construction and the constructional development of sailing canoes in the Indo-Pacific region, is not mentioned in the final part of Horridge's book dealing with, among other things, the integration of the Indonesian data into the general pattern of Austronesian expansion. Horridge's own hypothesis with regard to the history of sailing and the origin and development of water craft in Indonesia and Oceania is closely connected with his interest in and thorough knowledge of the nautical qualities of the vessels used for travelling, transportation and fishing. In his view, the bamboo raft marks the beginning of man's conquest of the Indonesian waters. By taking into account the technical information regarding sailing and navigation, which he collected in his research, Horridge considers the possibility that the rigging of these rafts led to the construction of outrigger canoes. The author expects his book to appeal to the taste of a wide variety of readers - tourists, anthropologists, sailing enthusiasts and the local people, as he expressly states in Part 1, in the section on Balinese canoes. One can safely assume that this also applies to Part 2, which deals with Madurese and east Javanese canoes. Madura and the 'Madurese' part of Java, however, lie outside the mainstream of modern tourism, and the relevant part of the book will hardly be attractive to the average tourist. This holds for the book as a whole, for that matter, because of its high degree of constructional and navigational information. Sailing enthu- siasts, on the other hand, may find it highly absorbing reading, especially those who sail catamarans, which have been designed in the manner of a Polynesian double-hull canoe. As for the local population, the informa- tion supplied in this book represents a store of traditional knowledge which would otherwise probably go lost under the impact of modern technology. One is hopeful, therefore, that it will be made accessible to the boat-builders and sailors in the Balinese fishing villages and on Madura.The book is important for anthropologists because of the data it contains on Balinese canoe lore, as well as the constructional and nautical information on Indonesian canoe types. These data were col- lected during prolonged fieldwork by atiighly knowledgeable researcher who, on Bali, was able to establish friendly relations with the people in

Downloaded from Brill.com09/26/2021 01:13:09AM via free access 570 Boekbesprekingen the fishing villages and with a master boat-builder. The last part of the book, which contains sections on early migrations and the Austronesian expansion, is a contribution to any general discussion of problems in the Indo-Pacific region which are of interest to anthropologists, as well as linguists and archaeologists.

D. K. Feil, The evolution of Highland Papua New Guinea societies, Cambridge: University Press, 1987, xii + 313 pp. JELLEMIEDEMA

The use of a comparative historical perspective in anthropological studies of non-western societies without a written history is rather a recent phenomenon, especially with regard to Papua societies. Indeed, as more ethnographies about these societies were published, the volume of comparative studies also increased. Synchrony has taken precedence over diachrony, however. The latter statement does not apply to the area of my own research, the Bird's Head of New Guinea, but, with regard to that area, the use of an elaborate comparative historical perspective has hardly been possible so far, not because of the lack of historical evidence, but because of the lack of sufficient .ethnographic studies. In light of this, it is not accidental that the first extensive comparative historical-anthropological study of Papuan societies deals with the Highlands of Papua New Guinea, as this area has been investigated most thoroughly by anthropologists and, recently, by archaeologists. Upon reading the ethnography of the Highlands, inspired particularly by the work of James Watson, Feil realized that 'a perspective on the past was necessary to understand the present' (p. xi). Feil's book is a fascinating study of divergent developments in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea - particularly developments which occurred after the introduction of the sweet potato in the western Highlands some 250 years ago and in the eastern Highlands signifi- cantly later and more gradually. The author succeeds in putting order in a 'mass of complex variations' (p. xi) by arranging them on a temporal and spatial continuum. As far as space is concerned, this continuum involves the Kainantu groups in the east, the Wahgi in the centre, and Mount Hagen in the west. Roughly speaking, the following 'points' of departure and subsequent developments are reconstructed. Before the introduction of the sweet potato, the eastern Highlands, because of their seasonal rainfall, high rate of evaporation, and modest taro production, were marked by a hunting and gathering mode of production, nucleated non-sedentary patrilocal bands, local endogamy, restricted exogamy or direct exchange of women, a strong sense of collectivism, rigorous asymmetry in male-female relations (semen and maternal blood standing in opposition), aggressive masculinity, age

