Melanesia
The
conditions in life in
Melanesia vary widely and have been little affected by European culture. As such, the Melanesian people have kept
their culture intact and continue to practice their own methods of
growing crops
and performing their own unique rituals. It will be shown in this paper
that
the Melanesians have their own very unique identity that consists of
religious
beliefs, ritual practices, as well as hunting and gathering food for
survival
in harsh climates.
Melanesian Identity
(Adam Normand)
The Melanesian people
have several hundred
languages due to years of local differentiation. The indigenous
societies are
similar because they are all small scale and family ordered. They are
stateless
tribal societies where “sociopolitical exchanges of wealth such as pigs
figure
prominently on occasions such as marriage or death.” (Social Change In
Melanesia, Preface xvii) The discovery of the Melanesian islands by
Europeans
set into motion rapid change for the society. “The nature of this
change is
unique to the region; its cultural heritage and history have set it off
on its
own trajectory; it is not simply repeating the experiences of European
societies.” (Social Change In Melanesia, Preface xviii) Throughout
Melanesia
people have deep regret for the loss of their ancestors customs.” The
colonial processes that caused the indigenous peoples of Melanesia to
become
part of the world economic
system
included the pressures of Christianization and
Westernization. In some areas these forces have operated for more than
a
century. In other areas, however, particularly the interior highlands of
New Guinea, Western penetration came as late as the 1930s or, in some
places,
the 1950s. By the early 21st century, even the most remote regions had
become
accessible, and they have been transformed. Squatter settlements on
urban
peripheries abound, and migration into towns is increasingly common,
with both
phenomena serving to link village and urban life.” (Britannica Online)“The documentation of
their cultures is not a
misplaced emphasis or a romantic gesture harking back to some primitive
past,
but something that can be of crucial importance in their search for
cultural
identity in a rapidly changing world.” (Social Change In Melanesia,
Preface
xviii) It’s estimated that the first human beings arrived in Melanesia
over
50,000 years ago. The came from South East Asia during the Pleistocene
era.
Some writers tried to divide the Melanesian people into different
racial
categories corresponding with which prehistoric migration wave they
belong to
but this doesn’t matter because the society is so interbred. “Race as
cultural
difference or ethnicity is, however, relevant to understanding the
region,
having recently emerged as an issue with the outside worlds intrusion.”
(Social
Change In Melanesia, Preface xix) The developments brought on by
capitalist
industries in Melanesia are said to be turning the Melanesian people
from
tribes’ people to peasants. “What this change of status implies is that
where
previously there was an egalitarian society, a hierarchical one is now
emerging.” (Social Change in Melanesia, Pg. 110)“Among the new elite,
cultural nationalist ideologies have tended to focus on traditional
customs (kastom)
and “the Melanesian way.” Cultural revivalism has become a prominent
theme. Art
festivals, cultural centres, and ideologies of kastom have cast
in a
more positive light the traditional cultural elements, such as ceremonial
exchange,
dance and music, and oral
traditions, that had long been
suppressed by the more
conservative and evangelistic forms of Christianity. The emphasis on
traditional culture as a source of identity finds expression in the
perpetuation or revival of old systems of exchange. In Papua New
Guinea, the Kula exchange of shell
armbands and necklaces continues
in the Massim region (in southeastern Papua New Guinea), carried on by air
travel
and among politicians, professionals, and public
servants, as well as by villagers in canoes. Members of the new elite
still
conspicuously pay bride
wealth
in shell valuables.” (Britannica Online)
Subsistence
(DavidTurner)
The
Melanesians use both the earth to grow their food as well as the
animals for
meat.
Gardening
is the main method of
subsistence by Melanesians. Instead of using fertilizer they use
magical
practices which are meant to produce the same result. The two most
important
plants that are used are yams and taro. Bananas and plantains are also
grown in
mountain areas where yams and taro can not grow; the bananas are picked
unripe
and cooked. Sweet potatoes are generally used as a secondary crop.
Meat
is
also used by the Melanesians. Fishing is used by coastal peoples by way
of
spears and basketry traps. This is however, only a added addition to
their diet
and not a main source.
Land
game also serves as a source
of food, but is generally scarce. Pigs, wallaby, rats, lizards, and
birds are
all hunted when possible. The game is caught by way of traps of
different kinds
depending on the type of animal.
Religion
and Magic (David Turner)
Religion
and Magic are very important to the Melanesians. With regards to
spirits, the
Melanesians believe that they share their world with two kinds, the
ghosts of
the dead and the ones that have yet to inhabit a human body. There is
no real
belief of a creator. Mana is the basis of their religious belief and is
a
supernatural power that can be controlled. Magic and mana are connected
in that
people use mana to do magic. Mana usually resides in things that are
unusually
formed, or spirits. It is mana that is believed to be the reason for
success
regarding anything from crops to the quality of a canoe.
