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Claiming Culture: New Definitions and Ownership of Cultural Practices in Manus Province, Papua New Guinea

Claiming Culture: New Definitions and Ownership of Cultural Practices in Manus Province, Papua... In the past in Manus Province, Papua New Guinea, specialised practices, such as the construction of canoes or traditional slit-drums (garamuts), were the property of patrilineal descent groups. Today, processes of objectification of traditions have generated new cultural identifications and redefined the ways skills are perceived as resources and can be claimed as property. The present article traces contemporary developments of notions of tradition and culture in Manus and discusses these in the light of empirical material obtained in connection with the preparations for an ethnographic exhibition on Manus. The argument is that cultural practices classified as kastam are part of local interpretations of cultural differences in ways that seem contingent with precolonial ‘cultural totemism’ but, as knowledge, cultural practices can also be transacted. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology Taylor & Francis

Claiming Culture: New Definitions and Ownership of Cultural Practices in Manus Province, Papua New Guinea

Dalsgaard, Steffen
The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology , Volume 10 (1): 13 – Mar 1, 2009
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13 pages

Claiming Culture: New Definitions and Ownership of Cultural Practices in Manus Province, Papua New Guinea

Abstract

In the past in Manus Province, Papua New Guinea, specialised practices, such as the construction of canoes or traditional slit-drums (garamuts), were the property of patrilineal descent groups. Today, processes of objectification of traditions have generated new cultural identifications and redefined the ways skills are perceived as resources and can be claimed as property. The present article traces contemporary developments of notions of tradition and culture in Manus and discusses these...
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Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
Copyright The Australian National University
ISSN
1740-9314
eISSN
1444-2213
DOI
10.1080/14442210802706889
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

In the past in Manus Province, Papua New Guinea, specialised practices, such as the construction of canoes or traditional slit-drums (garamuts), were the property of patrilineal descent groups. Today, processes of objectification of traditions have generated new cultural identifications and redefined the ways skills are perceived as resources and can be claimed as property. The present article traces contemporary developments of notions of tradition and culture in Manus and discusses these in the light of empirical material obtained in connection with the preparations for an ethnographic exhibition on Manus. The argument is that cultural practices classified as kastam are part of local interpretations of cultural differences in ways that seem contingent with precolonial ‘cultural totemism’ but, as knowledge, cultural practices can also be transacted.

Journal

The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology – Taylor & Francis

Published: Mar 1, 2009

Keywords: Ownership; Culture; Cultural Heritage; Kastam; Objectification of Tradition; Knowledge

References

  • ‘Kastom and nation-building in the south Pacific’
  • ‘Reinventing traditional culture: The politics of kastom in Island Melanesia’
  • ‘Custom: The limits of reciprocity in village redevelopment’
  • ‘Self-evident chiefs: Transactions of chiefly inheritance and agency among North Mekeo (PNG)’
  • ‘Inventing traditions and remembering the past in Manus’
  • ‘Disentangling traditions: Culture, agency and power’
  • ‘Die Boote von Manus. Ein Exkurs zum Kulturwandel’
  • ‘Cultural totemism: Ethnic identity primitive and modern’