The Self in Self-Decoration

Oceania Publications, University of Sydney

The Self in Self-DecorationAuthor(s): Marilyn StrathernSource: Oceania, Vol. 49, No. 4 (Jun., 1979), pp. 241-257Published by: Oceania Publications, University of SydneyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40332210 .

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A JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE STUDY OF THE NATIVE PEOPLES OF AUSTRALIA, NEW GUINEA AND THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN

VOLUME XLIX No. 4 JUNE, 1979

THE SELF IN SELF DECORATION

By Marilyn Strathern1

Huxley reviewed our volume, Self-decoration in Mount Hagen,2 for Ink (1971), he combined it with notice of another: Princess Pignatelli's

The Beautiful People's Beauty Book, or How to achieve the look and manner of the world's most attractive women. In discussing the Princess's admonitions that a woman should always wear make-up, Huxley comments that an effect of this elaborate charade is to put things out of reach in order to make them more attractive. He applies the explicit Hagen notion that decorations attract wealth to the Princess's concerns: her self-adornment "attracts interest, and since interest is what money breeds, she must need a lot of money to stay beautiful. But if she's doing it for herself, she must be trying to compete with her own reflection" (1971:17).

If competing with one's own reflection is at the heart of cosmetics, can one usefully think of Hagen self-decoration as a cosmetic act?

Cosmetics in our own culture beautify the body. Involved are aesthetic values, a sense of style and context, and the overt aim of enhancing the individual. By rendering the person in a particular style in itself beautiful, he or she too becomes more beautiful than in the unadorned state. As well as the social messages carried in the style, personality effects may be strived for, to appear alluring, striking, soft, and so on. By contrast with Hagen, we think it more proper for women rather than men to beautify themselves. In this context feminists have pointed out that in so far as attention is drawn towards

1Girton College, Cambridge. I thank Andrew Strathern for discussing several of the points made in this paper,

which follows on from his own interpretation of Why is shame on the skin? (Strathern A., 1975a); Gillian Gillison and also members of the material culture seminar of the Anthropology Department, University College London, commented helpfully on an earlier version.

2 Strathern, A. and M., 1971.

Oceania, XLIX No. 4, lune, 1979



242 THE SELF IN SELF-DECORATION

the act of beautification it is drawn away from the individual as a person. Thus fashions which have the explicit purpose of making the individual sexually attractive, Greer (1970:57f) vilifies as simply turning the person into a sex object. The more the cosmetic style incorporates conventional canons of taste, the more of an object is created. Enhancement of aspects of the person - facial beauty, sexual attributes - is felt to detract from the whole. The woman becomes nothing but the beautification. Hence people come to adorn themselves in an unconventional way in order to express what they claim style hides - their personality.

This particular view entertains the paradox that the process of beautification, by which an individual hopes to enhance him- or herself, may actually detract from his or her individuality. It is more than simply the fact that enhancement in the eyes of others presupposes shared and thus generalized idioms of beauty. Whether or not those who use cosmetics employ a holistic view of themselves, their critics are struggling with a contrast between body and soul, between physical appearance and individuality, between an outer shell and an inner identity. For this critical approach to cosmetics makes sense only if the act of beautification is taken as applying solely to the body. The skin, the outer surface, is in this context truly superficial, trivial in relation to personal identity. And cosmetics in the first place attend to the body's surface and its features.

The same attention appears to be the focus of Nuba "personal art" (Faris, 1972). Nuba are concerned with the way their physical selves are presented in public; designs and styles reflect something of the social position of the actors, but the subject matter is the body itself: "decorated exposure" (1972:54). It is perhaps with this in mind that Geli criticizes Self -decoration for neglecting body symbolism and failing to provide a coherent account of Hagen body theory. He suggests that the decorations are "in the last resort only adjuncts to the actor's own body, which is what is really being displayed" (1972:684). But is the medium in this case also the message?

Munn's (1973) description of Walbiri art is relevant. One important group of designs, over which initiated Walbiri men have rights, may be reproduced in a variety of media, on ceremonial regalia, on the ground, on boards, stones, weapons, and on the body. The body as medium has meaning of its own. Designs which can be attached to or be brought into contact with the body have a particular subject matter, involving the achievement of physical ends - in this case wellbeing and fertility, and in the case of other designs, growth in children and attraction of lovers. Yet there is continuity between the use of other items and the body itself. In one sense the body is a surface for images that can be graphically imagined and reproduced on other surfaces.

