Book
Life in Lesu: the study of a Melanesian Society in New Ireland
W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. • New York • Published In 1933 • Pages:
By: Powdermaker, Hortense.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This source is a basic ethnographic study of the village of Lesu on the island of New Ireland. The emphasis in the study is on social organization and non-material culture. Included are discussions of social organization, infancy, childhood, initiation rites, marriage, work, sexual life, knowledge, magic and religion, and the individual and society. Additional information on magic not included in the text, a table of intermarriages between clans, and a glossary are given in appendices.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Functional and adaptational interpretations
- Settlement patterns
- Status, role, and prestige
- Medium of exchange
- Exchange transactions
- Daily routine
- Highways and bridges
- Division of labor by gender
- Sleeping
- Domesticated animals
- Rule of descent
- Kin relationships
- Clans
- Residence
- Mythology
- Regulation of marriage
- Dwellings
- Ingroup antagonisms
- Local officials
- External relations
- Techniques of socialization
- Magic
- Childhood activities
- General sex restrictions
- Puberty and initiation
- Sacred objects and places
- Tillage
- Vegetable production
- Fishing
- Sexual stimulation
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Lesu
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2012
- 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
- Timothy J. O'Leary ; 1961
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1929-1930
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1920-1933
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Lesu, New Ireland, Papua New Guinea
- NotesAdditional notes
- Hortense Powdermaker. Foreword by Dr. Clark Wissler
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 33018372
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- New Ireland Province (Papua New Guinea)
- Ethnology--Papua New Guinea--New Ireland
- Lesu, New Ireland (Papua New Guinea)