Trobriand Cricket: an Ingenious Response to Colonialism
odd: label: General
content: HSFA 1988.11.1
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Leach, Jerry W. (Jerry Wayne)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Jerry Leach Trobriand films
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 2 Film reels (color sound; 1908 feet, 16mm)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1974
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Human Studies Film Archives
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Film reels
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Edited film depicting the ways in which Trobriand Islanders have adapted the British game of cricket. This Trobriand parody of a European sport is shown to be not only a substitute for traditional warfare but a complex commentary on colonial contact and missionization, native sexuality, and intervillage political relations. Played only during the harvest period, sponsorship of a "cricket season" by an ambitious individual at the head of a village is one means by which a man may build a political reputation. In this regard, competitions are embedded in traditional obligatory competitive exchanges known as kayasa. Footage includes: teams in ceremonial regalia taking the field in stylized dance formations, cricket bats being treated with magic, discussion of the innovative cultural symbolism behind different dance formations, and the post-game exchange of prestige foods by competing villages.