Hageners are not producing standard designs of the Walbiri kind. Their decorations have a cosmetic element in that they have no other context than the body. This is hung about with ornaments, the different parts receiving



THE SELF IN SELF-DECORATION 243

particular emphasis; hair, face, arms, chest and back, and the pubic area are all decorated in a distinctive manner. The assemblage cannot be put together in any other medium. Moreover, Hageners are aware of the cosmetic paradox, that personal beautification can draw attention away from the person. But for them it is an effect consciously striven for. They emphasize that when as a group they dress themselves in feathers, paint and leaves, the first thing spectators should see is the decoration - so discovering the individual underneath becomes a pleasurable shock. They are not dressing up in costumes taking an animal or spirit form; they are not wearing masks, enacting myths or working out dramas. They are pretending to be no one but themselves, yet themselves decorated to the point of disguise. This idea is incorporated specifically into aesthetics: a dancer recognized at once has decorated himself poorly.

The object of Hagen disguise is the identity of the person as known through his physical features. Here is a fundamental contrast with those cosmetic systems whose aim is not disguise but enhancement - according to prevalent style - of the actor's personal beauty. Their focus is the particular body, whose features are regarded as a kind of resource. Thus Nuba show an exquisite concern with shape and form in their multitude of anatomical terms for different body structures (Faris, 1972:65-6). Physical blemishes are concealed in the interests of highlighting a body's good points. In our culture bodily flaws, from some points of view a matter of stigma, are thought of as a more intrinsic part of the person than idealized features.

Hageners exploit the cosmetic paradox in an opposite way: they do not believe that decorating the body hides the inner self. I would argue that the physical body is disguised by decorations precisely because the self is one of their messages.

Art and the Celebration of Achievement on Hagen The Hagen people have little conventional art, most of it decorative, the

chief object of decoration being the human body. Adornment is an aspect of dress: at its simplest someone will tidy himself up to greet a visitor, putting on a wig or straightening his apron, while at its most formal he will don a specific array of feathers, leaves and shells, oil his chest and paint his face, with weeks or months of effort put into gathering together the right assemblage.

It is the meaning of certain formal decorations worn by men that concerns me. Formality is to be found in the requirements of style, judgements made about aesthetic effect, and the self-consciousness of the actors that they are on display. Deliberate presentation of the decorated person to an audience

congregated as witnesses characterizes certain celebratory occasions only. On these the men of a clan, or subclan, combine to celebrate some achievement such as the presentation of a moka (ceremonial exchange) gift or a cult

performance. At other times Hageners decorate themselves in particular styles,




as for major funerals or warfare, but there is no audience in the specific sense - only further actors also involved in the event. And while there are many minor situations in which people dress in order to impress others, as in front of new affines at a bridewealth or girls at a courting party, such decorations are a matter of individual taste, an adjunct to the manner in which the actor presents himself rather than the focus. What distinguishes the celebrations is that for a period during the proceedings the decorations themselves become the centre of attention. They are displayed to the audience, for perhaps two hours or so, through the medium of dance. Movement - often itself minimal, no more than a bobbing up and down in some cases - is designed to show them off to maximum effect.

Dress must always convey messages, and if we assume we are dealing with a coherent system, meaning cannot be understood through the random isolation of a particular class. However, my interest is not in the symbolism of style but in the act of display.

Achievements of certain kinds have emphatic value in Hagen culture; above all the acquisition of wealth and demonstration of influence bring men prestige and make them big. The capacity for achievement is a personal matter, but for an individual's successes to be of public significance he depends upon the involvement of his clansmen, whether as a big-man he shows his organizational skill or whether he simply participates in joint enterprises that will affect the group's relations with others around. Occasions of formal display are always the concern of a group, and what is displayed is the sum of individual effort - not the financial calculations and machinations through which valuables are obtained, not the political strategies which have kept the group together or the secret murder of enemies which has protected their number, but the end of these means: wealth, strength and power. A clan is only successful with the aid of its ancestral members, and these abstract qualities are made concrete in a demonstration of the most obvious of the gifts which ancestors make, bodily health and wellbeing.

At dances following cult performances attention is particularly directed to the internal wellbeing which the cult promises in terms of clan fertility, male purity and such. A group's public standing in relation to others is the explicit subject of moka dances. But these are only emphases. Internal and external states of wellbeing also stand in a metaphoric relationship to each other. Thus bodily health may be a symbol for the clan's political strength, and its success in wealth transactions a symbol of spiritual warfare. The proposition can be looked at from the view point of a person's make-up. Decorations which act as a medium of display for the clan adorn its individual members. These same ornaments also manipulate a distinction between an inner and outer self.




Messages

I briefly summarize the kinds of message conveyed through decorations worn by male donors at a major moka. Although cult performances and moka festivals are both times of celebration, cult decorations involve special elements that cannot be elaborated on here, and my argument is directed chiefly to decorations worn at exchanges.

