Dobu: Ethics of Exchange on a Massim Island, Papua New Guinea

Focusing on exchange and its underlying ethics, this book explores the concept of the person in the Dobu world view. It examines major aspects of exchange such as labour, mutual support, apologetic gifts, revenge and punishment, kula exchange, and mortuary gifts. It discusses in detail the characteristics of small gifts (such as betel nuts), big gifts (kula valuables, pigs, and large yams) and money as they appear in exchange contexts. The ethnography begins with an analysis of the construct of the Dobu person, and sets out to examine everyday practices and values. The belief system (incorporating witches, sorcerers, and a Christian God) is shown to have a powerful influence on individual conduct due to its panoptic character. The institutions that link Dobu with the outside world are examined in terms of the ideology concerning money: the Church receives offerings for God; the difficulties faced by trade-store owners evince conflicting notions concerning monetary wealth. The last two chapters delve into lived experience in two major domains of Dobu exchange. Kula is presented in the narrative of the journey to Duau, exploring the knowledge that matters for kula traders and experiential sensations that are a motivational factor for engaging in kula. The final chapter, based on the narrative of a sagali feast, examines the ideology of fatherhood in the light of Dobu concepts of love and duty--Publisher's blurb.