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.
Abstract
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.
- Subjects
- 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
- culture
- Lesu
- HRAF PubDate
- 2012
- Region
- Oceania
- Sub Region
- Melanesia
- Document Type
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator Type
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- Analyst
- Timothy J. O'Leary ; 1961
- Field Date
- 1929-1930
- Coverage Date
- 1920-1933
- Coverage Place
- Lesu, New Ireland, Papua New Guinea
- Notes
- Hortense Powdermaker. Foreword by Dr. Clark Wissler
- LCCN
- 33018372
- LCSH
- New Ireland Province (Papua New Guinea)
- Ethnology--Papua New Guinea--New Ireland
- Lesu, New Ireland (Papua New Guinea)