(i) Statements about role and status Hagen decorations are not costumes, sets of clothing to be donned in

entirety, but assemblages painstakingly arranged and rearranged for each major event. Nor do they include regalia, symbols of public office, for there are no such offices, only persons in certain roles (e.g. donors) or claimants to a particular status (e.g. big-man). Donors are distinguished from other dancers by the fullness of their attire or by their wearing special head dresses. Those who dance together agree to adopt a particular style from a small range of options determined by the type and magnitude of the affair. Stylistic details are also associated with certain regions, but there is no idea of any group or category of persons owning rights to designs. Within the limits of the style chosen for the occasion, big-men may mark themselves out by some eccentricity of dress, and all participants put together their own assemblages whose details vary according to individual taste. The final impression is one of solidarity rather than uniformity.

(ii) Representing emotions and attitudes Dancers on display express certain standardized emotions: thus a streak

of red on the face is said to indicate their confidence and to startle spectators. They brandish weapons and cover the upper body and face in charcoal to give a terrifying, warlike appearance. Political statements may also be directed towards sectors of the audience. Often these refer to a boast or challenge that has been met, and will relate to details of inter-group alliance and rivalry that only a few know about (e.g. someone may hold sweet potato leaves to answer the taunt that his ceremonial ground was fit for nothing but growing vegetables). Such gestures parallel the veiled speech that characterizes formal

oratory accompanying public transactions (Strathern, A. J. 1975b). The sentiments so expressed are all publicly and openly held but generalized; the dancers may take an aggressive stance, but what might be the particular target of their hostility is open to interpretation.

(iii) Images of welfare A range of statements is also made about the dancers' wellbeing. In

addition to actual wealth displayed on the ceremonial ground, the group of donors - whether they have contributed individually or not - will also wear shell valuables as an indication of prosperity. Health and bodily strength




is to be seen in the way the skin glistens with oil. Fecundity is associated with light colours, and if the dance is specifically celebrating the production of pigs, decorations are predominantly white, likened to the gleam of pig fat. General success and strength is further demonstrated in the extent to which decorations achieve a desired effect. Items are arranged with an interplay on contrasts between light and dark elements, while specific styles may call for an emphasis in one or other direction. Thus spectators can comment that an array is "too dark" or "too light".

These messages are all explicit in the minds of the actors, who strive towards creating certain effects that will produce reactions in the audience. Hageners do not dance at night, for the point is that they should be seen. Several times people have commented that the reason for decorating is "so that others will know" they have made moka properly or have reared many pigs, and "people will make stories about us". The handing over of wealth, the making of speeches is not enough: the decorations will also give the clan its reputation. If there is a need to be seen, then what is being made visible?

Look again at the images of welfare. These contrast significantly with other messages, for although qualities such as prosperity or success may be claimed by the actors, they can never be more than claims. In this society great value is placed on achievement, but there is no way in which it can be institutionalized3; prestige is always relative and in the end must be in the eyes of others. The most that is possible is to be constantly producing evidence for one's claims.

When we first used the term self-decoration, it was to draw attention to the fact that group achievement is seen to rest on the personal efforts of its individual members, so that clansmen celebrating a joint triumph are celebrating themselves. Here I further suggest that certain aspects of the self are expressed in such displays, and that this is bound up with the nature of the claims. If the clan is making visible its strength and wealth, these are attributes individuals also assert. In using themselves to signify their own achievements, people drape these qualities and attributes about their persons.

Anxiety and Aesthetics One set among the many statements which Hagen decorations appear to

make refers to the actors' emotions. These are related to the social and political environment (feelings of triumph, aggressiveness), and to a sense of inner wellbeing which is shown through bodily beauty. Beauty lies not in the emphasis on personal features, for individual physical identity is disguised4, but in the

8 Unless we regard its dogmatic correlation with gender in this light (see Strathern, M., 1978). 4 Or partially disguised. It is not that identity should be kept secret but mat tne decorations should first be seen for themselves. Part of the entertainment, certainly for younger members of the audience, lies in identifying the dancers.




display of certain qualities that the group as a whole presents. Thus one general effect of decorating is to make the body appear big and tall, and there is a corresponding magnification of the flesh in oiling it to a glossy sheen. The head is enlarged by wig, feathers, fur headband; and the face hung about with decorations which make it dark. It is in the shadow of this profusion that ancestral ghosts are said to "come to men's faces" and support them.

This self-confident display of power is hedged with anxiety. In the past major performances were always accompanied by sacrifice to elicit the ghosts' assistance; and nowadays pigs to pay relatives and partners who have supplied some of the ornaments are killed with similar intent. The pigs are cooked

separately at people's private settlements. Different stages in the putting on and removing of decorations were formerly accompanied by the taking of omens. (Ritual experts still occasionally act as diviners on these occasions.) There are three significant points about the omens, (i) They are conducted

among the members of segments within the clan as well as among the whole

dancing group; (ii) out of this small set of men, individuals are selected as having a particular destiny - one man manages to catch a piece of yam being thrown, another is singled out because the oil does not run straight when it is poured over his shoulders; (iii) the omen frequently relates to events beyond the immediate success of the display: who of these men will have made such an impression that girls will flock to his house afterwards; will some of the dancers afterwards fall sick or possibly even die? Quite apart from the success of the group, then, display carries meaning for the further fortunes of its individual members.

