V. Baker Elders in the shadow of the Big-Man In: Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 139 (1983), no: 1, Leiden, 1-17 This PDF-file was downloaded from http://www.kitlv-journals.nl Downloaded from Brill.com09/24/2021 09:01:36PM via free access VICTORIA J. BAKER ELDERS IN THE SHADOW OF THE BIG MAN "... the old men sat and wept over the profanation and their loss of power and privilege." Codrington, in The Melanesians, 1891. I. Introduction Leadership in the South Pacific has drawn the attention of a number of scholars in the last several decades. Following the model given by Sahlins in his much-quoted article, 'Poor Man, Rich Man, Big-Man, Chief' (1963), anthropologists could work with a handy dichotomy: leadership based on achieved status in a sphere of egalitarianism (the big-man of Melanesia) versus leadership based on ascribed status of hereditary rank in a sphere of social hierarchy (the chief of Polynesia). These two ideal types apparently left little room for much focus on the many overlapping and divergent types of leaders to be found in the vast areas of the South Pacific. The spectacular Melanesian big-man — the Songi of Oliver's monograph on the Siuai of the Solomon Islands, who, according to Bronwen Douglas (1979:3), was the inspiration for Sahlins' article — was threatening to become a caricature. Literature abounded in which the Melanesian big-man's charac- têristics of personal ambition, managerial and oratorical skill, and calculated generosity were illustrated. In the meantime, however, one scholar challenged the position of the big-man. The Austrian anthro- pologist Justin Stagl, in a relatively unknown article in the German Zeitschrift für Politik, juxtaposed the big-man's leadership with that of the elders. In his article, 'Alteste und Big Men. Politische Führungs- rollen in Melanesien' (1971:368-383), the two types of Melanesian leaders were compared and analyzed, and in the end both were merely reduced to an interplay of authority and power inherent in every form of political organization (pp.369,380). This undermining of the big- man's theoretical status by bringing the elders into the picture did not make any waves — not even ripples — on the sea of anthropological VICTORIA J. BAKER, who holds a Doctoraal degree in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Leiden, is a junior researcher at that university. Being interested in political anthropology and field research methodology, she has written chapters for forthcoming publications on ethical dilemmas in anthro- pological fieldwork and participant observation. Drs. Baker may be contacted at the Institute of Cultural and Social Studies, Postbus 9507, 2300 RA, Leiden. Downloaded from Brill.com09/24/2021 09:01:36PM via free access 2 Victoria J. Baker literature, even though bits and pieces concerning the elders did appear in recent articles (eg., Douglas 1979:9; Chowning 1979: 69-70). Ten years af ter Stagl's article, at the 1981 Amsterdam IUAES Intercongress, a paper (yet unpublished) was presented by Michael Allen, in which the Melanesian elders again shared in the theoretical focus: 'Elders, Chiefs and Big-Men: Social Structure and Political Evolution in Melanesia'. Stagl, who had neither an evolutionary outlook nor goal, had placed the leadership systems of elders and big-men on a single interacting plane. Allen, in his turn, placed them on opposite ends of an evolutionary scale of polities in Melanesia, viz., from the small-scale system where power is entrusted to the seniormost men of agnatic lineages (through the intermediate chieftainships), to the fully- evolved matrilineal societies where big-men regularly emerge as self- made leaders. Identifying the true place of the elders in the infinite complexity and diversity of Melanesian political organization obviously cannot be a realistic aim of the present article. It does appear to be time, however, to pull the elders out from the shadow of the big-man and make a reassessment of their respective roles. The term "elders" can be misleading, because it broadly refers to those having authority by virtue of age and experience. For our purposes, "elder" will refer to the senior male member of a unilineal descent group, as long as he is capable and responsible. It is thus a hereditary position, though in practice it usually involves a certain degree of achievement; and authority is legitimated through tradition (Stagl 1971:369). The position of the old people will also be discussed in this article, but they will be referred to as "the elderly" or "the aged". "Big-man" is an equally ambiguous term, which has become embedded in the literature because it is the literal translation of the native title received by important men in many parts of Melanesia. Though in some places it can designate anyone who is physically large or "splendid", or elderly and