BOOK REVIEWS

or other writers in articulation with thefindings and perspectives here devel­oped. As it stands, the volume presentsa fine blend of quality ethnography,areal focus, and theoretical penetra­tion. It is a vital companion piece toAndrew Strathern's edited Inequality inNew Guinea Highlands Societies,engaging many of the same issues, butfrom an opposed areal and theoreticalperspective. In the best academic tradi­tion, this opposition is not polemic orultimately negative, but dialectical andprogressive.

BRUCE M. KNAUFT

Emory University

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Vengeance Is Their Reply: Blood Feudsand Homicides on Bellona Island, PartI: Conditions Underlying GenerationsofBloodshed; Part 2: Oral Traditions,by Rolf Kuschel. Language and Cul­ture of Rennell and Bellona Islands,Volume 7, 1989. Copenhagen: DanskPsykologisk Forlag. ISBN 87-7707­0164,289 pp, illustrations, references,indexes. US$90.00.

Oral narratives describing the historyof Bellona Island, a Polynesian outlierin the Solomon Islands, recount that195 homicides took place before thepacification of the island in 1938. Thisworks out to an average of 9.3 homi­cides per generation in a populationthat was probably never much morethan 450 people. These homicides werepart of a pattern of feuding that some­times continued for generations: onefeud is described as involving twenty­eight separate encounters over thecourse of several hundred years.

In Vengeance Is Their Reply, Danishsocial scientist Rolf Kuschel recordsand analyzes these oral narrativesabout traditional feuding on Bellona.This book is the seventh volume in aseries of books on the language andculture of Rennell and Bellona islands.Over the past thirty years, these Poly­nesian outliers have been systemati­cally studied by a team of Danish andAmerican researchers and are amongthe most thoroughly studied social sys­tems in the Pacific. In a period whenanthropology is given to interpretationand most publishers are parsimoniousin printing materials for specializedaudiences, the publications on Rennelland Bellona provide remarkablydetailed ethnographic and linguisticinformation. Many volumes in thisseries include extended samples of Ren­nell-Bellona texts, both in the vernacu­lar and in English translation. Kus­chel's book continues this scholarlytradition and is another important con­tribution to the ethnography ofOceania.

Part I of Vengeance Is Their Replydescribes the cultural and social factorsthat cause Bellona's homicides andfeuding. Part 2 includes vernaculartranscriptions and English translationsof 150 oral narratives that describethese feuds and form the basis for theanalysis in part 1. Kuschel criticizesmost anthropological studies of feud­ing for their lack of detailed and long­term data. He explains one very admi­rable reason for including the narrativetexts: "Thus by publishing the Bel­lonese material in its entirety, I want tomake the primary data available toother scientists who, from other theo­retical starting points, would like to

1'1,

h4 9&

THE CONTEMPORARY PACIFIC. FALL 1990

reanalyze it or use it in comparativestudies" (16).

Kuschel spent a total of about eight­een months between 1968 and 1983

researching this topic. In addition, heuses the expertise and information ofother researchers who have studiedRennell and Bellona society and cul­ture. His main conclusion is that Bel­lona's feuds were not the result of com­petition for limited economic or landresources. Rather, they were causedand maintained by cultural values thatemphasize reputation and prestige, ofboth individuals and social groups.Moreover, Kuschel emphasizes thatBellona's feuding is socioculturally rulegoverned and patterned (for example,women and children were usuallyspared and there was respect for cer­tain sanctuaries).

Both parts 1 and 2 should beincluded in any library that is seriousabout maintaining its Pacific collec­tion. Part 1 should be read by peopleinterested in Polynesian ethnographybecause it offers a rare view of tradi­tional patterns of feuding, conflict, anddisputes. Probably, with a moderateamount of supervision from theinstructor, both parts can be recom­mended to advanced undergraduatestudents in anthropology. The texts inpart 2 provide raw material for re-anal­ysis, for both professionals and stu­dents.