I would interpret this omen-taking as signifying a gap actors fear exists

between the claims they make and their actual state. The occasion appears to

celebrate something already accomplished, yet the success of the moment is

also judged by its projection into the future. Have the dancers in fact enlisted

the support of the ghosts? Is the present achievement a sign of general prosperity, the strength which the group parades indicative of a basic power, the qualities the dancers claim intrinsic? For claims can always be disproved. Some clansmen

may default on future exchanges, pigs might die, men fall sick.

At issue is whether the dancer and his group really possess the attributes

they claim. By what means is proof to be given? Taking omens is a kind of

short cut to the final answer, showing who will have good fortune. But the

display itself is the major test : hence the significance of aesthetics. It matters

how dazzling the ornaments are, how coordinated the dancing, how overwhelming the total effect, for bad decorations are themselves a bad omen, a sign that

misfortune will follow.

The qualities a group appears to attach to itself are in part a matter of

inner resource; it solicits evidence that ancestral ghosts are in support. Strength




and wealth, however, are also relative, for it is by a clan's standing in respect of its rivals and neighbours that it will be measured. Acknowledgement of a claim rests in the opinion of others, and those on display hope to make a specific impression on the spectators, to force them into admiration and awe. Then the desired effect will have been achieved. Thus the dancers' energy is concentrated into a projection of themselves. They hope to influence the minds of the spectators. But although there is plenty of free comment on the decorations - mostly critical - there is no formal feedback, no public applause5. This underlines the effort which has to be made, for there is no automatic accord. The audience will be a diverse mixture of enemies and strangers as well as friends, and the dancers are claiming not some new status or ritual position6 but superiority over these very people. Nevertheless, the decorations are intended to produce reactions in the spectators: they should be attracted by the bright colours, intimidated by the dark, and so on. They are also expected to judge the assemblages according to specific criteria. People are critical if items are sparse, elements badly arranged and not properly balanced, the total effect "too dark" or "too light", depending on context, and if the individual can be recognized easily. These all indicate failure and the absence of ghostly help.

The point about how easily a dancer can be recognized was a constant refrain in informants' comments on what makes a successful display. What is the significance of their insistence that decorations should be seen before the wearer?

People also refer to decorations as being brought outside. Quite literally, ornaments are unpacked from the greasy, smoky packages in which they are ordinarily hidden, or brought in from dense, dark forest, but more than that, the whole drama of display is a coming out, a making public7. One particular dance style demands that the actors make a concerted entry; when they burst into the ceremonial ground they are said to have "come outside". This bringing forth of the decorations supposedly startles the spectators into appreciation.

If the decorations clothe the dancer in attributes such as health or prosperity, this is a further bringing forth. For the ability to achieve prominence rests on internal qualities, sources of strength that are the intimate concern of individuals and their ancestors but on such occasions are being brought outside for public scrutiny. But why the emphasis on disguise?

5 Though someone may compliment a dancer for his attire and in return receive a small gift. Public praise may also be given on an individual basis (see Strathern, A. & M., 1971:126); but the audience as a whole does not unite in a single reaction at any point. 6 Audience reaction is more formalized, and the audience more select, at Spirit cult performances than at moka occasions as described here.

7 Ceremonial grounds, where festivals take place, are "outside places", and one term for making moka is "to turn it outward".




Dancers also say that they are sorry for their skins, so cover them up. As elsewhere in Papua New Guinea (e.g. Read, 1955:266), the term for "skin" encompasses both epidermis and flesh, the body as well as its surface. In a general way people talk of decorations as "making the skin good", enhancing it so that it looks fat and solid. A dancer whose decorations have been admired says it was because "my skin was good". But the same decorations are also spoken of as covering it up. Apart from particular contrivances - wearing a large bailer shell on the chest so it will appear filled out - the effect of ornamentation should be to "hide the skin". Decorations are a kind of cover for the body, which intrude between dancer and spectator as though they were a layer hiding the dancer.

