The Heart of the Pearl Shell: The Mythological Dimension of Foi Sociality (Studies in Melanesian Anthropology, 5)

For the Foi people who live on the edge of the central highlands of Papua New Guinea, the flow of pearl shells is the "heart" of their social life. The pearl shell is the exchange item that mediates the creation of their most important sexual and social roles. The Heart of the Pearl Shell analyzes a number of myths of the Foi people, elegantly bringing together significant ethnographic materials in a way that has important implications for the development of social theory in anthropology and in Melanesian studies. Scholars of semiotic-symbolic anthropology and of comparative religion will also share the author's interest in the meaning and role of mythology in Foi culture. Instead of relying on orthodox methods of Freudian or structuralist interpretation, James Weiner assumes there is a dialectical relationship between the images of Foi myth and the images of the Foi's social world. He demonstrates how each set of these images is dependent upon the other for its creation. This innovative study locates Foi social meaning in the re-creation and attempted solution of the moral dilemmas that are crystallized in mythology and other poetic usages. Cover......Page 1 Flap......Page 2 Title......Page 5 Copyright......Page 6 Contents......Page 7 Foreword......Page 10 Acknowledgments......Page 14 Orthography......Page 18 Introduction......Page 20 The Ethnographic setting......Page 37 The responsibility of males......Page 60 Oil, shells, and meat: the media of Foi sociality......Page 82 The solicitude of affines......Page 97 Metaphor and substitution......Page 141 Obviation and myth......Page 157 Plates......Page 162 Intersexual mediation......Page 200 Female reproductivity......Page 232 The anxiety of affines......Page 258 Complementarity, exchange, and reciprocity......Page 287 The hidden myth......Page 311 The ethnographic setting......Page 324 The responsibility of males......Page 325 Oils, shells, and meat......Page 326 The Solicitude of affines......Page 327 Metaphor and substitution......Page 329 Female reproductivity......Page 330 Complementarity, exchange, and reciprocity......Page 331 References......Page 333 Index......Page 340 Flap......Page 349 Back cover......Page 350 The Ethnographic Setting -- The Responsibility Of Males -- Oil, Shells, And Meat: The Media Of Foi Sociality -- The Solicitude Of Affines -- Metaphor And Substitution -- Obviation And Myth -- Intersexual Mediation -- Female Reproductivity -- The Anxiety Of Affines -- Complementarity, Exchange, And Reciprocity -- The Hidden Myth. James F. Weiner. Revision Of The Author's Thesis (doctoral--australian National University). Includes Index. Bibliography: P. 307-313.