Downloaded from Brill.com09/26/2021 01:13:09AM via free access Boekbesprekingen 571 grades, unrestricted warfare, and despotism in leadership. Relatively recently - compared with the western Highlands - a change from mixed subsistence to sedentary sweet potato agriculture took place, together with a surplus production of pigs. This resulted in a rudimentary exchange system. The western Highlands, with their heavy non-seasonal rains and fertile swamp areas, were already marked by an overproduction of taro and pigs, and an exchange system in which pigs were exchanged for political patronage, women, labour, prestige and power long before the introduction of the sweet potato. Because the sweet potato, like taro; flourished much better in the western Highlands than in the eastern Highlands, overproduction increased, as did the production of pigs. Correlated with this development were the emergence of dispersed homesteads and non-shifting cultivation settlements, a restriction of warfare, the emergence of extensive exchange systems (tee and moka), the rise of a surplus-manipulating 'big man' type of leadership, an increase in intertribal marriages, the recognition of matrilineal principles (semen and maternal blood being complementary), the expenditure of more time and energy on exchange and less on cult life, the rise of an indigenous class stratification, and - in the post-sweet potato period - the replacement of (then commonly available) pigs by the scarce (and more durable) pearlshells. Of central importance in Feil's study is the concept of 'production'. Feil convincingly shows that the contemporary pattern of divergence across the Highlands - provided that this pattern is conceived from the point of view of (agricultural) production - provides a very useful insight into the evolutionary sequence, and vice versa. In this respect, the intensification of agricultural production does not function as a causal principle, but as 'threshold levels' (p. 55) which correlate with other phenomena and developments. In this context, the following sentence is characteristic: 'I am suggesting no simplified model of causation, but rather a constellation of elements which logically and empirically go together and exist in a complex, mutually reinforcing and continually interacting way' (p. 168). On the understanding that the book deals with a changing configuration of relationships between elements rather than a timeless constellation of elements, the elements concerned are: agricultural production, warfare, leadership and politics, social structure, male-female relations, and ceremonial exchange. As it is impossible to discuss all the correlations and configurations in a review, I shall confine myself to a few remarks. Though the aforementioned enumeration is impressive and involves an extensive knowledge (and use) of the available ethnological evidence, I cannot help but notice that no special attention is given to 'myth' as a relatively constant factor in religious life to which 'threshold' effects can also be attributed - unless the production of ideas is simply regarded as a function of production in the material sphere. Another point is the matter of 'bigmanship'. According to his own findings, Feil states that 'Bigmen should ... be seen as geographi- cally specific, indeed as historically specific too, for it is only in those societies where intensive agriculture and linked pig production are

Downloaded from Brill.com09/26/2021 01:13:09AM via free access 572 ' • Boekbesprekingen ancient and most developed that they are most clearly an evidence' (p. 94, my italics; compare also pp. 98/99). It should have been indicated more clearly that this statement is not automatically valid outside the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Again using the Bird's Head of New Guinea for comparison, it is known that it was not so much agricultural production as the 'production' of slaves and birds of paradise - both of which were exchanged for imported cloths {kain timur) for hundreds of years — which gave rise to a very elaborate exchange complex (the kain timur system), as well as the emergence of genuine 'big men'. The relevancy of this comparison is that elsewhere in New Guinea it was possible for an extensive exchange system- to emerge together with extensive warfare (inherent to kidnapping and slave-trading). This also provided a 'mass of complex variations', but, through the combination of 'exchange' and 'warfare' (with visible and invisible weapons), it is probably less 'easily' separable in time and space, as is demonstrated by Feil with regard to the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. A final remark concerns the 'ethnographic present' and subsequent developments dealt with by Feil himself. This 'ethnographic present' had to be the (pre-)pacification period, according to the available, 'timeless', anthropological literature. This same pacification is mentioned as the second important stage in the evolution of Highland Papua New Guinea societies. But whilst the effects of the arrival of the white man in these societies are dealt with in this study, not a word is said about the influence of foreign - let alone later native - missionaries on (post-)pacification processes and developments in the Highlands. Evidently Feil's concentration on 'production' left him insufficient 'time and energy' to give attention to the 'non-economic' aspects concerned. The great merit of this study is that, by analysing the changing intensity of phenomena and the correlations between them, it shows that an historical perspective is indispensable for an adequate com- parison arid analysis of patterns. The evolutionary sequence presented by Feil should be a challenge to other scholars of New Guinea to make further inter-regional comparisons.