The
Melanesians also have been known to engage in cannibalism. This is
because
cannibalism is generally thought to be dangerous by the Melanesians due
to the
release of mana. It still however, occurs from time to time, and
especially by
the chiefs on ceremonial occasions.
Magic
is general in that it is
either white or black . White magic is for promoting good crops,
fishing, and
healing the sick, whereas black magic is used to harm or kill private
enemies.
Black magic is used by sorcerers which are greatly feared and usually
have to
be killed.
Initiation (Nikkia Noiles)
Geography (Michelle Johnson)
Melanesia
is an area of
grouped islands in the Pacific Ocean with more than 7 million
inhabitants, and
includes such islands as West Papua (Indonesia), Papua New Guinea,
Solomon
Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Fiji (Blij, Muller: 2004 p557).
The human
mosaic here is complex ethnically and culturally because there are more
than
700 communities speaking different languages (Blij, Muller: 2004 p558).
Birth
Rites (Michelle Johnson)
Since Melanesia consists of many different islands and
cultures it means that culturally birth rites vary. In Melanesia,
conception
beliefs are that the child is “further coagulated and males blood”
(Ulijaszek:
2006 p176), and that the baby is dried into a firm and formal being,
both
inside the mother and by the application of hot leaves after birth. The
mother
gives birth in seclusion in a house or hut (this varies depending on
community), accompanied only by mothers already ‘initiated’ by
child-birth
(Ulijaszek: 2006 p177). The father waits either outside the house or
hut or in
town with other males. The mother and child stay hidden together for
four days
after the birth, then emerge from the house or hut. At this time the
baby’s
pigment has not spread and their skin is white. In this state, the
child is
seen as “analogous to the white-shell-money lalamar effigy
taken into
obscurity by the tubuan (‘dead
mother‘)”(Ulijaszek: 2006 p177). Lalamar is used in mortuary
rituals as
well as in healing practices as substitutes for sick children, into
which an
illness-causing spirit may be lured. Like the lalamar, the child is the
body
that hosts a spirit. Their spirit, talngan, is the life and
consciousness of the child, and was previously another person. It is
expected
that the particular deceased will be recognized from the face of the
child, or
that the child himself will announce or exhibit who they are. This
attribution
creates bonds between the child and the family and friends of the dead
person
(Ulijaszek: 2006 p.177).
The naming of a firstborn requires a ceremony, which is
attended by all relatives (Langness, Weschler:1971 p179). The father’s
father
or the senior uncle, or the father himself if these are dead, repeats
the names
of the ancestors, and, when the one chosen is reached the assembled
people call
out loudly, “yes, the child shall be called such-and-such” (Langness,
Weschler:1971 p179). The man in charge of the arrangements then breaks
a young
coconut open and takes a mouthful of the liquid, which he also spits
out in a
fine spray over those present.
Other ceremonies are sometimes held, depending on the
culture. Some communities or tribes have ceremonies where magic is
performed to
fend away evil spirits who linger after or during birth, and to protect
the
child from spirits as well. Some cultures wait until the full moon to
reveal
their baby to the community, as this is said to symbolize new beginning.
It has been shown that the Melanesian people are a
diverse and complex culture with their own set of beliefs. It is clear
that
their beliefs regarding religion, and its connections to magic is very
different from North American’s beliefs. Over time however, it has also
been
shown that due to Western cultures the Melanesians have been losing
their
identity and culture over time, and it will only be a matter of time
before
their culture is nothing more than a memory and a few lines of text in
a book.
Pictures
Map
of Melanesia
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Melanesia-map.JPG
Melanesian
Art
http://tours.daytonartinstitute.org/accessart/images/9.jpg
http://www.tribal-art-fair.nl/TAF_images/marind%20schild%20taf.jpg
http://images.encarta.msn.com/xrefmedia/sharemed/targets/images/pho/0018a/0018a7ba.jpg
Melanesian
People
http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/content/images/2005/07/08/melanesian_mission_203x152.jpg
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0ewG2jebyugNm/610x.jpg
http://www.adventureassociates.com/media/melanesia/UreparaparaIsland.jpg
Bibliography
Cranstone,
B.A.L. Melanesia: A Short
Ethnography. London: British Museum, 1961. Print.
H. J.
De Blij, P. O. Muller. (2004)
Geography: Realms, Regions and Concepts. J. Wiley & Sons.
L. L.
Langness, J. C. Wechsler .(1971)
Melanesia: Readings on a Culture Area. Chandler
Publishing
Company.
“Melanesian Culture.” Britannica
Online. 2009. 20 May 2009
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/
373679/Melanesia>.
Sillitoe,
Paul. Social Change in Melanesia: Developement and History.
Cambridge:
Cambridge
University Press, 2000.
S. J.
Ulijaszek. (2006) Population,
Reproduction and Fertility in Melanesia. Berghahn Books.