Title: The sorrow of the lonely and the burning of the dancers /
Authors: Schieffelin, Edward L.
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan,
Year: 2005
Subjects: Kaluli (Papua New Guinean people) Rites and ceremonies.; Kaluli (Papua New Guinean people); Bosavi (Papua New Guinean people); Ethnology Papua New Guinea; SOCIAL SCIENCE Anthropology Cultural.; SOCIAL SCIENCE Discrimination & Race Relations.; SOCIAL SCIENCE Minority Studies.; Social & cultural history.; Sociology: customs & traditions.; Indigenous peoples.; History.; Bosavi (Papua New Guinean people); Ethnology
Abstract: This classic ethnography, now in second edition, describes the traditional way of life of the Kaluli, a tropical forest people of Papua New Guinea. The book takes as its focus the nostalgic and violent Gisaro ceremony, one of the most remarkable performances in the anthropological literature. Tracking the major symbolic and emotional themes of the ceremony to their sources in everyday Kaluli life, Schieffelin shows how the central values and passions of Kaluli experience are governed by the basic forms of social reciprocity. However, Gisaro also reveals that social reciprocity is not limited to the dynamics of transaction, obligation, and alliance. It emerges, rather, as a mode of symbolic action and performative form, embodying a cultural scenario which shapes Kaluli emotional experience and moral sensibility and permeates their understanding of the human condition.
Contents: Kaluli Pronunciation -- Introduction -- Ceremonies and Reciprocity -- In the Shadow of the Mountain -- I'm Sorry, Brother, I Don't Eat That -- Organizing Actions: Those at the House and Those Who Came -- The Unseen World and the Opposition Scenario -- Assertion and Appeal -- Anger, Reciprocity, and the Rhythms of Experience -- The Perception of a Human Condition -- Ceremonial Occasions and Preparations -- The Gisaro -- Gisaro and the Opposition Scenario -- Appendix: Dances and Ceremonies Performed by Bosavi Peole.