One function of disguise is possibly to submerge individual in group identity, the kind of contrast Geli (1975:192-3) refers to between an ideal public role (the clan member) and a covert personal role (the individual person). Like the young Sepik Umeda men whose decorations "provide a cover of supposed anonymity for indulging ... in individual sexual self display" (1975:193), individual Hagen dancers are also hoping to excite admiration for themselves. But there is more to the Hagen idea of disguise than emphasis on an ideal role. The act of concealment is related to the concept of bringing things outside. If we are to look for a relevant theory of the body, as Geli urges, then possibly it lies in the relationship between physical appearance and internal qualities. Hageners use the same idioms that we do - things which are intrinsic are within. The rubbish man, they say, is one who decorates his skin but has nothing of worth to his name. There should be a fit between the decorations and the man. Thus a small, thin person or someone emaciated by illness or suffering personal misfortune in the loss of a relative will avoid dancing or be criticized for attempting to decorate. Cover does not imply covering up an undesirable state.

In everyday Hagen affairs secrecy is an important element in the power and autonomy of groups and individuals alike. On occasions of large exchanges, by contrast, open statements are being made about otherwise intimate matters. Wealth is laid out, the strength of a clan numbered by its dancing line. People even claim that ancestral ghosts, normally detached from the individual over whom they exert only an unseen influence, actually make their presence known. What is ordinarily hidden is thus brought out into the open. Specifically what is ordinarily hidden is the inner self, within the skin, a person's basic capacities. In the process of decorating, the dancer does not borrow clothes in which to hide; rather, it is his inside which is brought outside. But how is the inside to be visible, how are these inner qualities to be evidence of themselves?

Disguise is here the mechanism of revelation. The inner self is visible only to the extent that it makes invisible the outer body.




The Self

This is not the place for a full discussion of ideas about the self. I am not concerned with the expression of idiosyncracy or personality or with psychological projection of identity. The aspect that seems the subject of self- decoration is a Hagen notion of basic worth, an inner capacity for achievement. All individuals share a common potential; it is degrees of success that, in Hagen eyes, differentiate them.

The inner self is manifested through the body, not divorced from it. There is no idea of striving towards some incorporeal state of self-hood. If decorations comment on the relationship between inside and outside, they do not imply a dichotomy between spirit/body or essence/material in such a way as to make the former more crucial to personal identity than the latter. One might say that the inner self8 is the min or soul (cf. Vicedom, 1943-8: II: 332f) but, as Strauss (1962: ch. 18) describes, this has the nature of a life-force permeating the body. A healthy body is thus a sign that the min is in a good state (1962:145). The same is true of noman or "mind", sometimes located in the chest, and much more like an organ of the body than the min. The noman is very much inside, enveloped by the body, and is a source of intention and desire. Hageners contrast what is on the skin with what is in one's noman. No one can see into another's noman, only guess by his behaviour what his inclinations are. The interpretation of meaning rests on this dichotomy: do a person's words come from his noman and reveal his true intentions, or are they simply "in the mouth"? It is through the organization of noman, resolving various desires, that one shows purposefulness and the capacity for success.

There is a contrast between the presentation of the self in everyday circum- stances and on those occasions when full decorations are worn, a marked gradation of publicity. Ordinarily a man keeps his desires, intentions and material assets hidden. What he gives to others - commitment, information, gifts - is under the control of his noman. Whereas the contents of the noman always remain hidden, a person's visible resources, those he allows to be seen, are said to be "on the skin". The skin is the point of contact between the person and the world. Thus shame is concerned with an individual's enmeshment in social relationships, and shame comes on the skin (Strathern, A. J. 1975a). Transactions with others are accomplished through the medium of the wealth, assets and skills that lie on the skin, while the extent to which they are in the individual's true self-interest is something only he can know from within.

8 There is no generalized abstract noun form indicating "self" in the Hagen language. The concept is represented in noman (will, consciousness), and in a duplicated form of the personal pronoun which indicates personal responsibility for an act, autonomy in one's actions, and isolation in the sense that the person is doing something that does not involve others. Other aspects include noman mho (intellect) and hum (selfish drives).




Much value is placed on individual autonomy. Persons are held to be motivated by self-interest as well as the interests of their associates, clansmen, and so on. Political life is characterized by plotting and calculation, a constant scrutiny of behaviour for clues as to its meaning, involving layers of secrecy about the true interests of the clan, the subclan, the individual. Information circulates within restricted circles, all sorts of devices existing for deliberately deceiving the outsider of the moment. The same is true of financial matters. No one talks openly about his assets: they are jealously guarded from public view till such time as they are judiciously leaked to the world in stages planned for maximum effect. Public demonstrations of political intent or economic strategy are always a result of deliberate staging9. One of the elements of success in moka is the revelation of how much the person or group actually has. Of course, all is still not revealed, for most participants keep back some wealth, but the ethic of a climatic display is that they have exhausted all resources in the final gift.

