Week 8: Ethnography Project

Abelam Culture

Environment

The Abelam come from the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea, near the Maprik area. They live within the floorplains of the Sepik to the foothills of the Prince Alexander Mountains. The hills are 600-700 meters above sea level. It is tropical and always having a chance of rainfall. There is a slight change in temperature in the seasons,. From December to March there is a northwest monsoon and from May to October southeast monsoon. April and November being the months with the lease rain; as well as, no monsoons. From April to November the temperature is anywhere between 81 to 91 degrees Fahrenheit in the day and 70 to  79 degrees Fahrenheit. The Abelam live in both an urban and rural setting. The ones that live in the Prince Alexander Mountains have more a rural setting, whereas those living in the floodplains are closer to the urbanized city. Living within the plains neighboring the Abelam are the Arapesh. Although they are neighbors, they do not have many problems with resources. The Abelam survive in their environment by cultivating gardens. They plant yams, beans, taro, and others. In the north, they have low fertile slopes and the south they have muddy, rivers and swamps.

Adaptation

A phsyical adaptation of the Abelam is their darker skin and thicker, coarse hair. The Abelam live in a very hot and humid environment. Their darker skin produces more melanin which helps protect the skin from sun rays, allowing them to adapt to heat better. Also, their thick, coarse hair helps keep their scalps cool from the sun.     A cutltural adaptaion for the Abelam is their daily pattern. They abelem sleep about 10 hours of their day, hunt for about 2, and the rest of their day is spent on gardening. I believe this is because they have such a spiritual belief with the yams, so they spend all of their time on them. 

A cultural adapation for the Abelam is their gardening of yams. They spend majority of their time gardening and preparing for there later yam festivals. The Abelam believe yams to be sacred and powerful. The size of a yam tells how much spiritual power one has. Because yams are such sacred, they have certain rules when dealing with yams. During yam season, sex is banned, as well as, conflict and fighting. It seems that during yam season it gives a sense of harmony for the culture.

Language

Name	Written Language?	Population	Language Family	Unique Qualities?	Language Map Reference #
Iatmul	Yes	8, 440	Sepik-Ramu Ndu Family	"a" is a front vowel "â" is a back vowel	155
Manambu	Yes	2, 110	Sepik-Ramu Ndu Family		215
Boiken	Yes	31, 300	Sepik-Ramu Ndu Family	The "p, t, k, & ts" are all voiceless	145






 Gender Roles
       There are only two specific genders in my culture, both male and female. Although there are two specific genders, people such as the girl in "The Blessed Curse" are not looked down upon or thought of differently than any other race. Each gender has specific roles, although they do sometimes help one another and work together. Roles are passed down to children differently based on gender.
      At an early age, children are encouraged to engage in gender specific acts. The girls begin helping their mothers as soon as they are able to. Some of the chores they help with are  food preparation, cooking, and watching smaller children. When girls get their menstrual, they go through a ceremony. They are kept in a menstrual hut, where they do no work and rest. Food and anything else needed is brought to them. Days after, there is a feast prepared for her in honor of her becoming a woman. The boys, however, spend majority of their time with their moms until they begin their coming of age initiation. Males go through a gradual initiation from a few years old up until they are in there 30's. It isn't until they are around 40, where they become initiators themselves and considered a real man. The initiation is a process of seclusion, physical deprivation, beatings, and penis hastings. After each stage is successfully passes, males are honored with special ornaments and srtings which they wear daily. There are also specific names for males that complete these stages: ndur is man, kwinėm bėndu is an unmarried men, and nėmbikar-andu is a recently married man.

     There are specific roles both men and women play in the Abelam culture. Women do majority of the household work including; everyday cooking and taking care of the children. Women take care of the pigs until they are going to be used to eat. They also collect firewood and water for the family. Sewing and weaving string bags is also another job of women. Men do all of the hunting. The also build houses and fences, and cut timber. All arts and crafts (besides string bags) are done by men. They weave masks, carve ritual wooden objects, paint with clay and ochers, and decorate utilitatian objects. Men also make the spears, adzes, and other tools used. There are also specific jobs that can only be done by specific genders. Women plant and harvest taro, greens, bananas, and sugarcane. Men plant and harvest the ceremonial yams "wappi", and the shorter yams "njaambi".
       Although there are specific roles for men and women, they also work together on some jobs also. In gardening, men clear the heavy brush and cut trees while the women cute the small and secondary plants. Men build trellises and make and repair the fences while the women weed and harvest the crops. There are no negative repercussions for either gender helping or doing others' jobs.

