Tikopia of Melanesia - Research Paper Example

? Cultural Research Paper on Tikopia of Melanesia Sarah Watson ANT 10: Introduction to Culture Tawny Townsend APRIL 6, Research Outline 0 INTRODUCTION: Thesis Statement-A study of how Tikopia political and economic organization, beliefs and values reflect a community promoting the idea of Zero population growth to ensure its sustainability 1.1Subsistence Practices 2.0BODY: Cultural Aspects 2.1 Political Organization 2.2 Economic Organization 2.3 Beliefs and Values 3.0. CONCLUSION: A summary of key points 1.0 Introduction: Tikopia of Melanesia Tikopia of Melanesia is known to have gone through so many changes in society. The ‘Ticopia’ was an expression that the people of Solomon Islands used to make themselves distinctive from other people from neighboring islands, as a result forming the Tikopia community. From the past decade to the present, the communities’ culture remains unchanged, thus, portraying an interesting deal of information to be learnt about their way of life and work. Agriculture is their main means of subsistence, the tropical climate favoring the people to get good agricultural produce. They can be referred to as the emerging agriculturalists or horticulturalists. The Tikopia live on the island of Tikopia, which is in the Southwestern Pacific Ocean. From about half a century ago, the population of the Tikopia had grown dramatically, a factor that caused anxiety and concern among its leaders, there was the fear of food shortages. As a result of this, they had to look for a solution on ways to control population growth. The community practiced some zero population measures which included warfare, sea voyaging and celibacy. These reduced their population and it is a good example of a reproduction policy (Nowak & Laid, 2010). This will form the basis of discussion in this paper. Thesis Statement: The Tikopia are a cultural group with unique kinship and reproductive practices aimed at promoting their idea of zero population growth and changes in the society so as to ensure survivability. 1.1 Subsistence Practices: The Tikopia of Melanesia practice precise techniques of agriculture. They are mainly Horticulturalists who rely on water from the sea for planting their main diet, however, on few cases they substitute fishing as part of their diet. The community is located near a sea that provides a wide variety of fish including shell fish. The Tikopia normally look for dried swamps and clear forests, which usually provides them with trade routes and markets. The community does practice an intensive system of agriculture which has features of a perm-culture. The agricultural practices of the community depend on the density of the population, in the thick populated areas, some people practice fishing and pig rearing while others practice forest gardening. The foods that they grow include coconut, vegetables and yams which thrive best in the tropical environment, therefore, high yields of great quantity of foods are achieved. The access that the group has over empty land gives them control over a lot of resources. The Tikopia also incorporate technology into their subsistence practices. This is by practicing flood control, irrigation and terraces. In addition to this, technology has assisted the community in building roads, bridges and ports. Technology also allows the community to have control over their production and distribution (Nowak & Laird, 2010).  In the Tikopia society, it is mostly men who do all the hard work such as building fences, clearing forests and planting processes. The women prepare food and take care of children. Both men and women play key roles in their society’s subsistence practices. The community uses redistribution and exchange of balanced reciprocals to ensure that their goods and services are transported. Balanced reciprocals exchange refers to an agreement where there is return of an item, which is equivalent to another item or one with a greater value. Redistribution refers to a tribute, an individual’s labor or the products of society, which is collected, counted, sorted and then stored for future use (Raymond, 1959). 2.0. Tikopia’s Cultural Aspects: This involves political and economic organizations, as well as beliefs and values. 2.1 Political Organization: A Tikopian village or district is usually divided into four systems of principal kin groups (Macdonald, 2000). These kin groups are referred to as the patrilineal clans, where clans are usually divided into patrilineages. These clans are not confined in a small area, since each clan has a member in each of the districts or villages. Each of these villages or districts has a number of households, which belong to one clan. The clan may be ritually or politically prevailing in the districts. This arrangement is strongly integrated into a system of local groups and kins that are both strongly developed into status systems. The status systems are, therefore, developed into a political form, which constitutes a rank structure with a chief at its apex. The patrilineages are usually headed by chiefs known as the “maru” (Macdonald, 2000). They are the most senior of all the men and directly descent from the ancestor’s lineages. These lineages have significant economic, ritual and political functions and are more significant than the “ariki”, the clan chiefs. The community is integrated in a system of Kin and local groups which are expressed in rank of structures with chiefs (maru) at the apex; these are then followed by the clan chiefs (ariki). The chiefs have a set of two advisors, one advising on ritual issues and the other on secular affairs (Macdonald, 2000). 