This is reminiscent of keeping secret valued information in the form of sacred truths - a basis for initiation ritual in a number of Papua New Guiñean societies. Baktaman (Barth, 1975), for example, are much concerned with deceit and revelation. But in Hagen there is no formal body of knowledge which itself defines a category of person (e.g. high grade initiate).10 The kinds of secrets referred to here are the hidden interests of an individual and his clan. Barth emphasizes the relativity of ritual knowledge among Baktaman (there may always be something more to know), and this feature certainly applies to secular knowledge of political and economic matters in Hagen. It is a source of the agnosticism found in people's comments on their fellows. Hageners expect others to grade the information they share with their clansmen, their extra-clan relatives, and so on. Ultimately a man himself alone knows what he has and what he thinks.

Ordinarily, then, reserves are kept back, to be produced by calculation. On the occasion of a major moka these are exhausted - they are no longer reserves. The donors have given away their pigs, money and other valuables, with the quantity laid out for all to see, and the actual counting of items is a specific part of the proceedings. Public declarations about political status are made in the accompanying speeches. More than this, I have argued,

9 Or metering c.f. Geli (1975:252). Geli suggests Highlanders have an economic theory about the regulation of body contents relating to their exchange systems. Concern with the receipt, storing, increase and redistribution of wealth is found also in men's concern for the conservation and proper deployment of semen. I am interested in a rather different point: not the symbolic equation between regulation in various spheres, but how the process of regulation involves Hageners in a contrast between an inner and outer self.

10 Esoteric ritual information is individually owned, though it may De oougni or snareu. Being a ritual expert is a specialist skill carrying no further status.




evidence of the dancers' inner strength and wellbeing is also being brought outside. These are reserves of another kind, the energy and skill men put into their actions. They depend on and are symbolized by bodily health. This can be observed in the solidity of the flesh. If people are afflicted by illness and misfortune, their flesh hangs loosely and they are unable to act as themselves.

The use of such an intimate physical symbol underlines the vulnerability dancers apparently feel. This is indicated in various things: (i) the statements about dancers being sorry for their skin, pitying their own body that they want to look big and handsome; (ii) self-deprecatory themes that run through songs sung on such occasions11, commenting for example, on how few and impoverished the donors are; (iii) the element of ordeal: if a dancer truly has no inner resources, then his decorations will be seen through; and (iv) the fact that individuals wear full decorations only when they have group support. It is excessive display, I would suggest, that leads to boasting in a self- deprecatory way12. In that everything is in the open the dancers have relinquished the kinds of controls that normally mould their dealings with the world. For all their dressing up, they are exposed. Andrew Strathern (1975a: 347) quotes a song sung by women at the culmination of an unusually tense sequence of financial activity - an innovatory cargo cult - in which they refer directly to the shame they feel in front of everyone else. This was a unique event, and women speak more openly of these things than men, but I would take it as an exaggeration of an element present on all full-scale displays. Shame comes on the skin in situations of social inadequacy. Here the skin is covered up by symbols of success, yet the dancers profess vulnerability. Surely the point is that while the skin is the subject for adornment in one sense, the ornaments do not symbolize strengths derived from outside sources, an armour for the person; what covers the skin, the inner self, becomes itself exposed.

A public occasion such as a climactic moka is the outcome of months of planning and striving. Performance is there for all to see. Now the recipients will know just how true to their word the donors are: no longer the plan but its execution. There is a double judgement as we have seen. Do the donors' claims to strength and wealth materialize in the actual wealth they have been able to accumulate, and does the outward show reflect intrinsic power? If the decorations fail to correspond to material achievement, as when a clan decks itself out but makes moka badly, people sneer. Whether or not the gifts are satisfactory, if the decorations are poor they will be taken as a bad omen. It is predicted that the dancers will fall sick. Now sickness under the control

11 For an example see song 35 in Strathern, A. J. (1974). This was by women, but men sing similar refrains. They mean of course to be taken the opposite way, but the form of the beast is interesting.

12 When these take the form of comments on how diminished the clan is by comparison with what it used to be, perhaps a plea is also being made for a deferment of final judgement, a hint that in its ideal state the clan would even be stronger.




of ancestral ghosts does not normally come from the state of the skin (thus shame does not lead to sickness), but is related to the condition of the noman or mind. If bad decorations bring sickness, I surmise, it is because they indicate that the inner self is in a bad way.

