Palauan society: a study of contemporary native life in the Palau Islands

Barnett, H. G. (Homer Garner)

Book

Palauan society: a study of contemporary native life in the Palau Islands

University of Oregon Publications • (20) • Published In 1949 • Pages: 5, 223

By: Barnett, H. G. (Homer Garner).

Abstract
This report is the result of nine months' fieldwork in Belau from the end of August 1947 to May 1948. During this period the author and an associate lived in the village of Ulimang in Ngarard District on Babeldaob Island. Unless stated otherwise most of the descriptive ethnography presented here is relevant only to the people of Ngarard, and then only to the end of the 1940s. Topics covered in this source are food and food production, work patterns, kinship, Belauan money, wealth manipulation to achieve status, life cycle events, social and political stratification in the society, and religion. Status and status manipulation through the use of 'valuables' or money and kin relationships are dominant themes in this work. History, although not dealt with extensively, is discussed from the standpoint of subsequent German, Japanese and American administrations and their effect in producing culture change in the society.

Community structure

Settlement patterns

Diet

Status, role, and prestige

Accumulation of wealth

Manipulative mobility

Cereal agriculture

Production and supply

Labor and leisure

Boats

External trade

Individual enterprise