Cultivators in the swamp: social structure and horticulture in a New Guinea society (Frederik-Hendrik Island, West New Guinea)

Serpenti, L. M.

Book

Cultivators in the swamp: social structure and horticulture in a New Guinea society (Frederik-Hendrik Island, West New Guinea)

Van Gorcum • Assen • Published In 1965 • Pages: xii, 308

By: Serpenti, L. M..

Abstract
This book describes salient features of Kimam culture and society, with particular focus on food production, marriage rules, exchange practices, and life-cycles. The emphasis is on how living on a swampy island where much of the land is never completely dry, even during the dry season, affects many aspects of community life. Because suitable patches of higher ground may be separated by vast swamps, each village is autonomous and is divided into two segments operating as partners for exchanging women, food, labor, and additional culturally-defined rights and responsibilities. Economically, each household builds up their own gardens in the surrounding swamp using grass and mud, making them objects not just of intensive labor investment by men but also elaborate community rituals of protection and revitalization.

Topography and geology

Settlement patterns

Community structure

Inter-community relations

Functional and adaptational interpretations

Organized ceremonial

Magic

Prayers and sacrifices

Division of labor by gender

Vegetable production

Arboriculture

Diet