Symbols Inside Out A brief commentary on two sets of symbols is in place. The first is the

aesthetic play on light and dark elements which are components of most decoration sets, even where the total effect is designed to stress one or other. In Hagen thinking generally, darkness represents hidden things, lightness things that are opened out, revealed. This opposition encompasses a further contrast, between bad and good intentions. Thus although good intentions may be as concealed as bad, they are not so appropriately thought of as dark. The kinds of things kept most secret are matters of personal or clan interest involving hostility against outsiders. On occasions when a {group expresses its feelings of aggression, setting out to fight enemies or giving gifts to them, the general purport is explicit, though details of the calculations may remain secret. Overt hostility is signified in dark decorations: hidden feelings have come outside. But perhaps the dark paint and plumes also intimate that in the context of animosity the men are still keeping hidden future political strategies. For if one completely shows hidden things, their nature is transformed. Is one meaning of the light, bright decorations the statement that here is nothing bad to conceal, that wealth and wellbeing can be openly displayed? Thus the revealing of a good noman employs the opposite of darkness. Hageners say that they convey a sense of feeling good in putting on red ochre. (In the Female Spirit cult, purity and a clear mind - the participants supposedly divest themselves of all hostile thoughts towards others - are explicitly marked by the use of the colour white.)

The second is the importance of anointing the skin. Oil contributes to an effect of glossiness, making the body appear to- put on flesh. But there is significance in its mode of application. Oil is kept within bamboo or gourd vessels from which it is poured. At the time of a festival, various taboos on sexual activity and concerning the state of menstruating women come into force, and the most frequently cited penalty for not following them is that the gourds will dry up. One can see a direct statement here about the effects of prematurely depleting one's reserves, which receives a sexual idiom in the concurrent belief that a man who spends too much semen in constant intercourse will himself dry up and degenerate into old age. The decorations and dances also have explicit sexual overtones - male dancers hope they will attract girls to them - and the taboos convey the message that energy should not be misspent before the final display. Thus while courting parties are held prior to the final dance, it is not till the night afterwards that girls at last can




accompany men back to their settlements. Reserves in general are symbolized by reference to an inner substance (semen) which may also be brought outside.

Yet it is not only men's gourds that are in danger of drying up. If a menstruating woman dances, her own oil flasks, as well as her husband's, will become depleted. The condition of menstruation is antithetical to the state of health women as well as men desire to exhibit. There is a more general proposition being made here in the specific idiomatic emphasis on the threat that the oil will not pour. It clogs and sticks, comes only in a dribble. The act of pouring oil can itself be an omen. When the head of a bride is anointed, should the oil run freely and straight this is a sign that her kinsmen will secure a generous brideprice, i.e. that the groom's people will bring forth all their wealth (Strathern, M., 1972:102). One man described how at a major moka a ritual expert to the accompaniment of a spell applied oil to the necks of the assembled men of a clan. It failed to run properly over the chests of two individuals, and some time afterwards they both died. Perhaps we can take the container of oil as itself a symbol, a vessel from which at the time of decorating the contents should flow abundantly. It is a bad sign for the dancers if it does not pour, if there is nothing to bring outside.

Conclusion The kinds of decorations I have discussed are cosmetic in only a limited

sense. Cosmetics, for us, enhance the outer skin, deliberately attending to personal physical features. This leads to the possibility of an antithesis between the body so decorated and the inner or whole person. Formal decorations in Hagen, I have suggested, also rest on a contrast between an inner and outer self, but the operation supposes a continuity between these elements. Ornaments are hung about the body, yet the attention of spectators should be directed not to the body itself but to the decorations as a separate entity. They are meant to be attractive in themselves; far from a costume or regalia the actor dons, they are symbols of himself turned inside out.

The outer self, the skin, is thus decorated with the inner self, intrinsic attributes. This is done by taking objects from the outside world - feathers, leaves, shells - and attaching them to the body. Objects ordinarily on the skin include the material assets with which transactions are made with others. One effect of donning decorations is, I suspect, the claim that the general qualities of success and wealth they represent have become like visible assets on the skin which will affect relationships with the world. Small material transactions actually accompany the wearing of ornaments - presents are given to people who help provide items, and to men who praise the final effect, almost as though the decorations themselves had initiated an exchange.13

13 A concrete rendering of the more general idea that the dancers display future prosperity is that one's exchange partners will be so impressed by the display that they will




Is the inside/outside dichotomy simply a matter of the private versus the social? Walbiri dreams inspired by the ancestors originate from within the individual but are reproduced in designs which actors can manipulate socially. "Designs viewed in this way are elements that traverse the boundaries of the individual body (are detached from it) and yet are constantly being bound back into bodily experience" (Munn, 1973:57). "This 'necessary' shift", writes Munn (1973:216) "from interior dream to exterior reality suggests the importance of binding the inner imagination to the outer, social world, the inner self to the external social order". Designs binding the body to the external environment indicate an idea of continuity between the source of potency (the ancestors, dreams) and its manifestation (in fertility and the maintenance of life). Hagen ancestors certainly assist their descendants, and influence their inner selves, but there is no merging: ultimately an individual is in a transactional relationship with them as he is with the rest of the world. Transactions rest on a perception of discontinuity, the gap to be bridged. In this prestige-orientated society the gap between potential and achievement is also the gap between inner qualities and outward performance. Walbiri on ceremonial occasions (1973:50) may overlay themselves with designs to the extent that they impersonate an ancestor within whom the dancer is hidden. In Hagen ancestors are present only if the dancers' display is successful, and this depends in turn on their transactions with the ghosts being satisfactory: proper sacrifices have been made, promises have been kept, and so on. Moreover, the ancestor is there in support; the dancer does not embody him nor do his decorations represent him.

