Abstracts des Workshops auf der Tagung der DGV in Frankfurt a.M. (30.09.-01.10.2009)

Dickhardt, Michael: Stories about ‘Good and Evil’? Moral Discourses among the Qaqet-Baining (East New Britain, PNG)

The so called ‘problem of evil’ played a crucial role in the development of Western ethical and moral thinking. Conceptualized as a radical and exclusive opposition of ‘good and evil’ it has been a powerful instrument of ethical and moral evaluation and motivation. (...)

Heinzmann, Lena: Religious Change among the Central Ok Groups: A Regional Study

In contemporary ethnographies, people in Mountain Ok region are often described as leading lives highly permeated by Christian rituals and beliefs (e.g. Robbins 2004, Lohmann 2000). The region is well-known in anthropology for its elaborate pre-contact ritual system greatly varying in details among different places. (...)
 

Oceanian studies along with historical work done in the early 1980s provided the impulse for a radically new understanding of tradition. Since then, the merits of conceptualising tradition as an invention or, in other words, construction have been much debated. (...)

Hess, Sabine: Dividual Places on Vanua Lava, Vanuatu

This paper approaches the concept of place through the lense of Marylin Strathern’s notion of the dividual. If Melanesian persons can be described as dividuals, and if land is as crucial to a persons identity as literature on Melanesia suggests, then do not places also have this dividual quality? (...)

Husmann, Rolf: Old Films - New Use: Gerd Koch's Ethnographic Film Documentation on the Gilbert Islands Returns to Kiribati. A work-in-progress report

In den frühen 1960er Jahren wurden von Gerd Koch mit Unterstützung des Göttinger „Instituts für den Wissenschaftlichen Film“ (IWF) 16mm-Filmaufnahmen auf den Gilbert-Inseln, dem heutigen Kiribati, gemacht, die anschließend zu insgesamt ca. 70 ethnographischen Filmen geschnitten wurden (...)

Kästner, Sibylle: Hunting Gatherers and Gathering Hunters: Results of a study concerning the procurement of animal food by Australian Aboriginal women

In anthropological literature Australian Aborigines are stereotypically classified as hunter-gatherers: whereas men are categorised as big game hunters, women are primarily seen as plant gatherers, who at times catch small game by chance. (...)

Kempf, Wolfgang: A Sea of Environmental Refugees? Oceania in an Age of Climate Change

The forecast effects of anthropogenic climate change will transform Oceania profoundly in coming decades. Especially the interplay of such factors as extreme weather events, impairments to water resources and food security, and a rising sea-level, (...)

Kühling, Susanne: Appropriating Modern Terms: Powerful Words and ‘Expensive’ Language (Dobu, Papua New Guinea)

This paper argues that names for gifts are a useful vantage point to study the dynamics of change. Beginning with examples of today's exchanges, it looks at the social value of terms for exchanges on Dobu Island, Papua New Guinea. (...)

Loch, Alexander: Fremdgehen mit Linguisten: Triangular appropriation at the edge of Oceania
(Westpapua, Indonesia)

Das von der Volkswagenstiftung substantiell geförderte Programm „Dokumentation bedrohter Sprachen“ (DoBeS) bietet seit einigen Jahren Ethnologen eine ausserordentlich reizvolle Möglichkeit, mit Linguisten zusammen zu tun, was die eigene Disziplin schon immer tat: (...)

Moutu, Andrew: Appropriation With and Without Ownership

The Iatmul people of Papua New Guinea are renowned for their prolific art forms including architecture, sculpture and body modification. Their naven ceremonial was canonised as an ethnographic staple when it was introduced into anthropology. (...)

Neuhaus, Juliane: The magistrate a trickster? Cultural appropriation in Papua New Guinea

My research on legal pluralism in Papua New Guinea (PNG) deals with the local practice of dispute resolution in different Wampar-villages in Markham Valley. There are different fora of dispute resolution available at the local level, based on state and non-state law. (...)

Pascht, Arno: Report about a fieldwork training for students of the University of Cologne in Rarotonga (Cook Islands)

In August and September 2009 six students of social anthropology stay for nine weeks in Rarotonga in order to do a fieldwork training which is part of the ‚Ethnologie‘ master program in Cologne. It is intended that the students will use the results of their research for their final thesis. (...)

Poser, Alexis von: The Kayan Calendar: A Religio-Spatial Phenomenon (Papua New Guinea)

In my presentation, I shall give an overview over the calendar system among the Kayan, a group living at the North coast of Papua New Guinea. Their ‘traditional’ calendar had far-reaching implications not only on the temporal structuring of daily life but also on many religious aspects and even on the settlement structure. (...)

Poser, Anita von: 'Watching Others and Being Watched': Bosmun Notions of Empathy (Papua New Guinea)

In my paper, I wish to present notions of empathy among the Bosmun of Northeast Papua New Guinea and how they connect to food-based action. In my doctoral thesis, I have argued that Bosmun foodways are “enactments of emotion” (Battaglia 1990) and thus also part of empathic processes. (...)

Schieder, Dominik: Quo Vadis Fiji: A Study of the Coup Culture in a Pacific Island State

During the last two decades, the multi-ethnic and multi-cultural state of Fiji has witnessed three military coups and one civilian takeover, as well as constitutional crises and military mutinies. As a result of these events, it has become common among scholars and laymen alike (...)

Solyga, Alexander: The prostitution of the tubuan and a cultural death

In June 2006, a conflict over the public appearence of the tubuan arose in East New Britain, Papua New Guinea. Two tubuans had travelled to Port Moresby to dance for VIPs attending a conference of the European Union. The tubuan is a masked ritual figure from a secret male society, (...)