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Trobriand Islands

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Template:Short description Template:Infobox islands The Trobriand Islands are a Template:Convert archipelago of coral atolls off the east coast of New Guinea. They are part of the nation of Papua New Guinea and are in Milne Bay Province. Most of the population of 60,000 (2016) indigenous inhabitants live on the main island of Kiriwina, which is also the location of the government station, Losuia.

Other major islands in the group are Kaileuna, Vakuta, and Kitava. The group is considered to be an important tropical rainforest ecoregion in need of conservation.

GeographyEdit

The Trobriands consist of four main islands: Kiriwina—the largest—and Kaileuna, Vakuta, and Kitava. Kiriwina is Template:Convert long, and varies in width from Template:Convert. In the 1980s, there were around 60 villages on the island, containing around 12,000 people, while the other islands were restricted to a population of hundreds. Other than some elevation on Kiriwina, the islands are flat coral atolls and "remain hot and humid throughout the year, with frequent rainfall."<ref name="Weiner 1988">Template:Cite book</ref>

PeopleEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

HistoryEdit

File:Soul boat, Trobriand Islands, Paupa New Guinea, Bishop Museum, 1989.400.268.JPG
Soul boat, Kiriwina, Trobriand Islands (wood and white lime)

The first European visitor to the islands was the French ship Espérance in 1793. The ship's navigator, Antoine Bruni d'Entrecasteaux, named them after his first lieutenant, Denis de Trobriand.

Whaling ships called at the islands for food, water, and wood in the 1850s and 1860s.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The first Europeans to settle in the Trobriand islands were a Methodist minister, Samuel Benjamin Fellows, and his wife Sarah Margaret Fellows, who moved to Kiriwina in 1894. They were followed a decade later by colonial officers from Australia who set up a governmental station nearby, and soon foreign traders began to set up a small colony on the island. In the 1930s, the Sacred Heart Catholic Mission set up a settlement containing a primary school nearby. It was following this European colonisation that the name "Trobriand" was legally adopted for this group of islands.<ref name="Weiner 1988"/>

The first anthropologist to study the Trobrianders was C. G. Seligman, who focused on the Massim people of mainland New Guinea. Seligman was followed a number of years later by his student, Bronisław Malinowski, who visited the islands during the First World War. Despite being a citizen of the Austro-Hungarian empire, which was at war with Australia, which then controlled the Trobriand Islands, he was allowed to stay (provided he checked in with authorities every now and then).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> His descriptions of the kula exchange system, gardening, magic, and sexual practices—all classics of modern anthropological writing—prompted many foreign researchers to visit the societies of the island group and study other aspects of their cultures. The psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich drew on Malinowski's studies of the islands in writing The Invasion of Compulsory Sex Morality and in developing his theory of sex economy in his 1936 work {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}.

In 1943, Allied troops landed on the islands as a part of Operation Cartwheel, the Allied advance to Rabaul.

In the 1970s, some indigenous peoples formed anti-colonial associations and political movements.

In October 2022, tribal fighting broke out on Kiriwina between the Kulumata and Kuboma people, reportedly triggered by a death during fighting at a football match. At least 30 people died. While fights between different groups were not uncommon, this was the first time they had resulted in a large number of deaths.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Trobriand Islands in the modern dayEdit

Growing populationEdit

Since 1975, the government of Papua New Guinea has had political control of the island, and its population has expanded quickly.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite AV media</ref> More land has been cleared to accommodate the increasing population.<ref name=":0" /> Environmental problems such as deforestation are affecting the islands.<ref name=":0" /> The government often sends social workers to increase the use of birth control and contraception,<ref name=":0" /> but the Trobrianders are not receptive to outside influences dictating their reproductive norms. This means that sex is "the most natural thing in the culture".<ref name=":0" /> Another effect of Trobriand promiscuity is the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS caused by foreigners on the island.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite book</ref> The first documented case of HIV/AIDS was reported in 2001. HIV has become a major health problem. Since young Trobrianders often have multiple sexual partners before marriage, it is hard to slow the spread of the disease.<ref name=":3" /> "The moralistic tropes of risk and promiscuity that dominate the language of HIV prevention are not easily accommodated by Trobriand ideations of sexuality, which celebrate premarital sexual activity as healthy and life-affirming, and which stress the productive values of reciprocity and relations of difference."<ref name=":3" />

