Fighting with Food: Leadership, Values and Social Control in a Massim Society

by Michael W. Young

Book Overview

The Melanesians of Goodenough Island, off the eastern coast of New Guinea, have developed the principle of gift-giving to an extraordinary degree. Instead of resorting to arms in their quarrels or demanding compensation for offences, they present enemies and offenders with pigs and yams in order to shame them. This custom of coercive gift-giving operates at various organizational levels and through two main institutional forms: competitive food exchange...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521107660
• ISBN13: 9780521107662
• Release Date: February 2009
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 312 Pages
• Weight: 1.01 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"