Published: self published (?)
Major themes/concepts:
Life is clan-centered
- Tribe first, self/others later
- leads to corruption in govt and business
- resources should be used to help tribe
- A gives B a gift. B now owes A one, A can ask for it
- No giving vs selling, all trade
- Share the wealth (means lots of people owe you)
- Pols spread money/projects for votes.
- A injures B, B can extract revenge from A
- Modern courts confuse this, causing problems with law/order
- Friends will pay back/give gifts
- Males stay and give to tribe
- Females give to another tribe
- Males -> Gardener, Females -> Garden
- Homosexuality is rare/non-existant
- Sex not mentioned, marriage a way of "sharing the wealth" and making someone owe you
- Big Man has a lot of people who owe them
- Happens in Politics lots
- Pols switch sides as it suits them
- Polygamy -> lots of people, children, also allies with wives' tribes
- Time is neither linear nor cyclic
- Series of "nows"
- "Do you have a headache" will be answered in the affirmative if they have -ever- had a headache
- Tok Pisin does not have true tenses
- Little planning for future (food always available, no need)
- Some remembering of past
- Live in now
- Life abundant
- no spirit/physical duality
- Appease spirits to right physical issues
- All power should produce
- Less stress on religious doctrine, more on what it does for the adherent
- pragmatic life view
- no need for future planning (food available year round)
- Similar to Shinto beliefs
- Dead influence physical
- need appeased via sacrifice
- blood sacrifices have become rare
- no traditional heaven/hell analogue
- Polyreligous tendancies
- "Cover all bases"
- Like to feast
- No indiginous methods of food storing
- Rather, when abundant, share with everyone. Then they owe you
Lots of debts in their community. I think I'd be confused by it... I know how hard it was to keep track of who owed whom for pizza money during gaming sessions!
ReplyDelete