Exploring the Gebusi: A Study of Papua New Guinea's Culture and Customs - Essay Sample

Introduction

Across the universe, a vast number of anthropological works have been carried out by many professionals who aim at understanding the world phenomenon of different ethnic groups and communities. Therefore, much effort is placed on the use of participant observation to help interact and get absorbed into such communities as a way of learning more about the cultures. The Gebusi represents a community-based in Papua New Guinea and illustrates the various cultural practices and norms they held and practiced.

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How Dr. Knauft Utilized Participant Observation

Dr. Knauft and his wife left the United States to attend to a personal discovery journey in New Guinea and lived amongst the Gebusi community. Participant observation became eminent in Dr. Knauft's adventures in that he used the skill as a way of getting to know the Gebusi community better and lived amongst them as their own (Knauft, 2015). He immersed himself in the community's activities and cultural practices.

His involvement in the community's activities and culture helped him and his wife get societal acceptance, which enabled them to understand the cultural ways of the people. They were able to learn more about kogwayays by using personal volition and participation to interact and observe such developments. He understood the meaning of such terms by using participant observation to learn and acknowledge their purposes. For example, kog means togetherness while wa-la meant to talk.

They were able to build rapport with the community members by fully engaging in their cultural practices through cultural relativism. They developed a consistent relationship, which enabled Dr. Knauft to engage in other activities with the male counterparts, which involved smoking tobacco from tobacco pipes, participating in ritual feasts, horse playing, joking, and banter play with the Gebusi men (Knauft, 2015). Such efforts reinstated their presence in the community as a significant aid factor earning them the need to be cared for and looked after by the community members and other elements of play.

Foraging and Horticulture Use by the Gebusi

Foraging can get understood as the process through which participants gather food from uncultivated plants and animals. The Gebusi had endless lands filled with numerous kinds of food plants and undomesticated animals. They lived a nomadic lifestyle that involved eating wild roots and plants, supplementing it with meat and other animal products from both domesticated and non -domesticated animals within their reach (Knauft, 2015). They shared their resources and moved from one region to another during seasonal changes as a way of maintaining control and giving adequate land time to redevelop. They were stationary and, at times, semi-nomadic with semi-domesticated pigs getting used as a meal source. They also hunted for their meals when there is a need and fished for animal protein gain.

The Gebusi also relied on horticultural techniques in which they owned gardens and farms, which they cultivated for personal use. They planted their crops and used limited technological advances to carry out planting. They used steel hoes to plant and uproot roots and foods necessary for their survival. They practiced crop rotation by rotating through a series of crop fields available to them, thereby maintaining the natural composition of their lands.

The Gebusi Coming of Age Ceremony

The coming of age ceremony meant that boys would turn into men and, therefore, needed to get initiated to manhood. The Gebusi community had cultural practices that bordered between spirituality, material gifts, and even kinship. The selected initiates were to engage in the homosexual act to consummate their manhood status. The ceremony required tremendous effort to pull of and pays homage to spirituality, as such, the community conducted a series of rituals and prayers as a sign of offering their spirit heads the opportunity to partake of each initiate and conform them to practicing and paying homage to the spirits even after initiation (Knauft, 2015). Spirit people contacted these mediums as a way of safeguarding them.

Material gifts and exchange was a common practice during the ceremony as the boys turned to men and had to be acknowledged by community members. They held uncounted festivities with gift sharing and exchange being the norm. It allowed for communal togetherness and earned them a social homage (Knauft, 2015). The kinship group for the Gebusi involved regular sibling ties; hence the initiates became part of a new family in which they forged new links and interclan relations. These friendships would serve as survival fronts for later years.

Gender Practices Between Males and Females in the Gebusi Community

The male counterparts in the Gebusi community got expected to hunt, fish, build substantial houses, cut down sago palms as a way of fertilizing their agricultural lands, make weapons for fishing, and hunting use and for protection as well. They are also predominantly in charge of distributing wealth and welfare measures to community people (Knauft, 2015). They are community heads, and power distribution gets based on them. They, therefore, make decisions concerning the whole community.

Women got tasked with cultivating the land and crop production. They also carry out fishing as an additional supplement. They were also tasked with processing the sago palms and bringing forth firewood. They had adequate skill knowledge in making string bags, bark clothes, skirts, and baskets. They did wedding and harvesting activities for the community and their husbands. They also acted as dancers during ceremonial events.

Role of Sorcery

All-natural deaths in the Gebusi community were attributed to sorcery. Their view was that people caused any human death through the use of witchcraft and violence. The older people were blamed for such actions.

The male members were tasked with investigating the cause of death and taking considerable action against the sorcerer. The sorcerers attributed to causing such deaths were to be executed, and certain body parts to be consumed (Knauft, 2015). Sorcery came in two different ways, which is Bogay, which referred to as parcel sorcery in which the victim falls sick for an unexplained period and involves the manipulation of the person's living. Ogowili is assault sorcery in which magical warriors attack and cause sudden deaths.

How the Gebusi Culture Was Altered by Outside Influence

The Gebusi of Papua New Guinea had immediate exposure to several world changes and had to develop a structural government. They had to adopt the monetary policy in their workings, forcing them to seek new strategies of getting income (Knauft, 2015). The community grew more substantial in size, needing the prospective leaders to seek out and develop new strategies for management and equitable resource distribution.

The community also adopted world views on clothing in which they opted to forgo traditional gear and seek new imports. They had to counteract changes such as industrial growth, airstrip developments, tobacco planting, and exportation to other countries as a medium for exchange. As such, the influences placed them on the line of civilization.

References

Knauft, B. (2015). The Gebusi: Lives Transformed in a Rainforest World. Waveland Press. https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=OnauCgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=%22The+Gebusi:+Lives+Transformed+in+a+Rainforest+World%22&ots=UWwk8x8MRQ&sig=27r8E0u08DciEraRijNTqww32B8&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22The%20Gebusi%3A%20Lives%20Transformed%20in%20a%20Rainforest%20World%22&f=false