UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA San Diego Neo-Tobian Culture: Modem Life on a Micronesian Atoll A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology Peter Weston w back Committee in charge: Professor F. G. Bailey, Chairman Professor Roy G. D' Andrade Professor Donald Tuzin Professor Randall Collins Professor Harry N. Scheiber Copyright 1977 by Peter Weston Black The dissertation of Peter Weston Black is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm: vd Committee Chairman University of California, San Diego iii To my mother Elizabeth Jenkins Black and to the memory of my father, George Waleston Black (1915 - 1961), with love and gratitude TABLE OF COYTENTS page' List of Map. Tables and Photographs ....viii A Note on Orthography .............. ix Acknowledgments ................. xi Vita. ~ublications and Fields of Study ..xiii Abstract ofthe Dissertation .......... xiv I Introduction .................. 1 A . Location of Tobi Island ......... 1 B . The South West Island Field Trip ..... 5 C . Description of the Island ........ 14 D . Tobian History .............. 21 E . First Stay on Tobi ............ 29 F . Population ............. 31 G . Social Organization ........ 37 H . Clan ................. 38 I. Yahamatara ................ 43 J . Settlement .............. 49 K . Households .............. 54 L . Gender .................. 55 M . Generation ............. 59 N . Political Factions ....... 60 0. Tobian Society ........... 64 P . Time and The Field Trip ....66 0 . Aftermath ................ 67 R . Between Ships .............. 69 S . Preparations for the Ship ........ 72 T . Research ................. 74 U . Conflict and Childrearing ........ 75 V . Yeo-Tobian Culture ............ 83 7 . Preview of the Dissertation ....... 85 X . Footnotes for Chapter One ........ 89 I1 Tobian Catholicism ......... A . Introduction ......... B . Background to Secularism ... C . IfiriIngris ......... D . IfiriDeutch ......... E . Ifiri Sapan ......... F . The Nature of Tobian Orthodoxy G . Baptism ........... H . Remarriage .......... I . Power Over Ghosts ...... J . Power to Judge the Dead ... K . OtherMissionaries ...... L . Clan Incest ......... M . Chief and Church ....... Page N . Church and Island ............ 174 0 . Change and Its Agent ........... 179 P . Footnotes for Chapter Two ........ 180 I11 HowTo DoThings OnTobi ............ 186 Weddings and Checkers ......186 Routines: Recipes for Action ...... 194 Routines and Cooperation: Thatching . 200 Fishing and Thatching Compared . 218 Thatching Compared With Other Cooperative Contexts .............. 231 TheLeamingofRoutines ........ 235 Tension Between Routine and Ingenuity . 239 Tobian Notions of Intelligence . 243 The Tobian Concept: "Idea" ....... 253 IdeastoHelpthe Island ......... 261 ChiefandMagistrate ........... 275 Managing Tobi's Problems ......... 282 Footnotes for Chapter Three ....... 291 IV A Case of Attempted Murder ........... 300 Introduction ............... 300 The Nature of Dispute Settlement Procedures .... ........ 301 The Poisoned Cup (c. 1938) ....... 304 The Severed Fronds (1972) ...... 308 Investigation .............. 305 TheMeeting ............... 310 Afterward ................ 313 Characteristics of Tobian Meetings .... 317 ChoosingaCulprit ............ 321 Differences Between The Two Cases .... 329 Achieving Harmony ............ 338 Fear and Shame .............. 341 TheMethodofAnalysis .......... 348 Self Image and Beliefs .......... 350 The Meeting as a Cultural Routine .... 364 Routine and Behavior ........... 368 Footnotes for Chapter Four ........ 371 V Tobi in Perspective ............... 316 A . Introduction ............... 376 B . The Attempted Murder as a Model ..... 379 C . Tobian Culture and The Outside World ... 381 D . The Integration of Neo-Tobian Society . 385 E . The Idea of Configuration in Culture ... 391 F . Ethos or Cultural Patterning Through Feeling Tone ............. 394 G . Eidos or Cultural Patterning Through Intellectual Tone ........... 396 Page H . Neo-Tobian Cultural Integration .... 398 I . The Tobian Socio-Cultural System ..... 402 J . Footnotes for Chapter Five ........ 405 References ................... 