IDNO

T.132418.MST

Description

On Strathern's listing: Moka pena at Kelua. Double poklambo of yar. View of both sets of trees. [From “moka continued”].

Place

Oceania Melanesia; Papua New Guinea; Western Highlands Province; Mt. Hagen; Kelua

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Photographer

Strathern, Marilyn (later Prof., Dame)

Collector / Expedition

Date

9 July 1965

Collection Name

Strathern Collection

Source

Strathern, Marilyn (Prof., Dame)

Format

Colour Transparency

Primary Documentation

Other Information

T.132403.MST - T.132439.MST were identified by Marilyn Strathern as Set 28.

Bibliographic Reference: See M. Strathern, ‘Why is the Pueraria a Sweet Potato?’ Ethnology 8 (2): 189-198, 1969.

Context: moka pena = ceremonial ground. [Strathern's Glossary word document, JD 4/24/2017]

Context: moka = 1. General term for ceremonial exchange between partners coordinated in a single set of events, involving gifts of pigs and / or shells according to certain formulae, and in several stages, with the sequences eventually reversing so donors become recipients.
2. Term for the occasion of a ‘final’ gift in such a sequence, at which people – especially and often only the donors -- dance and decorate. The rationale for the gift payments may be in terms of warfare exchange, e.g. for enemy-compensation and ally-reparation payments (in 1970s, esp. N Melpa) or as ‘pure moka’, which includes pig-moka and shell-moka (pp3,48; MS word document “Order B (3) 1967”, p1) where payments to kin or allies may be made under all kinds pretext (1970s, esp. C Melpa). The size and significance of the moka will determine whether or not a festive occasion is made of the final gift. (Melpa). [Strathern's Glossary word document, JD 4/24/2017]

Context: poklambo = a tree at one end of the ceremonial ground, consecrated to ancestral ghosts of the group owning the ceremonial ground (pp84,188) (Melpa). [Strathern's Glossary word document, JD 4/24/2017]

Context: yar = Pidgin term for casuarina tree. [Strathern's Glossary word document, JD 4/26/2017]

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