James F. Weiner (ed.), Mountain Papuans; Historical and Comparative Perspectives from New Guinea Fringe Highlands Societies. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1988, 230 pp. JELLE MIEDEMA

In this book the comparative study of Papua New Guinea mountain societies is extended from the Highlands to the southern fringe of the Highlands. It is restricted mainly to the Daribi, Foi and Etoro peoples, dealt with by Wagner, Langlas & Weiner, and Kelley respectively. The sections concerned are preceded by an introductory chapter by Weiner, and followed by a concluding chapter, with comments on the findings, by (Andrew) Strathern. Regarding the aims of the book,.the authors not only map out the main

Downloaded from Brill.com09/26/2021 01:13:09AM via free access Boekbesprekingen 573 features of these fringe societies, but also question existing generalizations about the Highlands. As opposed to the anthropological 'products' (Weiner p. .2) of the Highlands (big-manship, elaborate exchange systems, clan organization, intensive subsistence production, unnucleated settlement), the authors of the studies of the fringe societies deal with such subjects as trade relationships, community organization, low population density, low intensive subsistence production, and communal longhouse residence. Attention is focused on both common and distinctive features of the fringe cultures, especially with regard to leadership, social structure, residential arrangements, marriage and exchange, and the role of the pig. As the total result of all this is a very compact study, I shall only be able to refer to some main points within the framework of this review. A central theme throughout the book is that subsistence is not a static variable, but 'the material expression of a community's social engagement with its environment' (p. 5, my italics). An additional common denomi- nator is that the authors react against structural-functionalistically and material-historically grounded generalizations about the Highlands as recently presented in anthropological studies. Special reference is made to Modjesko 1982, and Feil 1978, 1984 and 1985 - thus not including Feil 1987. A recent change of focus in Highlands anthropology is characterized as one from 'descent' to 'pig'. Most of the authors have strong doubts about the priority that is commonly given in Highlands ethnology to 'descent' as a main defining feature of local group organization, and 'exchange' as a mechanism of integration of local groups. Whereas in the case of the Foi it is demonstrated that incest and exogamy are not defined 'consanguine- ally, but in terms of rights and obligations in sharing bridewealth' (Langlas & Weiner, p. 91), in the case of the Etoro and the Daribi it is shown that 'shifting cultivation, shifting alliance, and local group formation encom- pass each other' (Weiner, p. 22). The Daribi 'community' is described by Wagner as a dynamic endogamous whole of exogamouj units, marked by an emerging sociality which just originates in marriage (cf. pp. 43,59). An opposition between paternal and maternal filiationi s viewed as an express- ion of alliances at different levels, the life cycle of the individual and the multi-clan community. Regarding filiation and group formation, Langlas & Weiner go a step further by assuming that 'big-men arelineages and clans' (p. 74). Concent ing this point Strathern comments that fringe societies are relatively small and that an ideological fusing of big-men and local groups becomes harder to realize when the absolute size of groups is greater (p. 212). Kelly's main interest is the prehistory of pig management. Given the fact that the present-day Etoro (1968/69) keep at least as many pigs per capita as some Central Highlands societies, his main argument is that low- intensive agriculture can be associated with high numbers of pigs per capita, provided that pigs can depend on foraging in secondary forest. Here Strathern warns the reader that one has to look 'not just at pigs per capita but overall numbers of pigs and people and how these numbers affect their symbiosis' (p. 208). Kelly also raises the question of why fewer pigs per capita than among the Etoro are found in other fringe societies. Focusing his attention on prestige systems, in accordance with Langlas & Weiner's findings, he

Downloaded from Brill.com09/26/2021 01:13:09AM via free access 574 Boekbesprekingen. concludes that prestige is not based on the possession of pigs but on the control of their distribution. Control of exchange instead of production is of vital importance for the elucidation of exchange systems (cf. p. 173). A crucial factor is whether pigs are accorded a cultural or prestige value, or merely a value as pork. These value distinctions induce Strathern to reconsider the symbolic value of pigs in various mountain societies. Ac- cording to Strathern, the data concerned clearly suggest that the cultural value of pigs increases in significance according as cannibalism is aban- doned (p. 204). Among the Melpa, cannibalism and incest are associated with 'internal eating', and as such are in contradiction with principles of exchange. '... cannibalism, like incest, is a kind of "turning back" . . .' (Strathern, p. 201), which refers to an indigenous civilization process. Another generalization about the Highlands is Feil's (assumed) argu- ment that low-intensive productive systems can be associated with coales- cent residential forms. Wagner shows that in fringe societies with a low- intensive subsistence production, longhouses may coexist with unnucle- ated residential forms. Wagner makes no reference to Feil's recent study (1987), in which 'warfare' is dealt with as an important intervening factor. Mountain Papuans has already been characterized by one of its authors (Strathern) as 'fundamentally experimental' (p. 187) Its experimental value lies in that the scope of comparison of Papua New Guinea mountain societies is widened. Due to this, existing dichotomies and generalizations can be reanalysed and redefined. A great merit of the work is that prestige or exchange is no longer exclusively associated with production and/or pigs. A focus on the material-historical as well as the ideological-symbolic background of control and distribution of articles of exchange provides a welcome perspective for the comparison of pig-based and non:pig-based exchange systems in both Papua New Guinea and West New Guinea/Irian Jaya.

Paulus M. F. van der Grijp, Produktie en denkwijzen in Polynesie; Sociale asymmetrie, ideologic en verandering op de Tonga-eilanden, Proefschrift Nijmegen, 1987. JETTA WILLE

De dissertatie van Paul van der Grijp is de eerste Nederlandse monogra- fie over het eilanden- en koninkrijk Tonga. Belangrijker is, dat het hier gaat om een publikatie waarin de hedendaagse Tongaanse samenleving en de moderne Tongaan centraal staan. Het veldwerk, waar de disser- tatie op gebaseerd is, werd met onderbrekingen tussen 1982 en 1985 verricht. De verhandeling over de produktie en denkwijzen is uit vier delen opgebouwd. In het eerste deel zet Van der Grijp zijn theoretische uit- gangspunten uiteen, geeft hij een globale sociografie van Tonga en ver- haalt hij de levens van twee jonge Tonganen, een man en een vrouw. Hij wil, zoals hij zelf stelt, ' . . . de strukturen achter.de mensen . . . onderzoeken' (p. 49), waarvoor hij door het hele boek heen gebruik maakt van casusstudies. De structuren die Van der Grijp voor onderzoek van belang acht, worden bepaald door zijn theoretische achtergronden. Gelukkig expliciteert Van der Grijp zijn theoretische uitgangspunten,

Downloaded from Brill.com09/26/2021 01:13:09AM via free access Boekbesprekingen 575 zodat men niet in het ongewisse blijtt over net object van beschouwing. De hoofdtitel van het boek, Produktie en denkwijzen in Polynesie, duidt er al op dat men hier te maken heeft met het werk van een structureel- marxist; inderdaad, de grote inspirator van Van der Grijp is Maurice Godelier. Van cruciaal belangns het begrip produktiewijze, waaronder verstaan dient te worden het samenstel en -spel van produktieverhoudin- ge,n en -krachten: analyse m.b.v. dit begrip beoogt' . . . ekonomiese, politieke en andere strukturen bloot te leggen die aan die empiriese relaties (tussen mensen in een samenleving) ten grondslag liggen en welke die relaties orienteren en beperken' (p. 20). In een samenleving is aan de produktiewijze een denkwijze verbonden. Inzicht in de produk- tie- en denkwijzen is volgens Van der Grijp een goede ingang voor begrip van de in Tonga aanwezige ideologic; ideologic is voor het Ton- gaanse geval gedefinieerd als 'dat stelsel van ideeen waarin vormen van sociale asymmetrie worden voorgesteld als natuurlijk en vanzelfspre- kend, eventueel als door God zo gewild' (p. 22). Produktiewijze, denk- wijze en sociale asymmetrie zijn de vezels van de rode draad die door de overige delen van het boek loopt. Het is echter uitermate teleurstel- lend dat Van der Grijp, na zich zoveel moeite te hebben getroost om zijn analyse van de onderzoeksresultaten theoretisch te verantwoorden, er zeer weinig aan gelegen is om zijn onderzoek methodologisch te verantwoorden. In het tweede deel staat verwantschap centraal. Verwantschap is in Tonga nog steeds 'de ruggegraat van het maatschappelijk leven' (p. 277). Diverse oude en nieuwe verwantschapsgroepen, of althans groe- pen waarvoor verwantschapsrelaties de blauwdruk voor de structuur jeveren, worden geanalyseerd: de (moderne) kainga, het 'maison', het huishouden en de ha'a. Van der Grijp stelt dat status- en/of rangdiffere n- tiatie binnen zowel de kainga als de ha'a ' . . . twee verschillende ma- nifestaties zijn van dezelfde basisdichotomie tu'a-'eikien dezelfde grond- principes' (p. 101); tu'a betekent 'lager' in rang en 'e/fc/betekent 'hoger' in rang (beide woorden hebben nog een tweede betekenis, resp. het gewone volk en hoofdman). Tot dusver werden de fca/nga-statuse n de Zia'a-status door Tonganisten, waaronder zeker niet de minst bekende antropologen, als twee principieel verschillende kwaliteiten beschouwd. Echter, na zelf onderzoek in Tonga te hebben verricht (1987), kan ik niet anders dan Van der Grijps stelling in voile ovetuiging onderschrij- ven. Wat de betekenis is van de sociaal asymmetrische relaties in zowel de ha'a als de kainga voor het dagelijkse leven en andere (veranderende) aspecten van verwantschap, wordt vervolgens uitgewerkt en rijkelijk geillustreerd met concrete voorbeelden en casus-studies in deel II. Met eenzelfde illustratie wordt ook deel III verlevendigd. Thema van dit deel is de ontwikkeling van produktiekrachten, waarmee de verhou- ding van de mens tot de natuur wordt bedoeld. Aan bod komen de produktie-eenheden in de drie eilandengroepen, Tongatapu, Ha'apai en Vava'u, en de aard van wat die eenheden zoal produceren. De nadruk ligt daarbij op de agrarische produktie; daarnaast wordt aandacht be- steed aan de visserij en voedselbereiding en huisnijverheid (sic!). De veranderingen in de Tongaanse economische activiteiten kunnen in ver- band worden gebracht met mondiale, m.n. kapitalistische, ontwikkelin- een. Naast de noe steeds belaneriike nroduktie voor zelfvoorzienine en

Downloaded from Brill.com09/26/2021 01:13:09AM via free access 576 Boekbesprekingen net giftenverkeer, produceert ook de Tongaan tegenwoordig in toene- mende mate voor een markt: de mannen voor de wereldmarkt, de vrou- wen voor de toeristen. In het vierde deel richt Van der Grijp zijn aandacht op de hedendaagse produktieverhoudingen, welke hij specificeert naar de sociale verhou- dingen die controle impliceren over: 1) de toegang tot produktiemiddelen, wat in Tonga bezit en over- dracht van grond betreft; 2) de sociale verdeling van arbeid, gei'llustreerd aan de hand van twee levensbeschrijvingen, van een man en een vrouw, die zich ontwikkelden tot vrije ondernemers in kapitalistische zin; en 3) de verdeling van net arbeidsprodukt, waarbij het giftenverkeer nog steeds een centrale rol vervult. Van der Grijp constateert dan enerzijds een stucturele verandering in produktiekrachten en -verhoudingen met betrekking tot het belang- rijkste produktiemiddel in Tonga, de grond,-en anderzijds een continui- teit in bezitsverhoudingen, arbeids- en produktverdeling. De vraag of de huidige Tongaanse samenleving een 'compromis-cultuur' is, waarin traditionele en moderne (westerse) elementen zijn versmblten, of dat de huidige situatie een fundamenteel andere fase inluidt, is voor Van der Grijp vooralsnog niet te beantwoorden. Ter afsluiting nog een opmerking. In navolging van Godelier, gaat Van der Grijp ervan uit dat culturele veranderingen hun oorzaak vinden in een confrontatie tussen twee culturele systemen. In Tonga zou het om de confrontatie tussen de oorspronkelijke produktie- en denkwijze met het kapitalisme (ook een produktie- en denkwijze?) gaan (p. 20). De landbouw was in traditionele tijden het belangrijkste middel van bestaan. Tegenwoordig staat het produktiemiddel grond centraal in de kapitalistische ontwikkelingen in Tonga, immers met dit produktiemid- del worden produkten voor de markt geproduceerd. De confrontatie tussen de twee systemen zal zich dan vooral manifesteren in de produk- tieverhoudingen en -krachten die met het genoemde produktiemiddel te maken hebben. Het zijn deze verhoudingen en krachten die nader onderzocht worden, zodat men beter inzicht verkrijgt in hoe de Tongaan denkt en doet, m.a.w. in de produktiewijze en de daarmee geassocieerde denkwijze. In deze redenering is een fout geslopen, waar ik mij absoluut niet mee kan verenigen: de Tongaanse vrouw wordt categorisch uitgeslo- ten. Vrouwen hebben in Tonga weinig van doen met grond als produk- tiemiddel enwerken, in tegenstelling tot de omliggende en verwante samenlevingen, zeer weinig in de landbouw. Hun belang ligt in de pro- duktie van matten en tapa, die niet gericht is op de (kapitalistische) markt maar op wat Annette B. Weiner de 'culturele reproduktie' zou noemen. Op de keper beschouwd gaat het boek van Van der Grijp over de produktie- en denkwijzen die voor de Tongaangse man van belang zijn, gezien door de ogen van een Westeuropeaan van het mannelijk geslacht. De verwoede pogingen om 'de vrouw' tot haar recht te laten komen in het hoofdstuk 'huisnijverheid' en in de casus-studie van een geslaagde zakenvrouw/politica, komen over als verplichte nummers.

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