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Article: MAKING UP PEOPLE IN PAPUA.(new ways to be, anthropological research, Papua New Guinea)
- Article from:
- Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
- Article date:
- June 1, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Royal Anthropological Institute. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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This article focuses on a frequently reported but poorly analysed aspect of colonial and postcolonial relations in Melanesia, the episodic jettisoning of social practices. Under what conditions does this occur and what forms does it take? It is argued here that such changes are part of the process of 'making up people'. Making up people in Melanesia is where 'human kinds' are created through the 'looping effects' of government, mission and capitalist, and local, discourses and coercions. These processes are analysed among the Fuyuge of highland Papua, where since the 1940s there has emerged a transformed relation between homicide and head-dress adornments. The Fuyuge ...