Not Feasting with Friends: the Meaning of Meat in Anganen

There are two general ways that meat is deployed in exchange among the Anganen of the Southern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea. One is communion that forges co‐identification between those eating together. The other is effectively the antithesis of communion. Food is given in formal prestation but explicitly through taboo or as an emergent property of how the exchange takes place; food giver and receiver do not consume meat from the same animal. These emergent properties variously come about through the meat being given raw, undercooked, or in portions far too large for the receiver to consume. My main interest is how these taboo or emergent acts of non‐communion effectively involve non‐food. Certainly part of the meaning of meat is that it will eventually be eaten. However, in the act of exchange because meat cannot be immediately eaten or shared that gives rise to its meaning. Part of this meaning is the degree of what I call politicisation. Acts of non‐communion are politically charged events, be they aggressive or motivated by men seeking prestige. A number of different types of exchange are compared to explore the role of meat in Anganen politics.