IDNO

N.132119.MST

Description

On Strathern's listing: The bride, Tipuka Kengeke Rəngi (note white face ‘paint’). She is wearing a pearlshell kin mapa.

Place

Oceania Melanesia; Papua New Guinea; Western Highlands Province; Mope; Pitim; Kawelka Membo country

Cultural Affliation

Kawelka Membo; Tipuka Kengeke; Kawelka Membo Oyambo

Named Person

Tipuka Kengeke Rəngi; Kawelka Membo Oyambo Əndipi

Photographer

Strathern, Marilyn (later Prof., Dame)

Collector / Expedition

Date

9 June 1964

Collection Name

Strathern Collection

Source

Strathern, Marilyn (Prof., Dame)

Format

Film Negative Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

N.132116.MST - N.132115.MST were identified by Marilyn Strathern as Set 10.

Named Person: "Rəngi (wife of Kngal), Tipuka Kengeke W." [Information provided by Marilyn Strathern on 'List of Personal Names', JD 12/7/2016]

Named Person: "Kngal (son of Membo Əndipi’s sister and a Tipuka Kitepi man; lived with Əndipi and his wife Ndip; Ndip is Kngal's adopted mother; husband of Rəngi) Kawelka "Membo" M." [Information provided by Marilyn Strathern on 'List of Personal Names', JD 17/11/2016; KH 22/03/2017]

Named Person: "Əndipi (husband of Kawelka Kurupmbo Ndip), Kawelka Membo Oyambo M ". [Information provided by Marilyn Strathern on 'List of Personal Names', KH 22/03/2017]

Context: kin mapa = Gold-lipped pearlshell chest ornament. Can be worn by men and women. (see description of object MAA 1967.64) (Pidgin & Melpa). [Strathern's Glossary word document, JD 4/26/2017]

Related Object: MAA 1967.64 "Gold-lipped pearlshell chest ornament. The gold-lip (cf. the yellow rim on the underside) pearlshell (?Pinctada maxima) is currently the most highly valued shell in Hagen. Originally traded in from the coast through native routes, a medium sized shell was worth a largish pig, in pre-European times. Inspite of the extensive use made of the pearlshell by Europeans it has not lost its popularity. The best quality ones were mounted (cf.1967.70f) and the smaller or not so well coloured specimens are used, as here, for decoration. Unmounted shells do not circulate as the mounted ones do, but are prized as chest ornaments. They may be worn by either men or women. Men wear them only when they are fully dressed up for dancing, but women and girls may sport them more often. cf. Vicedom I: plate 5 no.4 and page 111. This specimen is nearly 2" in depth, 6" across; it is pierced at both ends for a string, and is decorated with a tuft of marsupial fur." From Buk, Mount Hagen Area. Donated by A.M. and A.J. Strathern, 1967. [JD 4/25/2017]

MAA Exhibition: Image included in a slide show entitled, 'Women in Western Highlands, Papua New Guinea. Fieldwork photos by Marilyn Strathern 1964 1995' in Pacific Currents display, Maudslay Gallery, 2018. [JD 03/04/202]

A grant from the Wenner-Gren Foundation Historical Archives Program supported the documentation and preservation of the Strathern photographic collection. [JD 6/11/2017]