2.2 Economic organization: Tikopia is an isolated and small chiefdom that has been in existence in the last thousands of years. The community is micromanaged in an environment that suits their way of life. People in Tikopia usually grow food for their own families, they ensure that land is cultivated and the plants are useful and edible. The chiefs own land and they give parcels of it to family members (Nowak & Laird, 2010). The community has never let their land to be industrialized; moreover, it still practices a number of ritualistic practices. There is the sale of land in a situation whereby only the villagers are involved, furthermore, land cannot be owned by an outsider. The village has communal orchards where each member in the family is entitled to their own garden, with this; they can harvest and feed their households (Nowak & Laird, 2010). If a garden has not been allocated to a certain family, another member in the community may plant their crops in it for free without the need to ask for permission. In Tikopia, both sexes are engaged in planting and preparation of foods, however, men practice woodworking, making of nets and clearing of fields. The women are concerned with collecting and tendering of crops and sometimes make mats and bark cloths (Raymond, 1959). 2.3 Beliefs and Values Horticulture is less intensive compared to agriculture in this community; thereby providing a reduced amount of produce from land that is of the same amount. The community believes in Zero population growth, so as to increase their carrying capacity (Raymond, 1959). The Tikopia community believes on chiefdoms as a kind of leadership with courts given the responsibility to settle disputes and conflicts. Majority of the community inhabitants are polythesians in practice and the language they speak is purely a reflection of a community practicing a complex social structure. The community is divided on social structures with gender relations and political structures forming an important aspect of their culture. Each year, the chiefs normally perform rituals where they instill the idea of Zero population growth on members of their villages. The Tikopia of Melanesia had so many techniques in the past, which have been helpful in maintaining the population at a level that is sustainable. Most parents usually stop giving birth when their eldest son reaches an age where he can marry or if the parents have attained a definite number of children. Most parents aim at getting four children, each of them from different sexes or two girls and one boy (Raymond, 1959).  Being celibate in Tikopia does not indicate that the person has to abstain, rather, it is a direct translation that a person is not allowed to have children. The community prohibits marriage among relatives; monogamy is the order of the community. In case of separation of husband and wife there are no formal mechanisms for divorce. The Tikopia system was oriented around rituals where various ancestors and gods help in crop production, success in fishing and curing of illnesses. Another belief that the community has is that they inherit huts where patrilineal ancestors were buried as part of their social life. The community also takes key interest in matrilineal relations, with relationships between mothers and their nephews representing a spiritual dimension. During initiation to manhood, it was the duty of an uncle to officiate and guide the initiates as per the communities’ rites of passage and cultural practices. The community believed that its people could live long and die only when they are advanced in age. As a result of this belief, they claim that recent deaths among their children have been caused by foreigners invading their lands thereby bringing diseases (Nowak & Laid, 2010). 3.0 Conclusion Most societies in the past had changed into what Professor Diamond referred to as the “progress traps”. This term describes the act where people in certain societies feel that the desire to expand or grow works for its own disadvantage (Macdonald, 2000). People of Tikopia are an excellent example of what is referred to in this statement. For the last three thousand years, the Tikopia have enacted a careful balance that exists between what they offer themselves for consumption and what they get from horticulture. The community has demonstrated a good social population control policy that can be used by modern societies and countries to curb the world’s population growth. References Macdonald, J. (2000). The Tikopia and “What Raymond Said. In S. R Jarsma & M. A. Rohatynskyj (ed/s), Ethnographic Artifacts: Challenges to a Reflexive Anthropology (pp. 107-123). Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press. Retrieved from http://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/bitstream/10289/3340/1/the%20tikopia.pdf Nowak, B. & Laird, P. (2010). Cultural Anthropology (S. Wainwright & D. Moneypenny, Eds.) Retrieved on 6th April 2012 from https://content.ashford.edu/books/AUANT101.10.2/sections/ch00 Raymond, F. (1959). Social change of Tikopia community: re-study of Polynesian community. Journal on historical reviews. London. Vol. 3. No 2. p. 360. Read More