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Giving Sorrow New Words: Shifting Politics of Bereavement in a Papua New Guinea Village
Author(s) -
Brison Karen J.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
ethos
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.783
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1548-1352
pISSN - 0091-2131
DOI - 10.1525/eth.1998.26.4.363
Subject(s) - sorrow , personhood , polity , politics , sociology , new guinea , sustenance , schism , gender studies , identity (music) , social psychology , psychology , aesthetics , political science , ethnology , law , art
This article examines the relationship between personhood and polity among the Kwanga of New Guinea, using as an example the response of a Christian pastor and his wife to the sudden death of their daughter. The position is adopted that emotional experience and expression are profoundly shaped by cultural scripts, which are, in turn, linked to systems of inequality. Conditions are identified under which, during personal crises— such as bereavement—when fundamental assumptions are challenged, some people can reflect on and make restorative innovations in tacit cultural scripts whereas others incorporate suffering within a passive identity as victim. Particular attention is given to gender relations and the creation of new roles for Kwanga men.