The Rope of Moka: Big-men and Ceremonial Exchange in Mount Hagen New Guinea (Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology)

by Andrew Strathern (Author)

• New

  Paperback
  1975

  $31.65

  In the Mount Hagen area of central New Guinea, warfare has been replaced since the arrival of the Europeans by a vigorous development of moka, a competitive ceremonial exchange of wealth objects. The exchanges of pigs, shells and other valuables are interpreted as acting as a bond between groups, and as a means whereby individuals, notably the big-men, can maximize their status. Professor Strathern analyses the ways in which competition between big-men actually takes place, and the effects of this competition on the overall political system.