Like Hagen decorations, Walbiri designs make statements about the relationship between inner and outer person. The physical body both covers the dream-experience contained within it and at times is covered by designs representing these inner forces (1973:216). Experiences of the dreamer are also artefacts of the ancestors. Thus when the Walbiri wears designs on the outside, his personal identity is overlaid by forms epitomizing his ancestral social identity (1973:190). In Hagen the dancer's personal identity is to some extent masked by a clan identification, and it is clan as well as individual welfare that interests ancestral ghosts. But although the clan is asserting its

corporate state, this identity does not endow the individual with strength of a different order from his personal power. The individual does not represent himself in a transformed aspect derived from realms of potency generated on another plane. He has only his own resources to bring outside.

It is for this reason that I think Hagen decorations are concerned with the presentation of the self - especially those aspects of the person to do with

Footnote 13 (Continued). be bound to make handsome gifts later; the gleam and shine of certain items, especially shells, and the fragrance of red ochre are also said to attract valuables.




capacity and capability - rather than identity as such. A whole range of social identities is indicated by the decorations, but these idealize rather than transform the person. Thus although as Geli points out (1975:320-321) myths about "changing skin" (the new skin indicating a new personality) are common in New Guinea generally, including Hagen, these decorations are not a second skin and are not referred to readily in this way.

Geli makes general such a proposition about body-paint, that "it is a modification of the skin, even, perhaps, the acquisition of a new skin" (1975: 320). Now the Umeda decorate themselves to represent cassowaries, fish, demons, spirits and other creatures, although at the same time, because of the attributes of these creatures, they are representing ideal stereotypes of young men, elders, and so forth. Through the medium of animal disguise Geli argues that dancers of the ida ritual may express certain values and qualities about themselves as persons: thus the cassowary highlights the possibility of social autonomy for senior* men. Such possibilities can be expressed only in a disguised form, so the human identity of the actor is overlaid with that of an animal (1975:230). More than this, the identification of the dancer with cassowary is itself a disguise for a profounder identification between cassowary and man (1975:243). Statements are thus being made about things that cannot otherwise be expressed. Here is an example of bringing together elements of a different order from one another, so that revelation or recognition involves an experience of mystery (cf. Barth, 1975:221-222). There is something of this in Hageners' performance of spirit cults, and part of the proceedings may involve an explicit assumption of special identity (Strathern, A., 1970); when performers of the Female Spirit cult burst out of the enclosure the spectators shout that the Spirit is coming (Strathern, A. & M., 1971:56). There were occasions in the past when other spirits were impersonated. But the particular meaning of decorations in these religious contexts cannot be extended to decorations as a whole. There is no basic mystery about identity when dancers parade themselves at a moka festival. They are simply bringing into the open resources ordinarily kept hidden.

This is a final reason for calling the act self-decoration. For although the revelation is to the spectators, it is not for them, as it would be for a ritual congregation. There is the hope that they will admire, will be struck by awe, will accord prestige - yet only their opinions, not some sense of more general being, will be modified by the experience. It is the dancers who will be altered. They will be affected by what the audience thinks, both pragmatically in that success or failure in this venture will influence the next, and spiritually, for their wellbeing is at stake. The kind of display they can put on will have repercussions in their social and political relations with others, indicate the state of inner resource and point to future destiny. In a way they are testing themselves, and it is for themselves that they decorate.




References

Barth, F. (1975): Ritual and Knowledge among the Baktaman of New Guinea. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Faris, J. C. (1972): Nuba Personal Art. London: Duckworth. Geli, A. F. (1972): Review of 'Self -decoration in Mount Hagen'. Man, n.s. Vol. 7, pp.

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Symbolic Anthropology I. E. Schwimmer, (Ed.). London: Hurst; Montreal: Me Gill- Queen's University Press. __ _ _ _ _ ,

Strathern, A. & M. (1971): Self-decoration in Mount Hagen. London: uucKWorm. Strauss, H. (1962): Die Mi-Kultur der Hagenberg-òtamme im vswenen ¿enirai-iy eugumeu.

Hamburg: Cram, de Gruyter& Co. __ __ _ _ , Vicedom, G. F. and Tischner, H. (1943-8): Die Mbowamo. iiamourg: ̂ ram, ae oruyier

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The Self in Self-Decoration