INTEGRATING INDIGENOUS AND SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE BASES FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA

In investigating ways to reduce community vulnerability to environmental hazards it is essential to recognize the interaction between indigenous and scientific knowledge bases. Indigenous and scientific knowledge bases are dynamic entities. Using a Process Framework to identify how indigenous and scientific knowledge bases may be integrated, three communities impacted upon by environmental hazards in Papua New Guinea, a Small Island Developing State, have established how their vulnerability to environmental hazards may be reduced. This article explores the application of the framework within the communities of Kumalu, Singas and Baliau, and how this could impact upon the future management of environmental hazards within indigenous communities in Small Island Developing States.     

ONE NAME,MANY GROUNDS: LAND,MARRIAGE AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE AMONG THE OROKAIVA OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA

It is proposed, through an examination of published materials on the Orokaiva, that established and even competing models and concepts of ‘kinship’ and marriage (generalized and direct exchange, agnatic descent, clan, balanced reciprocity) have little or no explanatory power since they either do not fit the published facts or they predict the same results, despite published assertions to the contrary. An hypothesis linking relationship terminology, marriage ‘systems’ and land use is proposed. Some features in the ‘system’ of ‘kinship’ terminology appear to be expressive of the ideology of gardening rather than ‘kinship’ and marriage per se.     

PEARLSHELL SYMBOLISM IN HIGHLANDS PAPUA NEW GUINEA,WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THE WIRU PEOPLE OF SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS PROVINCE

Pearlshells, in their use in exchange in the Papua New Guinea Highlands, have usually been analysed as 'power tokens' in a political context dominated by big men. This article attempts to account for the historically recent acceptance and use of pearlshells in terms of symbolic and aesthetic, rather than political and economic, values. The symbolism of two types of pearlshell found among Wiru people is considered, and an overview of available material on pearlshells in the Highlands is presented. A comparative perspective using historical, ethnographic and linguistic evidence, supports the claim that pearlshells were incorporated into ceremonial exchange because of their symbolic and aesthetic connections with the natural world and a cycle of death and regenesis.