Asiwinarong: Ethos, Image, and Social Power Among the Usen Barok of New Ireland.

by Roy Wagner Review by: Alfred Gell Man, New Series, Vol. 22, No. 3 (Sep., 1987), pp. 589-591 Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2802541 . Accessed: 05/04/2012 20:05
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BOOK REVIEWS theuse ofthisanalytical demonstrate device:yet althoughhe makes some rather generalised remarksabout the intersection of thishorizontal division of the communityinto defactoagegrades with the verticaldistinctions between ayllus,he tellsus thatwe must await a future studyfora moreconclusive analysis. One approaches thefinal essayby Isbellthen, hoping thatshe will be able to carryout the clearlydifficult task of pulling together-these ratherdisparatecontributions. One hopes in particularfor some discussion of the relabetweenHighlandand Lowland symtionship bolic processes. But it rapidly becomesapparent thatIsbell's concernis primarily withthe process of metaphoritselfrather than with comparativesociology. Since her essay consistsof only a littlemore thana recasting of her colleagues' ideas in the terminology of Ricoeur, one is leftwith the feelingthatthiscollection of essays does not quite live up to its early promise. University ofCamnbridge
VESPERI, MARIA PAUL HENLEY

$89

D. Cityofgreen benches: growing old in a newdowntown. I62 Pp., 111US., maps, bibliogr. Ithaca, London: Cornell Univ.

This book addresses three audiences: anthropoland people who provide ogists,gerontologists servicesforthe elderly.As an anthropologist, old Vesperltalksabouttheproblemofstudying age in her own culture.Continuity existsbetweenobserverand theobservedwho are 'not ourselvesbut the selves we will become'. But theyouthful observer is distanced fromtheold by terrorat the prospectof ageing. For the in this settingtherecan be no anthropologist 'return home', no departure from thefield.The problemhas producedin gerontology a reluctanceor inability toenter intothesocialworldof old age. This extends to the anthropological literature on ageing,mostof it characterised by a curioussterility. in an area Finding themselves dominated by demandsfordefinitional rigour, and hypothesis-testing, quantification anthroin the ageing processhave pologistsinterested been uncertain how to model their enquiries.A solution hasbeento take'social role'as thepoint of departure and to focusupon retirement as a liminalexperience. But this,thoughan advance on muchof thegerontological literature, has its limitations. is concernedwith the social Vesperi herself construction of old age. She emphasisesthe discrepancy betweencultural definitions (which relyon chronology) and subjective experience. The ontological dilemmaofageinginAmerican is phrased in terms ofwestern society theoretical and philosophical traditions. Vesperldraws on

Press, I985.

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phenomenologyand existentialism with quotations from Schutz and Merleau Ponty, de Beauvoir and Sartre,Pirandello, Berger and Kellner. Under these intellectual influences, Vesperi thecultural construction ofold seeksto discover of daily age wherettunfolds'in the interstices living, in the commonplacesof conversation, and the "informal formalities" of socialHer fieldwork siteis an areaofhigh interaction'. ofelderly in concentration people,St Petersberg Florida. In the downtown neighbourhood73 per cent. of the populationare over 65. The greenbenches whichlinethesidewalks arealternatelysymbolsof leisureand friendliness, and In St Petersberg, that decrepitude. Vesperlfinds social situationsinvolvingold and young are structured by thepowerful youngprofessional. Fascinating case material is used to show how different and an 'agendas' produce frustration to attempt by the old to establishreciprocity, resist age segregation, to defend autonomyand in the to preserveself images. Professionals fieldsof housing, day care and mentalhealth operatewithculturally constructed preconceptions, promptingus to question the kind of 'protection' afforded to theold and needy.Vesindicates a denial,in policyand practice, of pern old people's ongoingengagement withsociety. structure of services, Withinthetraditional old are nonpeople's options for self-definition to freeexistent.In her personalcommitment dom (to defineoneself,to grow, to achieve independenceetc.) Vesperi writes less as an thanas a productof American anthropologist culture. benches is largely Cityof green descriptive, but It is set withina clear theoretical framework. elegantly written, readableand persuasive. The message of cultural constructionmay seem to an anthroposomewhatsimpleand repetitive logical audiencewho might,one imagines,be well aquaintedwith the notionof a dialectical struggle between self-concept and ageThe novelty-and the challenge stereotyping. -for the anthropologist accustomedto conventional textsis thatthisanalysis is couchedin The philothelanguageof western philosophy. in itself.It is interesting sophical framework also offers one solutionto the insider-outsider dilemmaof anthropological 'at home'. research University ofSussex
WAGNER,

