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The exchange of important commodities like fish, sago, and pots between communities speaking dozens of different languages was not a focus of anthropological research in Papua New Guinea until the 1990s. This book explores how more than 100 communities who speak nearly fifty languages from five unrelated language phyla interact by developing persistent relations known as “hereditary friendship.” These relations provide everyone along the coast with fish, sago, and earthenware pots as well as many other useful commodities. By minimizing hostilities between and among different groups without invoking marriage, which is so important elsewhere in Papua, friendship relations brought harmony, peace, and basic commodities.
“This book is a strong contribution to the literature. Very few studies of “friendship,” ... bind together regional networks of small societies, in a region of great linguistic diversity, have ever been undertaken.” • Richard Scaglion, University of Pittsburgh
Robert L. Welsch is now retired from teaching anthropology at Franklin Pierce University and Dartmouth College and was formerly affiliated with The Field Museum in Chicago. In addition to conducting extensive field research in Papua New Guinea, he is co-author of a series of textbooks with Oxford University Press. His most recent publication is Anthropology: Asking Questions About Human Origins, Diversity, and Culture (OUP, 2024).
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Preface
Introduction: New Approaches to Understanding Traditional Economic Activity
Chapter 1. Exploring Historic Relationships Along the North Coast of New Guinea
Chapter 2. Linguistic Diversity Along the North Coast of New Guinea
Chapter 3. Is Material Culture Variation Correlated with Language Affiliation?
Chapter 4. Studying Friendship Networks Along the North Coast
Chapter 5. How Friendship Functioned Along the North Coast: Trying to Make Sense of These Long-Term Relationships
Chapter 6. The Nature of Friendship Along the North Coast: What Holds These Relationships Together from One Generation to the Next?
Conclusion: Exploring the Impact of the Tsunami of 1998 on Friendship Networks Around Aitape
Epilogue
References
Index