411 vii MAP, TABLES AND PHOTOGRAPHS Map : Tobi Island and Its Vicinity 3 Table I: Age, Sex and Marital Characteristics of the Tobian Population in November, 1972 35 Table 11: Age and Sex Composition of Tobian Clans 41 Table 111: Tobian Yahamatara in November, 1972 48 Table IV: How to React to a Serious Crime by an Unknown Person 364 Photos: Tobi From the Air 16 viii A NOTE ON ORTHOGRAPHY There are almost as many indigenous ways of spelling* Tobian words as there are Tobian people, Everyone over the age of five or so is literate, with the sole exception of one old woman. Each literate person represents the sounds of his language in the best way that he can. There is some agreement, but also a great deal of variation. Further- more, those linguists and others who have written about Tobian and/or related dialects also vary wildly in the way that they represent those sounds. Capell (1948), Quackenbush (l968), Sohn (l969), Eilers (l936), Lessa (l96l), Gladwin (lgi'o), Goodenough (1951), Holden (1936), Hale (1846), Pickering (1845), all use different systems. The University of Hawaii has been engaged in a project designed to reduce this kind of confusion in the writing of Micronesian languages. Unfortunately the system presented in Sohn (1975) for Woleaian (the closest dialect of Trukic to Tobian which has thus far been "standardized") is, to my mind, overly cumbersome and probably will have little impact. Therefore, reluctantly, I must add to the confu- sion by using my own system. I have tried to keep things as simple as possible. Vowels have their continental values. Most consonants sound as they do in English. I have avoided using the letter "c" in those few Tobian words mentioned in the text. "R" has the same sound as an untrilled Spanish "r." "H" is aspirated. "G" is a very heavy gutteral sound. It is this sound, more than any other, which leads to variation. The Germans tended to write this sound with an "x" which, for a non-English speaking audience, might be the best solution. Others have represented it with an "h" which is no solution at all. Finally, there are a few loan words which have not been changed much in their pronounciation. I have left these spelled the way they are in the original. "Idea" should perhaps be written "aidia" for consis- tency's sake but that spelling seems unnecessarily awkward. Similarly, "Deutch" and "smart" have not been trans- mogrified. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Space is unavailable here to thank adequately, or even merely to mention, everyone who has contributed in one form or another to this dissertation. What follows, there- fore, is only a partial listing of those to whom I am indebted. First of all, of course, I must thank the people of Tobi. The warmth and generosity with which they extended their hospitality to me are inadequately reflected in the pages which follow. I do not wish to thank some of them by name but not others. Yet I must single out two people-- Perpetua Perfecto, who in many ways treated me as a son and in others as a friend, and her adopted daughter Felisisima Andrew, who put an immense amount of work into the gathering of the data on which this account is based. To both of them I offer deep thanks--"Hapari sewa ma hatawa." I have presented various pieces of this work to my anthropology classes and also to several symposia. To all, whether students or colleagues, who offered criticisms or suggestions, I give my thanks. The faculty and students of the Anthropology Department at the University of California, San Diego have been unfailingly helpful. In addition to the members of my committee, I wish to thank Professors D. K. Jordan, T. Schwartz, and M. Spiro for their much needed guidance and criticism during the research and after. Michael Chatfield and Eleanor Gerber, my friends and fellow stu- dents, listened to many of my ideas and helped get them into shape. Finally, I must mention my wife, Mary, who contri- buted to this dissertation in many, many ways. Her good humor, patience and strength made endurable those long stretches of time when it seemed as though it would never be finished. Only now, after it is done, do I fully realize just how much she has given. A National Institutes of Mental Health Grant (UPHS 5 TO1 MH 12766) financed part of the research on which the following pages are based. xii VITA August 13, 1942 - Born - Rome, New York 1960-1962 Syracuse University 1964 B. S. , Columbia University 1971 M.A. University of California, San Diego 1969-1975 Teaching Assistant, Department of Anthropology University of California, San Diego 1975-1976 Instructor of Anthropology, Pomona College Claremont, California 1976-present Assistant Professor of Sociology Wayne State College, Wayne, Nebraska 1977 Doctor of Philosophy PUBLICATIONS 1971 Citizen Participation Groups --in San Diego, Report of the Urban Observator of San Diego. Departmentof Housingh-bY an Ur an Development. With F.Barnett and others under the direction of Marc J. Swartz. 1977 "Black Roots, Red Roots: Myth and History in Two American Pasts". Midwest Review 1977 Vol. 2, No. 1 In press "The Teachings of Father Marino: Aspects of Tobian Catholicism." In Missionar Activities in the Pacific, J. Bou~jil-dUniversity TjT Eaii Press. FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Anthropology Studies in Cultural Anthropology Professor David