DOROTHYJERROME

Roy. Asiwinarong: ethos,image,and social theUsenBarokofNew Irepoweramong land.xxiv,23 8 pp., illus.,bibliogr. Princeton: Univ. Press,I986. ?20.50 The appearanceof a new book by Professor rare event Wagner, while not a particularly -this is his sixth-is one which is bound to

$90

BOOK REVIEWS display of power in the Men's House, where feasts areheld. Here theemphasisis placed on the 'containment'ofpowerin theimageoftheMen's House itself,bounded by stone wall, an energised space. This is elaborately described,as are the meticulousand rigidlystandardised eventsof each particular feast.Feastingis presented as a series of 'images', essentially of partition and re-Joining, corresponding to the dual opposition and mutualinclusionof thesocial moieties whichcome together in thefeast (eachofwhich claimsbothto be thesubstantive origin(Father) of theother,and itsnurturant Mother). Finallywe come to the chapterdevoted to themostimportant mortuary feasts, kindofall. Here three offeast aredialectically types related: 'closed' feasts,in which food moves into the Men's House, 'open' feasts in which food moves out of the Men's House into thepublic domain, and finally the Kaba feast, held in the bush, which symbolically'obviates' the precedingtwo, and makespossibletheemergence is planted of a new orang. A tree(theold orang) upsidedown, rootsin theair:theearth in which thedead are buriedis switched aroundwiththe sunlitworld of theliving;all theold meanings arecancelled. It will be seen thatAsiwinarong is a work of considerable interest; yet,even discounting the effect that comparisonswith other distorting books by Wagnermighthave on one's critical thatreaders judgement,I think mayexperience a certain disappointment. This arises partly fromthe factthatthe basic ethnographic material is not very rich, and partlyfrom the theoretical stancewhichconcentrates on 'cultural meanings'to theexclusionof almosteveryelse. thing For instance, one does nothave to be a fanatic on thesubjectof ethnohistory to recognise that New Irelandsocietiessuch as theBarok cannot be understood without an ethnohistorical thereasonbeingthatthisis a classic dimension, instance ofan ethnographic areain whichcultural elements are tradedfromplace to place, and intra-cultural acquire theirdistinctive meaning in the lightof theirextra-cultural origins.We learn, for instance,thatkey chantsin 'Barok' ritual are in 'a vernacularform of initiatory Tolai', which is very interesting, considering thatto getto theTolai you have to crossthesea; but we learnno more about this,or about any of the numerous other intercultural tradenetworks in theregion.We hear,too, thatthe Barok 'flirted' with the practicesof the Malangan system but not of the nature of this or its outcome. Such incidental flirtation, evidencesuggests that'Barok' culture is notsomethingwhich can be consideredas a local pheto conceptualise it nomenon;it mightbe better as a 'portfolio' of cultuof 'shares'in a selection