Kuschel's presentation is straight­forward, and his writing style is read­able. There are, however, occasionalsentences that would be improved byfurther editing. The charts and figures(71 in part 1 and 40 in part 2) are clearand help explain the discussion in thetext. I had minor problems with some

of his terminology and his explanationsof certain features of the social system.For example, I found misleading hisuse of the terms social strata and strati­fication to refer to relationships basedon the achievement of prestige andrenown. Although I have some back­ground in studying Polynesian socialorganization, I did not understand hisdiscussion of Bellonese "clans," "sub­clans," and "lineages."

Part 1 begins with a brief review ofthe anthropological literature on feud­ing, a useful explanation of hisapproach to the issue, and then a dis­cussion of his research methods. Inchapters 2 and 3, he provides some gen­eral background about Bellonese sociallife, including land tenure, socialorganization, and religion. In chapters4 through 7, Kuschel describes howfeuds develop and the conventions andattitudes that determine how feuds aremanaged. Chapter 8 summarizes thebook; some readers will want to readthis chapter before starting the book,because it provides the clearest state­ment of Kuschel's argument.

Given the perimeter of the problemKuschel set for himself, this book is anoutstanding contribution. My maincriticism is that, by focusing exclu­sively on the narratives and eventsbefore 1938, Kuschel limited the book'scontribution to the understanding ofbroader issues concerning conflict anddisputes. There is only a very briefexplanation of why Christianity andthe British protectorate's governmentwere able to stop the feuding. Homi­cides after 1938 are briefly mentioned,and then, without sufficient explana­tion, Kuschel excludes them from theanalysis. It is not clear whether or not

BOOK REVIEWS

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Cultural Alternatives and a FeministAnthropology: An Analysis ofCultur­ally Constructed Gender Interests inPapua New Guinea, by FrederickErrington and Deborah Gewertz.Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress, 1987. ISBN 0-521-33492-6, xi +185 pp, illustrations, notes, references,index. £20.

some old feuds continue to the presentin nonviolent ways (ridicule, adultery,land disputes, song taunts, gossip).Kuschel doesn't explain whether theconcern with personal and group repu­tation, which motivated the disputes informer times, still exists at present.Moreover, I wasn't completely satisfiedwith Kuschel's argument that feudingdid not result from ~ompetitionoverland use and resources. This conclu­sion would be more forceful if itincluded an analysis of disputes (orlack of them) over resources on Bellonasince 1938. On the few occasions whenKuschel does provide brief discussionsof present-day conflict, they areenlightening and help explain impor­tant factors affecting motivations andallegiances in traditional feuding.

Readers will be grateful for whatthere is. Perhaps a study of conflict anddisputes since 1938 will be in a futurevolume of the Rennell and Bellonaseries. If so, I hope the authors willinclude texts. In any case, the presentvolume provides a rare and detailedanalysis of the oral narratives thatrecord feuding in a pre-Christian Poly­nesian society.

WILLIAM W. DONNER

Kutztown University

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In this study of the Chambri, a Sepikgroup of Papua New Guinea,Errington and Gewertz reconsiderMargaret Mead's work on what shecalled sex roles, offering instead theiranalysis of gender interests. Gewertz isa Sepik specialist; Errington hasworked in several other areas, includ­ing island Melanesia.

This book invokes a number ofdualisms-in addition to contrastingtheories of male-female relations, pairsof ethnographers, societies, and gener­ations figure into its makeup. The mix­ture of the personal and the sociologi­cal, the concrete and the abstract,makes the book enjoyable reading, butsometimes raises issues that are notanswered. It is not always clearwhether a particular feature should beregarded as style or argument. Themonograph's challenge to conventionsis readily seen in the choice of illustra­tions, which in addition to photos ofclassic ethnographic subjects (e.g., "Awoman, behaving as a child, stuffs rawsago down her throat," 109) includesviews of Gewertz' daughter, cartoons,a sketch made by a Chambri child, anda cover that brings to mind the moodof Gauguin's South Seas paintings.

The book begins in an appealingway by posing a question raised by afieldwork incident: Gewertz' irritatedreaction when her male informantYorondu announces his intention toshow previously unrevealed ritualobjects to Errington alone, thus treat­ing her as a member of the category"female" rather than as a professionalanthropologist. In effect, the book isan attempt to understand the differingcultural assumptions that collided inthis incident. We learn in the final