Author(s): Susanne Kuhling

Pacific Islands | Secondhand

This is an ethnography of Dobu, a Massim society of Papua New Guinea, which has been renowned in social anthropology since Fortune's Sorcerers of Dobu (1932). Focusing on exchange and its underlying ethics, this book explores the concept of the person in the Dobu world view. The book examines major aspects of exchange such as labor, mutual support, apologetic gifts, revenge and punishment, kula exchange, and mortuary gifts. It discusses in detail the characteristics of small gifts (such as betel nuts), big gifts (kula valuables, pigs, and large yams) and money as they appear in exchange contexts.

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