Lesu

expand_more Description

Lesu is the name of a village in the Notsi-speaking area of New Ireland, an island province of Papua New Guinea. The Lesu are one of the nine main indigenous ethnolinguistic groups in the island. Other groups include the Nokon, Mandak, Usen Barok, Nusu, and Lavongai. There is no social cohesion among these groups and, prior to European dominance, various groups as well as villages within groups, were often at war with one another. Contact between villages is confined mainly to joint attendance at ceremonies. There is no apparent name for the people speaking the same language, so Lesu is used as the “culture name.” The Lesu practice slash-and-burn horticulture, supplemented by fishing and hunting.

Identifier

Region

• Oceania

Subregion

• Melanesia

Subsistence Type

• other subsistence combinations

Samples

• EA
• SCCS

Countries

• Papua New Guinea

External Links

• Lesu (Ethnographic Atlas) D-PLACE
• Lesu (Standard Cross-Cultural Sample) D-PLACE