Youths, elders, and the wages of war in Enga province, Papua New Guinea

"Here I will consider cycles of Enga warfare within the 350-year span for which we have information on warfare from oral and written historical records. The first is a period of intensive warfare that occurred in the first half of the 19th century, redrawing the map of Enga after the introduction of the sweet potato. These turbulent times were followed by a hundred-year period of successful initiatives to keep warfare in check and to promote prosperity. The Colonial Era then intervened with a ban on warfare. The second is a period of devastating “modern” warfare that began a few years before Independence in 1975 (Gordon and Kipilan 1982); Paney 1973) and accelerated in 1990 with the adoption of new technology in warfare, homemade shotguns and high-powered weapons, reversing the power hierarchy between older men and youths. Fieldwork and village court records allow us to trace the rise in violence, the formation of warring gangs of mercenaries, the impact on the population of Enga and the state of Papua New Guinea, and in the last few years, what may be a trend back towards moderation ..." - page 1AusAI

The Challenges of Village Courts and Operation Mekim Save among the Enga of Papua New Guinea Today: A View from the Inside

This paper addresses the question of how customary law courts maintain justice and restore community relations through decades of rapid change including: (1) how the Enga navigate the legal pluralism of customary and formal justice systems, (2) the problems of adapting customary laws to changing circumstances and (3) the problems that arise with young untrained magistrates who are not fully conversant in custom. Data will be drawn from some 1000 customary court cases observed from 2008 - 2016 and periodic workshops with magistrates in village courts and Operation Mekim Save (OMS), a branch of village courts designed to handle inter-clan conflicts. All magistrates in the study agreed that the success of village courts and OMS could be largely attributed to their flexibility and processes. Still, most magistrates recommended that some rules and guidelines be put in place for effective decision-making in matters such as marriage in order to reduce domestic violence and land inheritance disputes to decrease intra-clan conflicts. They also recommended that specially trained panels of magistrates be appointed to hear cases about sorcery and HIV/AIDS accusations, in response to complaints about such matters, which are relatively new to Enga and that raise significant challenges relating to matters of evidence and proof. Both experienced and younger magistrates requested further training; the content of possible training is addressed. Magistrates also emphasised the need for cultural education launched in the schools of Enga in 2016, so that future generations will be able to grasp the anchoring principles of Enga custom that guide decisions.AusAI

Prehistoric stone artefacts from Enga and the implication of links between the highlands, lowlands and islands for early agriculture in Papua New Guinea

Two of the unanswered questions of Papua New Guinea prehistory are: (1) whether agriculture was present in the mid-Holocene not only in the highlands but also in the lowlands and Bismarck Archipelago and (2) whether the presence of agriculture might have been influenced by interaction between these regions. This paper addresses these questions through an analysis of prehistoric stone mortars, pestles and figures, which hold information on both style and function.Cet article traite deux des questions sans réponse de la préhistoire de la Papouasie Nouvelle-Guinée : (1) l'agriculture était-elle présente dans le mi-Holocène non seulement dans les hautes terres mais également dans les basses terres et l'archipel Bismarck et (2) la présence de l'agriculture pourrait-elle avoir été influencée par l’existence de relations entre ces deux régions. Cet article aborde ces questions en analysant des mortiers, des pilons et des figures en pierre préhistoriques, qui livrent des informations sur leur style et leur fonction

Wealth Transmission and Inequality among Hunter‐Gatherers

We report quantitative estimates of intergenerational transmission and population-wide inequality for wealth measures in a set of hunter-gatherer populations. Wealth is defined broadly as factors that contribute to individual or household well-being, ranging from embodied forms such as weight and hunting success to material forms such household goods, as well as relational wealth in exchange partners. Intergenerational wealth transmission is low to moderate in these populations, but is still expected to have measurable influence on an individual’s life chances. Wealth inequality (measured with Gini coefficients) is moderate for most wealth types, matching what qualitative ethnographic research has generally indicated (if not the stereotype of hunter-gatherers as extreme egalitarians). We discuss some plausible mechanisms for these patterns, and suggest ways in which future research could resolve questions about the role of wealth in hunter-gatherer social and economic life

Intergenerational Wealth Transmission and the Dynamics of Inequality in Small-Scale Societies

Small-scale human societies range from foraging bands with a strong egalitarian ethos to more economically stratified agrarian and pastoral societies. We explain this variation in inequality using a dynamic model in which a population’s long-run steady-state level of inequality depends on the extent to which its most important forms of wealth are transmitted within families across generations. We estimate the degree of intergenerational transmission of three different types of wealth (material, embodied, and relational), as well as the extent of wealth inequality in 21 historical and contemporary populations. We show that intergenerational transmission of wealth and wealth inequality are substantial among pastoral and small-scale agricultural societies (on a par with or even exceeding the most unequal modern industrial economies) but are limited among horticultural and foraging peoples (equivalent to the most egalitarian of modern industrial populations). Differences in the technology by which a people derive their livelihood and in the institutions and norms making up the economic system jointly contribute to this pattern

A História da Alimentação: balizas historiográficas

Os M. pretenderam traçar um quadro da História da Alimentação, não como um novo ramo epistemológico da disciplina, mas como um campo em desenvolvimento de práticas e atividades especializadas, incluindo pesquisa, formação, publicações, associações, encontros acadêmicos, etc. Um breve relato das condições em que tal campo se assentou faz-se preceder de um panorama dos estudos de alimentação e temas correia tos, em geral, segundo cinco abardagens Ia biológica, a econômica, a social, a cultural e a filosófica!, assim como da identificação das contribuições mais relevantes da Antropologia, Arqueologia, Sociologia e Geografia. A fim de comentar a multiforme e volumosa bibliografia histórica, foi ela organizada segundo critérios morfológicos. A seguir, alguns tópicos importantes mereceram tratamento à parte: a fome, o alimento e o domínio religioso, as descobertas européias e a difusão mundial de alimentos, gosto e gastronomia. O artigo se encerra com um rápido balanço crítico da historiografia brasileira sobre o tema

Hunter-gatherers: Perspectives from the starting point

Commentary on David Graeber and David Wengrow 2021. The Dawn of Everything. New York: Penguin