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Cognitive Variability and New Guinea Social Organization: The Buang Dgwa 1
Author(s) -
SANKOFF GILLIAN
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
american anthropologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1548-1433
pISSN - 0002-7294
DOI - 10.1525/aa.1972.74.3.02a00210
Subject(s) - kinship , new guinea , cognition , psychology , sociology , social psychology , anthropology , ethnology , neuroscience
Informal and public discourse on kinship and land tenure among the Buang (New Guinea) reveals marked variability in speakers' assignments of individuals and garden plots to kin groups. Discrepancies occur not only between speakers, but between assignments made by any one speaker at different times. Despite this, consensus is maintained during public discussion. Variability in claims made about kin group affiliation reflects a number of different verbal strategies in talking about kin groups, superimposed on systematically differing individual cognitive maps.