Tikopia of Melanesia free essay sample

Tikopia of Melanesia Krishawn Smith Ant 101: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology Instructor Shaun Sullivan July 8, 2011 Tikopia of Melanesia is an island of people set in the Polynesia Island chain called the Solomon Islands. The Tikopian Island is at the eastern most point of the chain of islands that sets in the South Pacific, and is set high as most Polynesian Islands, because it set in the remnants of an inactive volcano. The climate is one that is tropical and the island experiences two distinct weather seasons, one characterized by hot and humid days October through March, and the other April through September displays cooler, overcast, and rainy days With a population of approximately 1,200 on the island; there are also people of Tikopia that inhibit other islands in the chain. Although Tikopia is set in Melanesia, it is linguistically and culturally a Polynesian island.As a horticultural society the Tikopian people produce their own foods by cultivating crops and generally fishing, because there are little to no animals on the island. We will write a custom essay sample on Tikopia of Melanesia or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Food in this tropical climate yielded lots of vegetation such as: yams, taro, coconut, vegetables and fruit which were yielded in great quantities. The surrounding sea is a good source of food as well; with its abundance of shellfish and fish. Fowl and pigs were raised as well.According to anthropological studies conducted by Raymond Firth, and other anthropologist during the 19th and 20th centuries the social organization, kinship, and cultural and religious beliefs are as important to the distinction of the Tikopian people as the distinction of the several islands that make up Polynesia, Melanesia, Micronesia and the Solomon Islands respective. Tikopias unique culture and ability to be a unadulterated culture in which no western influence was able to penetrate until well after the World War I, and was able to contain its pure influence that is contained in itself.The following is a brief overview of the structure of the Tikopian culture and the general way of life. â€Å"The Tikopians are distributed into 21 villages located along the coastline. No particular settlement pattern characterizes these villages, nor are there any village headmen. Village households are most frequently composed of a single nuclear family, but households comprising extended families or nuclear families plus other kin are also common. The village is an important unit in cooperative economic activities.The 21 villages are divided into two major social-geographical districts, named Ravenga, and Faea. Relations between villages of the same district are characterized by mutual interest and cooperation for the most part. In contrast, relations between villages of different districts are marked by rivalry and hostility. Village and district distinctions are cross-cut by a system of four principal kin groups, which Firth (1936, 1959) calls patrilineal clans. The clans are further segmented into patrilineages. Clans are not localized; each has members in both districts and in many or most of the villages. But nearly every village has a preponderance of households of one clan, which is the politically and ritually dominant group in that village. Integrated with this system of kin and local groups is a strongly developed status system, which, when expressed in a political form, constitutes a rank structure with chiefs at its apex. Patrilineages are headed by chiefs (maru), who are usually the most senior men in the direct lines of descent from the lineage ancestors.Lineage heads have important political, ritual, and economic functions, but more important are the clan chiefs (ariki). Succession to these offices is determined by primogeniture and direct descent from the common clan ancestor. Clan chiefs are the traditional political and ritual leaders of the clan; they theoretically own all the land, are key figures in production and distribution, and major agents of social control. Each chief has two sets of advisors, one for each ritual and secular affairs.As a result of missionary activities, the Tikopians have become Christianized, and ritual advisors are no longer important. Although the clans are hierarchically ranked, the chief of the highest ranked clan should be considered as first among equals, rather than as a true paramount chief. Tikopian marriages are prohibited among relatives of the first degree of relationship according to their classificatory kin reckoning. Neither lineages nor clans function as exogamous units.People are divided into two classes, the chiefly class and the commoner class, according to lines of descent. Until recently, there was a preference for intra-class marriages, although this was not rigorously enforced. Polygyny is practiced, but monogamy is the prevalent form of marriage. Despite occasional separations of married couples, the Tikopians have no formal mechanisms for divorce. Delayed age of marriage for males, infanticide, and abortion are among the Tikopian practices that have traditionally functioned to control their population. The aboriginal Tikopian religious system was oriented around rituals for various ancestors and gods, with the aim of obtaining such ends as favorable weather, crop productivity, success in fishing, and the curing of illness. The most important mediators between the Tikopians and the supernaturals were the clan chiefs, or ariki. An ariki was thought to derive his religious powers (manu) from the gods, and he served as a priest in important rituals involving joint participation of the Tikopian clans as well as the ritual for his own clan. In addition, each lineage in a clan had a ritual elder (matapure or pure matua), appointed by the ariki, who dealt with lineage ritual (Firth 1970). Because of its remote and isolated location, Tikopia had few contacts with outside groups until well into the twentieth century. Tikopians occasionally visited other islands, but these trips were limited by the large distances and great hazards involved in canoe ocean voyages. Contacts by Westerners bega n sporadically around the beginning of the nineteenth century, but in 1927, when Firth did his initial fieldwork in Tikopia, the indigenous culture was largely intact. The major contact agents were, first, missionaries and, later, labor recruiters. By the 1950s, all the Tikopians had become Christianized, and most of the native ritual practices had ceased. Much of the Tikopian life style has remained intact, but the forces of Westernization have been making inroads throughout the twentieth century. Raymond Firth is the major authority on Tikopian ethnography, having spent 12 months in 1928-29, ca. 5 months in 1952 and a short time in 1966 on the island.The only study of Tikopia previous to Firths was made in 1910 by the Reverend W. J. Durrad, based on a stay of 2 months. † Tikopias natural ability to be a self contained, self governed island culture that has been able to avoid the homogenization of Western influence until recent time shows that the subsistence in agriculture and the ability to control population , and patrilineal kinship lineages are cultural tradition that allow them to be one of the oldest civilization known to existence. References: