Transformations of Monetary Symbols in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea

Transformations des symboles monétaires dans les Hautes-Terres de Papouasie Nouvelle-Guinée. – Cet article traite de la transformation des systèmes « monétaires » chez les Hagen de la province des Hautes-Terres occidentales et chez les Duna de la province des Hautes-Terres méridionales de Papouasie Nouvelle-Guinée, systèmes qu’éclaire une comparaison avec les Wiru de la province des Hautes-Terres méridionales. Les matériaux ethnographiques montrent l'importance de l’expérience coloniale et post-coloniale dans la perception et la transformation de ces systèmes. Avant l’introduction de la monnaie de papier, la « valeur » et le poids « moral » des monnaies de coquillage en circulation étaient intégrés à la définition du moi et de la personne. Le déclin des systèmes d'échange locaux a modifié l’identité au sein du groupe de ce qu’on peut appeler l’« individu-relationnel », ainsi que la manière dont les diverses transactions étaient conduites. C'est en considérant cet aspect des choses que les gens eux-mêmes se sont servis de l’idée de l’altération des formes monétaires pour construire leur propre récit des transformations historiques dont ils ont été les témoins.This article discusses the transformations of “monetary” systems among the Hagen people of the Western Highlands Province and the Duna people of the Southern Highlands Province in Papua New Guinea, with some cross-reference to the Wiru people also of the Southern Highlands Province. The materials demonstrate how colonial and post-colonial experiences have impacted the way these monetary forms have been perceived over time. The “worth” and “moral” weight of the shell valuables that were used prior to the introduction of paper money and coins were integral to definitions of self and personhood. The decline of indigenous systems of exchange has changed the definitional parameters of what we call the “relational-individual” within the group and the ways in which transactions of all kinds are conducted. Reflecting on this point, the people themselves have used this topic of alterations in the kinds of monetary forms they employ in transactions to construct their own narratives of historical transformations

Power and Placement in Blood Practices

Anthropologists writing on the Highlands societies of Papua New Guinea have stressed the variable importance of ideas of menstrual pollution as markers of gender relations. This article suggests an alternative approach to these ideas, emphasizing instead aspects of power, placement, complementarity, collaboration, and the moral agency of both genders. Turning to the ethnographic work of the 1960s, we contrast the writings of Salisbury and Meggitt and discuss the usefulness of the "three bodies" concept of Lock and Scheper-Hughes in the comparative analysis of body substances and their meanings in this region. The use of a collaborative model is helpful in such an overall analysis

Kinship, Ritual, Cosmos

This essay revisits aspects of the work of Bernard Juillerat on the Yafar people of Papua New Guinea and of Meyer Fortes on the Tallensi people of West Africa. The purpose of this juxtaposition of cases is to show how each author has stressed an aspect of themes derived from the Freudian theory of the Œdipus complex. Juillerat has stressed the relationship of the son with the mother, Fortes the relationship between son (especially eldest son, the first-born) and father, in the context of practices of ancestor worship. Our argument is that it is important to take note that psychoanalytic motifs, if present, are set by the people themselves into a broader scheme, linking kinship, ritual, and the cosmos together. The essay is intended as an act of appreciation and respect for the work and thoughts of both of these authors as a part of a «long conversation» in anthropology at large regarding psychological interpretations of ethnographic materials. Both Juillerat and Fortes themselves, indeed, set their psychoanalytic interpretations into deeply woven analyses of kinship, ritual practices, and ideas of the cosmos.Cet essai revisite le travail de Bernard Juillerat sur les Yafar de Papouasie Nouvelle-Guinée et ceux de Meyer Fortes sur les Tallensi d’Afrique de l’Ouest. Cette juxtaposition montre comment chaque auteur souligne un aspect spécifique de thèmes dérivés de la théorie freudienne du complexe d’Œdipe. Juillerat souligne la relation du fils à sa mère, Fortes la relation du fils (en particulier l’aîné) au père, dans le contexte de pratiques du culte des ancêtres. Notre argument est qu’il est important de remarquer que les motifs psychanalytiques, quand ils apparaissent, sont insérés par les gens eux-mêmes dans un schème plus vaste reliant la parenté, le rituel et le cosmos. Cet essai est un hommage montrant notre appréciation et notre respect pour le travail et la pensée de ces deux auteurs dans le cadre de la « longue conversation » de l’anthropologie – au sens le plus large – à propos des interprétations psychologiques des matériaux ethnographiques. Juillerat et Fortes eux-mêmes ont inséré leurs interprétations psychanalytiques dans des analyses où la parenté, les pratiques rituelles, et les idées concernant le cosmos sont étroitement imbriquées