Subsistence
Ableam is a horticulture group. They live mostly off of taro and yams. Due to the different parts having different types of soil, these are harvested differently. In the north, they are harvested on hillsides and the south they are in the grasslands. Besides taro and yams, they also feed off of coconuts, sago palms, bananas, pigs, chickens, and a variety of vegetables. Of all the foods, sago palms are seasonal.
     There is a division of labor as men are only allowed to harvest the traditional yams and women are only to harvest the taro. The yams harvested by men are not to be eaten by the men, instead they are used for traditional purposes. Once the yams are harvested men then decorate them and they are used for yam festivals. Among yam harvesting, men also have other chores.
     They cut down the trees and clear land for new gardens and later will fence the gardens. The men then will plant all the yams, after women plant the taro in opening spaces. Weeding of the gardens is done solely by the women. Once yams are growing, the men will then put up sticks for the yams and will later cut the tubers. After this, women will clean up the excessive mess for later gardening.
     The general nutrition of the Abelam is healthy. They get a variety of foods from meat to vegetables to fruit which allows their bodies to not be dependent on any certain food. Yams seem to be the only food that has a big importance on the Abelam but more so due to traditional reason. 
 
 
Economic Systems

Due to the different variations in the soils, both on the hills and down in the floor plains, the Abelam do not produce much of a surplus. However, they do have some natural resources such as, cocoa, BLANNBLANK. Among these resources, yams and pigs are used and traded during yam festivals. The others are used as currency, to pay back debts, or cross trade.


Marriage

Abelam marriages are polygamous and exogamous. Husbands have 2 or more wives, but all majority of marriages are outside of their lineage group. Exogamy marriages are frowned upon. Women and men have the freedom of choosing who they wish to marry. There are two types of marriages, informal and formal.
     Formal marriages are marriages when the man will the woman's family of his interest in marriage. Men will normally tell the family during a woman's menstrual cycle "naramtaakwa". The man will then cook a yam and send that to the woman's family. If the family does not approve of the marriage they will send the yam back. If the woman does not approve the family will eat yam. If the woman and family both approve then the woman will eat the yam, which is a sign of engagement. Months later the couple will marry. The man's family prepares a house for the newlyweds where they stay for a week and rest together. Upon marriage the couple will no longer drink cold water and eat coconut meat due to certain taboos believed. They also plant a garden together and once the plant has harvested all the taboos of foods and drinks will disappear.



Shell rings "yewaa" used as brideprice

     Informal marriages are different types of marriages that are not formal. Some informal marriages are marriages where the woman's parents will arrange a marriage or where the woman will live with the man in hopes that her parents approve their marriage. If two people have a child before marriage then a formal arrangement will be put into order for the child to be apart of the man's life. This formal arrangement is also known as a brideprice. Some typical brideprices given are six to seven shell rings "yėwaa" or they engage in a sister exchange. If there is no brideprice, the child is considered to be apart of the woman's family only.
Cousin marriage is not common in the Abelam culture. However they do engage in brother-sister relationships. Brother-sister relationship are where the wife's husband is either ill or away, her brother will now help her with all the manly chores; or when the husband's wife is away or in the menstrual hut, his sister will do all the womanly chores. Homosexual relationships are uncommon, however they are not frowned up or censored.

    A common village is made up of a hamlet with 2-3 clans/lineages. Clans are said to be patrilineal and consist of a man's with his  brothers and sons and their wives and their children. Some villages do have multiple clans in that are not related. Gardens with multiple plants from marriages are worked on by the brothers and their wives and each family has it's own pot. Women own their own pigs and chickens and work separately from other wives. All women must cook daily, regardless if they are in a polygamous relationship or not.


Kinship
The descent pattern in Abelam culture is a patrilineal system, meaning all family members come from the male's side. Altough women are said to be inferior to men, clans are still open to recruitment from the woman's family, if needed.  Inheritance is also a patrileanal system.  Land and clan ownership is given to the males in the families. A hamlet/village consists of 2-3 clans/lineages; a lineage consists of a man with his brothers and sons and their wives and children. Each family has several houses: sleeping house for the father, a dwelling house for the mother and her children, and one or several storehouses for the root crop. Females members are called iai, males are yai, their sisters are yato, and their wives are tagwa. Within each village, there is a "Big Man" or Nemandu that has authority of the group. A Nemandu is a male and is then passed down through decent, usually to the first born son. In order to become a Nemandu, one must know about rituals and oratorical skills.  The Abelam's kinship system is somewhat similar to that of the Iroquis' cousins system. Cousins are only the children of the mother's sisters and father's brothers. 


Social Organization
The Abelam is generally an egalitarian group; no one is above any one and everyone is for the most part considered equal. Each village has a Nemandu, or Big Man, that is the "leader". Although there is a big man in the village, they are never really put into effect until there is conflict &/or time to vote. In the Abelam, they also believe men to be more superior than women, but women still have their rights and are treated equally.

