article
Powdermaker's Lesu
Journal of anthropological research • 47 • Published In 1991 • Pages: 377-387
By: Rosman, Abraham, Rubel, Paula G..
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This article looks back at Hortense Powerdermaker's study of Lesu villagers in 1929-1930 from the perspective of anthropology in 1980s. It shows that Powerdermaker's study was done while she was carrying out during the highdays of functionalism and as such reflects the strengths and weaknesses of this approach. She treated Lesu society as though it was a bounded community unrelated to a wider context. The article uses Powdermaker's own ethnographic data to argue that Lesu was a village within a region that has a particular colonial history.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Cultural identity and pride
- Linguistic identification
- Community structure
- Inter-community relations
- Exchange transactions
- Inter-community relations
- Inter-ethnic relations
- Organized ceremonial
- Ethnic stratification
- External relations
- External trade
- Labor supply and employment
- Religious experience
- Missions
- Basis of marriage
- Puberty and initiation
- 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
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Anthropologist
- 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
- Teferi Abate Adem; 2011
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1987
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1880-1987
- 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
- Abraham Rosman and Paula G. Rubel
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 387)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 73645054
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- New Ireland Province (Papua New Guinea)
- Ethnology--Papua New Guinea--New Ireland
- Lesu, New Ireland (Papua New Guinea)