Confession, Anger and Cross-Cultural Articulation in Papua New Guinea

Tracing the Melanesian Person: Emotions and Relationships in Lihir

“…This, for me, raises issues about the application of personality characterisations in Lihir, particularly given the recent literature on 'relational persons' in Melanesia, who are defined by their relations rather than any inherent qualities (Strathern 1988). It also raises questions about Melanesian theory of mind as discussed in a 2008 section of Anthropological Quarterly (for example, Keane 2008;Rumsey 2008;Schieffelin 2008). I evaluate these constructions of Melanesian sociality in the Lihir context throughout this work, with the aim of taking seriously the relationships between emotions and personhood.…”

“…It seems that Papua New Guineans see repressed or concealed anger as problematic, rather than expressed anger (see, for example, Rumsey 2008;Robbins 2004). Unlike the case argued by Briggs for the Utku Eskimos (1970), or by Belaunde (2000) for the Airo-Pai of Peru, Lihirians often perceive anger as justifiable and very rarely view lil tua by itself as amoral or depersonalising.…”

“…If hidden, lil wirwir can cause illness, and in one case on Mahur was said to be the basis for a healthy young woman's death (see the case of ung kis or 'bad talk' for the Ku Waru in the Western Highlands, Rumsey 2008). Friends are important in relation to lil wirwir because if a person is reluctant to express their worry or grief, a friend will notice the behavioural cues and will ask about the reasons for this, allowing the expression of this dangerous lil wirwir.…”

Intersubjectivity, deception and the ‘opacity of other minds’: Perspectives from Highland New Guinea and beyond

“…One of the areas of apparent difference that has been much discussed in recent anthropological publications, including most of the articles in the present collection, concerns what Robbins and Rumsey (2008) have called the doctrine of the 'opacity of other minds' -the widely attested claim from various locales around the world that one can never really know what other people are thinking -and associated forms of practice that seem to show an adherence to this idea. In a previous publication (Rumsey, 2008), I discussed the forms that this idea takes among the Ku Waru people of highland Papua New Guinea (PNG). I showed that notwithstanding their espousal of it in some contexts, it is inconsistent with things they espouse and do in others.…”

Mana, Power and ‘Pawa’ in the Pacific and Beyond

“…that was initiated by the women's battlefield intervention ended in 2005 when fighting broke out over a poisoning accusation. The details are too complex to go into here (see Rumsey 2009); suffice it to say that the men who were held responsible for the poisoning were from Tilka, a small tribe whose territory was adjacent to that of the Kopia tribe, to which the victims of the alleged poisoning belonged. In 2005 the Kopia and some of their allies invaded Tilka territory, drove them away from it and burned all the houses at the main Tilka settlement.…”