respected for any reason (Chowning 1979: 66), here the term "big-man" will be used to refer to a Melanesian leader whose authority is based on personal power (primarily an achieved position). To attain this position he must generally exercise such character traits as ambition, intelligence, charisma, persuasiveness, generosity, and managerial as well as rhetorical skills. As background to an examination of the elders' fole, a brief summary will be given of Rivers' historical hypothesis concerning a former gerontocracy in Melanesia. Carrying through on this idea, the remnants of such gerontocracies today will receive mention, and a new hypothesis on the subject will take its place beside the old one. It is further the purpose of this paper: — to discuss the relatively neglected hereditary aspects of Mela- nesian leadership; Downloaded from Brill.com09/24/2021 09:01:36PM via free access Elders in theShadow of the Big-Man 3 — to compare the status of aged men as being the object of ridicule in some Melanesian societies, as opposed to their being the object of respect in othefs; — to examine the roles of the elders and the big-men, particularly in the light of Stagl's article, including such interesting points as: stability/social immobility and authority in the elders versus instability/ social mobility and power in the big-men; their respective roles as managers versus entrepreneurs; the functioning of elders behind the scènes as mobilizers of local resources and labor; and the place of elders and big-men when Melanesian societies have been differentiated according to descent groups and group size. II. Historical scope on gerontocracy — hypothesis and present-day practice In 1898 Haddon, Rivers and Seligman launched on the famed Torres Straits Expedition, and less than two decades later Rivers completed the mammoth task of writing what he called The History of Melanesian Society. Partially based on Codrington (1891) and also relying on Graebner's attempt to analyze Melanesian culture in 1909, the second volume of The History deals with a number of theoretical aspects of Melanesian culture. Rivers states that his standpoint remains essentially evolutionary (1914:5). Interesting for the present article is his hypothesis that at ohe stage in Melanesian history a gerontocracy prevailed: a ruling class of old men who directed the course of community conduct. The primary factor leading to the gerontocracy was, according to Rivers, the native belief in the magical abilities of old men. This supposedly gave the elderly men sufficient power to enable them to monopolize all the young women of their community (Rivers 1914:68). Taking the idea further, Rivers suggested that many ceremonial elements, such as a girl being married as an infant and the ritual of simulated capture, were throw-backs to the gerontocracy period, i.e., attempts to escape the dominance of the old men (Rivers 1914:105). In Rivers' evolutionary scheme the disappearance of the gerontocracy began with the coming of the "kava-people" (p.313), and he believes that the institution of hereditary chieftainship is due to immigrant influence. According to him, chieftainship came to those parts that were settled by a people superior to the natives; in one instance he even alludes to the physical appearance of the chiefs being different from that of the commoners (p.324). While such statements may be interesting for speculation, more pertinent is the observation made at the time of his expedition to Melanesia: "It would seem as if even now the condition in most parts of southern Melanesia has not departed very widely from a state of gerontocracy, although the qualification of age has largely merged in onè dependent on possession of high rank Downloaded from Brill.com09/24/2021 09:01:36PM via free access 4 Victoria J .Baker in the sukwe" (pp.324-325). (More will be said about the sukwe in SectionV.) It is worth noting that Ann Chowning refers in a recent article to a few societies where a sort of gerontocracy exists at present. The Banaro and Ilahita Arapesh are examples she cites of societies where senior initiates of cults, acting as a body, are thought to control the well-being of society. In addition, similar situations are said to arise when all the older men are assumed to know sorcery and threaten its use to keep their juniors in line; the Orokolo and the Kove are examples of such societies (Chowning 1979:68). (This use of sorcery would tend to support Rivers' early hypothesis concerning how old men originally gained power to form a gerontocracy.) But as Chowning says, most of the "gerontocratie" societies which can be listed today are reported to have additional individual leaders as well (p.69). It is also interesting that concerning the idea of gerontocracy, Michael Allen (1981:5) fits. this stage in his recent evolutionary scheme of Melanesia.