Kinship and Commoditization

Parenté et marchandisation : transformations au cours de l’histoire. – Cet article aborde un certain nombre de thèmes essentiels aux études comparées sur la parenté, la personne et les pratiques matrimoniales, en se fondant sur des exemples ethnographiques de Papouasie-Nouvelle Guinée et d’Indonésie orientale. Ainsi l’esclavage, parce qu’il représente par excellence la transformation d’une personne en marchandise, est-il pris comme paradigme du rapport entre personne et échange. Toutefois, l’analyse des données laisse à penser qu’il s’agit là d’une interprétation par trop simpliste. Il est ensuite question des échanges de personnes dans certaines formes (élémentaires) de mariage, en même temps que de la façon dont de tels sytèmes se sont modifiés avec l’introduction de nouvelles marchandises et leur utilisation dans le prix de la fiancée. Enfin, les auteurs traitent de la récente marchandisation des relations sociales dans les Hautes-Terres de Papouasie-Nouvelle Guinée, et montrent comment ces changements ont modifié les liens de parenté, notamment les processus d’affiliation des enfants au groupe de parenté.This paper reviews a number of themes pertinent to comparative studies in kinship, personhood, and marriage practices, based on cases drawn from the ethnography of New Guinea and Eastern Indonesia. The case of “slavery” is taken initially as a test for ideas about personhood and exchange, since slavery may be taken to represent the transformation of a person into a commodity. However, examination of the data suggests that this interpretation is too simple. Person for person exchanges in restricted (elementary) forms of marriage are next considered, along with ways in which such systems change with the introduction of new commodities and the entry of these into bridewealth payments. Finally, we consider contemporary commoditizations of social relations in general in highlands Papua New Guinea and discuss how these changes have impacted kinship ties, including processes of affiliation of children to kin groups

The ASAO Monograph and Book Series

This paper, coauthored by the all of the editors of the Monograph (now Book) Series of the Association for Social Anthropology in Oceania (ASAO) since 1983, provides a detailed history of how the series began in 1967, the purposes it was intended to serve, the steps its publishing processes involved, arrangements with the various presses that handled the volumes over time, and how all of this evolved over more than half a century, including in response to macro-level changes and challenges in the world of academic publishing

Evaluation of the selectivity and sensitivity of isoform- and mutation-specific RAS antibodies

Researchers rely largely on antibodies to measure the abundance, activity, and localization of a protein, information that provides critical insight into both normal and pathological cellular functions. However, antibodies are not always reliable or universally valid for the methods in which they are used; in particular, the reliability of commercial antibodies against RAS is highly variable. Waters et al . rigorously assessed 22 commercially available RAS antibodies for their utility to detect the distinct RAS isoforms in various cell types and for their use in specific analytical methods. Their findings show how reliably one can interpret the data acquired from each reagent

Hidden in the Middle : Culture, Value and Reward in Bioinformatics

Bioinformatics - the so-called shotgun marriage between biology and computer science - is an interdiscipline. Despite interdisciplinarity being seen as a virtue, for having the capacity to solve complex problems and foster innovation, it has the potential to place projects and people in anomalous categories. For example, valorised 'outputs' in academia are often defined and rewarded by discipline. Bioinformatics, as an interdisciplinary bricolage, incorporates experts from various disciplinary cultures with their own distinct ways of working. Perceived problems of interdisciplinarity include difficulties of making explicit knowledge that is practical, theoretical, or cognitive. But successful interdisciplinary research also depends on an understanding of disciplinary cultures and value systems, often only tacitly understood by members of the communities in question. In bioinformatics, the 'parent' disciplines have different value systems; for example, what is considered worthwhile research by computer scientists can be thought of as trivial by biologists, and vice versa. This paper concentrates on the problems of reward and recognition described by scientists working in academic bioinformatics in the United Kingdom. We highlight problems that are a consequence of its cross-cultural make-up, recognising that the mismatches in knowledge in this borderland take place not just at the level of the practical, theoretical, or epistemological, but also at the cultural level too. The trend in big, interdisciplinary science is towards multiple authors on a single paper; in bioinformatics this has created hybrid or fractional scientists who find they are being positioned not just in-between established disciplines but also in-between as middle authors or, worse still, left off papers altogether

Life, time, and the organism:Temporal registers in the construction of life forms

In this paper, we articulate how time and temporalities are involved in the making of living things. For these purposes, we draw on an instructive episode concerning Norfolk Horn sheep. We attend to historical debates over the nature of the breed, whether it is extinct or not, and whether presently living exemplars are faithful copies of those that came before. We argue that there are features to these debates that are important to understanding contemporary configurations of life, time and the organism, especially as these are articulated within the field of synthetic biology. In particular, we highlight how organisms are configured within different material and semiotic assemblages that are always structured temporally. While we identify three distinct structures, namely the historical, phyletic and molecular registers, we do not regard the list as exhaustive. We also highlight how these structures are related to the care and value invested in the organisms at issue. Finally, because we are interested ultimately in ways of producing time, our subject matter requires us to think about historiographical practice reflexively. This draws us into dialogue with other scholars interested in time, not just historians, but also philosophers and sociologists, and into conversations with them about time as always multiple and never an inert background