Book

Wage, trade, and exchange in Melanesia: a Manus society in the modern state

University of California PressBerkeleyPublished In 1989 • Pages: xvii, 257

By: Carrier, James G., Carrier, Achsah H..

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Ponam is a small island off the north coast of Manus Island, Papua, New Guinea. In the late 1970s, the inhabitants of this island found a relatively prosperous economic niche for themselves, in contrast to the standards of many villages in Papua, New Guinea, based on the ability of the islanders to do well in school and use their educational credentials to get well-paying off-island jobs, primarily with the civil service. As the result of these jobs the migrants were able to send enough money home to their families so that the island residents were able to buy both the necessities and a number of the minor luxuries of life (p. xi). Despite their improved standards of living, many aspects of life on the island remained relatively unchanged, such as fishing, marketing, and ceremonial exchange, primarily in the form of gifts to mark the stages of marriage, birth, death, and a host of other less momentous occasions. All of the above aspects of Ponam ethnography are examined in great detail in this monograph.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Theoretical orientation in research and its results
Acculturation and culture contact
Sociocultural trends
Fishing
Real property
Gift giving
Internal trade
Retail marketing
Kin relationships
Lineages
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Manus
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2005
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
Book
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
John Beierle ; 2004
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1978-1986
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
ca. 1870-1980s
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Ponam Island, Manus Province, Papua New Guinea
NotesAdditional notes
James G. Carrier and Achsah H. Carrier
Includes bibliographical references (p. 247-253) and Index
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
88015576
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Manus (Papua New Guinea people)