especiallyamong cause a stirof anticipation, theory. of cultural and students Melanesianists to Wagner's And thisperhapsis not altogether areso damagadvantage,sinceno comparisons of a book, thanthecoming to the reputation parisonswhichare drawnbetweenit and other that books by thesameauthor.I foresee (better) deserved,of this will be the fate,not entirely be overshadowedby The curse Asiwitnaronig-to and so on, though ofSouw, Habu, Lethalspeech I hope that in so saying I am not making a prophecy. self-fulfilling is a ritualcry chantedat the 'Asiwitiarotig' major mortuaryfeastof the Usen Barok of New Ireland:it expandsto mean south-central big-man)'-those in (ritual 'theneedofan oratng their (barok, need being the Barok themselves means'children').'The people self-designation, leaders,waitonly in their are children, strong ing to be encompassedby the worthyand the culmipowerful'(p. 178). Barok ethnography through nates in the mortuaryinstitutions and redispersed whichpower is accumulated, produced.Indeedthesame can be said of all the institupeoples of New Ireland.The mortuary tionsof theBarok coincideat manypointswith those associatedwith the Malangan systemof funeral exchangesof carvings,which extends northern New Ireland,minus the throughout Malangan carvings themselves.With a sure instinct for the culturally central,Wagnerhas his book to lead one throughthe constructed meanings,to this maze of cultural preliminary core. essential withwhat deal swiftly fourchapters The first would normallybe called social organisation, on 'ethos' buttheemphasis is placedthroughout and Batethanon mechanics.Schneider rather is a flowof contingent son set thetone;culture situations whichelicitresponsesshaped by the of 'malum'(forbearance for ethicalimperatives theother'ssorrow,'purchased'withappropriBarok societycoalesces around ate offerings). groups (moieties, clans) which reciprocate alliances. malum, gifts, The remainingfour chapters explore the and death world,magicalpower,feasting spirit to ritual.Barok notionsaboutpowerarecentral the argumentof the whole book. Power is in cult displays (pidik) and is acmanifested whichambittechnology quiredvia an esoteric ious men striveto master.Sometimespower and a numberof interestdependson trickery, ing passages are devoted to an analysisof the of the paradox thatthe verymeretriciousness cult displayonly increasesthe sense of arcane ofthecultleaders.Thomas Mann went mastery deeply into thisaspectin his story'Mario and to findout the magician'and we are entranced was thattheauthor'sgrandfather (in a footnote) a stage magician, too. The private,esoteric power of the cult adepts feedsinto the public

BOOK REVIEWS ral 'going concerns'in theBismarkArchipelago, not all of which-perhaps none of which on theBarok themselves. But one -are centred cannotpursuethisidea on thebasisofWagner's account which is confined to a singlecommunity perspective which severelylimits theinterpretative possibilities. A secondsourceof disquietformanyreaders will be the treatment given to genderissues, which are describedonly in the most generalised,normative terms, and theglossing-over of violence,sexual passion, sorcery,greed,adultery andsuchlike, i.e. themeaty issuesofreallife as opposed to the formalnicetiesof feastsand disfunerals. Wagnerhas providedmemorable inrelation cussionsofthesematters to hisDaribi research, whichmakesthetext underconsideration seem all the more wishy-washy by comparison.And thisnormative emphasis,I would argue, leads him into a nest of contradictions wheretheorang-thefeast-sponsoring big-men on culture as a -are concerned. Wagner'sstress systemof normativeexpectations,an 'ethos' of everywhichis elicited by thecontingencies day life,obliges him to considerthe orang as a projectionof the same value systemas is emofbehaviour. But itis bodied innon-orang styles clear that traditionally orangwere operators whose dominantposition depended on their to transcend theframework of relative capacity

591

whichconfined the'ordin'ethical'constraints, of permanent 'children' ary'Barok to thestatus or 'boys' ('barok'). To be 'adult'is to cease to be cul'barok'; to entera domain whichis against in itsnurturant and 'ethical' ture. Barok culture aspect is a screen,a play of Platonicshadows; but the dominant actors on the scene were always thosewho knew besthow to lookaway. an ethnograItis unfashionable to complainthat phyis insufficiently 'objective'about a particudetatchedfrom the lar culture,insufficiently texture of meanings whichdominates everyday life and perceptions. But in understanding nothpolitical processesin Melanesiansocieties ing is more essential, and in a sense, less itis atthis ethnocentric-because level,thelevel not of ethosbut of eidos, the algorithmsof converge.But this power,thatwe and theorang an book, whichexplicitly espousestheview that anthropological analysis can dispense with a encourages an attitude sociologicalframework, of anyand every of somnambulistic acceptance of culturein the name of sympathy pretention and understanding. Althoughthereis much to too bland admirehere,the end resultis rather formytaste.
ALFRED GELL

& London School ofEconomics Political Science

Photoset inGreat Britain byRowland Phototypesetting Limited, BurySt Edmunds, Suffolk. Printed andbound inGreat Britain byWilliam Clowes(Beccles) Limited, Beccles andLondon.