article

Social change and primitive law: consequences of a Papuan legal case

American anthropologist60Published In 1958 • Pages: 832-837

By: Pospisil, Leopold J..

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This article discusses the consequences of the breaking of an incest taboo by the headman of one of the large Kapauku villages. The eventual acceptance of this marriage by the tribe started a trend toward endogamy and intra-sib marriage and weakening of the ties between the members of the Ijaaj-Pigome confederacy. Encouraged by his success, the headman is also trying to change the settlement pattern of his village and to introduce what amounts to a moiety division. Pospisil concludes the article by discussing the theoretical implications of these changes.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Regulation of marriage
Mode of marriage
Clans
Community heads
Sex and marital offenses
Kinship regulation of sex
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Kapauku
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2019
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
article
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
Timothy J. O'Leary ; 1958
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1954-1955
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1935-1962
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Kamu Valley, central Highlands, Irian Jaya, Indonesia
NotesAdditional notes
Leopold Pospisil
Includes bibliographical references (p. 837)
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
17015424
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Kapauku (New Guinea people)