essay

What did the eruption mean?

Exiles and migrants in Oceania (5)Published In 1977 • Pages: 296-341, 401-414

By: Schwimmer, Eric G..

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This source is a semiotic analysis of native explanations of the eruption of Mount Lamington in 1951. There are four different explanations: that the god of the mountain was punishing the Orokaiva for violation of taboos, that the god of the mountain was punishing the Europeans for their execution of several Orokaivas, that the Christian god was angry at the Orokaivas for various transgressions, and fourth, that the eruption was caused by geophysical forces. Schwimmer feels that these theories '… form a well-structured whole, and together they express contemporary Orokaiva social reality' (p. 338).
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Theoretical orientation in research and its results
Disasters
Avoidance and taboo
Ethnogeography
Ethnosociology
Missions
Cultural participation
Public welfare
Settlement patterns
Internal migration
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Orokaiva
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2004
RegionThe area the document pertains to
Oceania
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Melanesia
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
essay
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Ethnologist
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
Marlene Martin ; 1984
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1966-1973
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1951-1966
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Mount Lamington area; Popondetta Sub-District of the Northern District of Papua; Papua New Guinea
NotesAdditional notes
By Erik G. Schwimmer
Includes bibliographical references (p. 401-414)
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
77010756
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Orokaiva (Papua New Guinea people)