Income inequalityEdit

After statehood in 1975, the Trobriand Islands' economy was restructured to fit a tourist and export market. Most Trobrianders live on less than one dollar a day.<ref name=":0" /> Since food has been traditionally distributed among the people based on need, there has been little need for a currency-based economy outside of the Kula rings.<ref name=":4">Template:Cite book</ref> To counteract this lack of hard currency, several western goods stores have opened on the islands and created most of the foreign goods market. These stores are multimillion-dollar enterprises.<ref name=":0" /> Most Trobrianders struggle to buy goods from these stores because they only take cash.<ref name=":0" /> Due to this practice, there are often reports of unrest because of a lack of funds. One remedy that many islanders seek is to sell cultural artifacts and relics to tourists in exchange for their currency.<ref name=":3" /> For example, a worker can spend 10 days working on a ceremonial turtle bowl and only get paid $10. "This commercialization is often done sanctimoniously."<ref name=":4" /> "They protect their cultural identity and use it as a tourist commodity". One imported item that causes economic and social problems is betel nuts.<ref name=":0" /> They are a major narcotic on the island.<ref name=":0" /> Due to this new currency-based economy there is more reported crime on the islands. There is a great economic disparity due to the income inequality between the modern world and the Trobriands.

File:Bronisław Malinowski among Trobriand tribe 2 (cropped).jpg
Early education on the islands featuring Malinowski

EducationEdit

In addition to missionary schools, there are public schools on the Trobriands that were introduced by the government of Papua New Guinea. "All children are required to go to school".<ref name=":0" /> The required subjects are English, maths, science, and culture. Schools also educate students about current international events.<ref name=":0" /> Maths is the favorite subject among the students of the island.<ref name=":0" /> On Wednesdays, children are required to dress in traditional garb as part of the government-mandated culture day<ref name=":0" /> and encouraged to explore Trobriand culture, history and values.

Malinowski's plaque in KiriwinaEdit

File:Malinowskis plaque.jpg
A plaque dedicated to Bronisław Malinowski in Omarakana, decorated by village children

There is a commemorative plaque dedicated to Bronisław Malinowski in Omarakana village, the residence village of the Paramount Chief of Trobriand Islands.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The current chief, Pulayasi Daniel, says it is in the place where Malinowski's tent stood at the beginning of the 20th century.<ref name=":5">Template:Cite book</ref> There are two inscriptions on it, one in Polish and one in English, that say: "Toboma Miskabati Bronislaw Malinowski (1884–1942) Notable scientist The son of the Polish nation Father of the modern social anthropology Friend of Trobriand Islands peoples and the populizer of their culture". The plaque was brought to Kiriwina by sailors Monika Bronicka and Mariusz Delgas,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> who took it from New Zealand, where it was left by two other yachts: Maria and Victoria.<ref name=":5" /> The plaque was sponsored by Jagiellonian University in Kraków and the National Museum in Szczecin, Poland.<ref name=":5" />

Tourism and artist visitsEdit

The Trobriand Islands are South Sea islands that have so far been little developed for tourism. In 2012 the German painter Ingo Kühl made studies on the kula culture in Kiriwina and Port Moresby.<ref>Ingo Kühl Sketchbook Trobriand Islands (ingokuehl.com PDF)</ref>

CalendarEdit

The Trobriand Islands have a unique lunar calendar system. There are 12 or 13 lunar cycles, but only 10 are fixed: the others constitute free time. The calendar year begins with the sighting of a worm that appears to spawn, which initiates the Milamak festival. The concept of time on the islands is not linear, and the language has only one tense.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Anthropological studies and pop culture referencesEdit

Books by Malinowski about the TrobriandsEdit

Other books about the TrobriandsEdit

Trobriand Islands in popular cultureEdit

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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Template:Islands of Papua New Guinea Template:Authority control

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