Political Organization

     There is no political structure for the Abelam. They Nemandu is the only political leader/figure in villages. The Nemandu are the political speakers of the group. Voting is mandatory, so the Nemandu's are the ones that discuss issues and concerns with the local council. Among political control, they also are the conflict resolvers of the group. If there is any conflict among the people, the Nemandu works as a mediator stressing the importance of cooperation and solidarity. Fights are held in a ceremonial way. A group of Nemandu's will watch over the dispute whether it be through fighting, the exchanging of shell rings, or ritual songs.

Role of Violence
One of the biggest forms of violence in the Abelam culture is physical violence towards women. This can be from any man; brother, husband, cousin, etc towards a woman. Beatings towards women, however is not looked at as a punishable act unless it is taken too far. Physical punishment towards women in the Abelam culture is thought to be the same as child "spankings" in our culture. These beatings are looked at as neccesary punishment for these women and men are not punished for them.


Religion
In the Abelam culture, they do not believe in any specific religion. However, they are very serious about rituals. They have ceremonial houses called korambo and ceremonial grounds called amei. They have many rituals for men, women, and festivals. For women, the first part of their menstraul and when they are given shell rings all take place infront of the korambo. Also, during death rituals, the corspe is held in front of the korambo for a night. The Korambo is used to house the spirits before they got to their other world. Men initations are also a big thing in the Abelam culture. Men iniations start from when childhood all the way until the 30/40's. Also, the Abelam spend majority of their time taking care of their yams. Yams are thought to be spiritual. During yam season, the Abelam refrain from sexual activity, conflict, and anything really other than taking care of their yams.

Art
Artwork: Artwork is highly used in the Abelam culture. Painting is the main form of art used. They believe the paint to be magical. Once paint has touched the wood, it becomes powerful and active.  Paint is preferred over other types of art work because it allows them to give more detail and color to their artwork. The function of benefit of  painting is to express spiritual power and show the life of a community through their detailed paintings.

Music: Music in the Abelam is more so used as a religion expression. There are specific songs for initiations, ceremonies, and/or sacred events. Men songs are for their initiation, yam festival, ancestral spirit, and death's ritual. There are also songs that are said to help  nocturnal people.
Performance: The Abelam do many different performances during ceremonies. Like their music, they have dances specifically for each ceremony. Of the ceremonies, Yam Festivals and Male Initiations are the biggest. Colorful costumes and yam mask are worn during performances.  
Religious Art:  All of Abelam art has connection with religion. They use art as a spiritual technique. During male initiations they are taught the secrets of the Abelam religion. They paint faces during these initiations which represent the ancestral spirits. Also the wood carvings given to the new "men" have painted images that express their ancestors. Although their artwork is very detailed and colorful, it is more so used for sacred purposes.
Other: Yam masks are the closest used for religious purposes. Yam is thought to be spiritual and can tell the life of a man. The Abelam men grow yams for at least 6 months where they later use in festivals. Yam Festivals consist of fighting, yam exchanges, and many different ceremonies and performances. Yams used in festivals are as big as 80-90 inches in size. The bigger the yam a male has, they more spiritual power he has. Abelam base majority of their time and life around yams and
preparing for these festivals.

Conclusion/Cultural Change


The Abelam culture has somewhat been affected by the more modern cultures, especially the Western cultures. Western cultures are trying to bring their traditions and stop the Abelam traditions, like their ritutals and iniations. I believe it is some what of a negative impact because this is their culture and what they have been doing forever simply because it works in their culture. Although, Western cultures are trying to stop Abelam traditions, people of the Abelam culture are still trying to keep certain ones.
I believe with the influence of other cultures, it could cause a chance of their culture losing their identity. I feel Western cultures try to come to these cultures, similiar to Abelam, and take over simply because they feel they can and/or  that the culture isn't doing right. I feel the Abelam should continue to keep their traditions, and could incorporate some of the more modern Western culture ways but do not lose their culture.
The Abelam culture does not seem to have a big role in the modern world, as there is not much information on them. However, due to their resources like cocoa, bananas, pigs, sago palms, chickens and variety of vegetables; I believe they will turn into a more market economy. Once more modernized cultures see this surplus of resources, they will begin trying to come in and take these resources.


Works Cited
• Leigh, Caroline. "Abelam Yam Masks and Tops, East Sepik, Papua New Guinea." Art-Pacific.com. Caroline Leigh, 1996. Web. 17 April 2012. <http://www.art-pacific.com/artifacts/nuguinea/yammasko.htm>
• Kortman, Ulrich. "The Abelam." Tribal Art. Ulrich Kortman, 2010. Web. 17, April 2012. <http://ulrichkortmann.com/fiabelam.html>
• "The Abelam."Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender: Men and Women in the World's Culture. Volume 1. 2003. Print.
•  "Papua New Guinea, East Sepik." The World Factbook. CIA. Web. 21 April 2012. <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/pp.html>
• Lewis, M. Paul. "Languages of Papua New Guinea." Ethnogue-Languages of the World. 2009. Web. 21 April 2012. <http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=PG>