ANTH 208 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1-3: Exogamy, List Of Domesticated Animals
Chapter One
● Congregations: Aggregates of individuals who regard their collective well-being to be
dependent upon a common body of ritual performances
○ Rappaport talks about using them to get a feel for the functions within a society,
little microcosms?
● Maring rituals: Conventionalized acts directed toward the involvement of supernatural
agencies in human affairs
● Argue that there are some instances where ritual actions have a tangible result in the
physical world, for instance via affecting the environment
○ Lists off regulations of relationships between people, gardens, and pigs, the
killing, distributing and consumption of pigs, the consumption of
non-domesticated animals, conservation of marsupials, dispersal of people and
distribution of land, frequency of warfare, severity of intergroup fighting, and
exchange of goods and personnel as things affected by ritual action in the
Tsembaga culture
● For Rappaport more than anything ritual is a means of regulation for various
aspects/systems of a culture
Chapter Two
● Live at a fairly high elevation in a relatively small area, about 200 people total make up
the Tsembaga, in the mountains
● Run by a headman (luluai) and assistant headman (tultul) at least officially
● Do have some more modern technology like steel tools via contact with Europe
● Divided into five patrilineal clans, three are segmented the smaller two are not
● The marry exogamous within the Tsembaga, marry outside their clan but not outside the
culture of the Tsembaga
● Males claim land within their clan/sub clans territory and go through a ritual involving the
rumbin plant when they do
● Gather more closely during times of ritual, spread out when not
● Local populations are the ones who share resources
● Brothers give land to sister’s husbands, in order to fuse two clans closer together
● Over time two clans can become very closely tied so that they’re functionally basically
the same one, even if they still distinguish themselves agnatically
● Can also split up when population pressures rise if necessary
● Chiefs are not hereditary or formally elected in any way, the ‘big men’ are essentially
intelligent and forceful men
● Big men have a tendency to be wealthy, shamans, know ritual stuff in regards to fighting
● When they all meet together, doesn’t happen very often, it seems like they don’t really
make any decisions most of the time, or at least not any that are adhered to, and once
one of the big men has decided they’ve come into a good enough decision they do some
ritual stuff involving eel traps and pigs
● Basically they wait until they reach a consensus between them and then just… finish
Chapter Three
● Live in a mountainous area that’s pretty rainy
Document Summary
Congregations: aggregates of individuals who regard their collective well-being to be dependent upon a common body of ritual performances. Maring rituals: conventionalized acts directed toward the involvement of supernatural agencies in human affairs. Argue that there are some instances where ritual actions have a tangible result in the physical world, for instance via affecting the environment. For rappaport more than anything ritual is a means of regulation for various aspects/systems of a culture. Live at a fairly high elevation in a relatively small area, about 200 people total make up the tsembaga, in the mountains. Run by a headman (luluai) and assistant headman (tultul) at least officially. Do have some more modern technology like steel tools via contact with europe. Divided into five patrilineal clans, three are segmented the smaller two are not. The marry exogamous within the tsembaga, marry outside their clan but not outside the culture of the tsembaga.
