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Chiefdoms. Background. The people of Tikopia Island were studied by New Zealand Anthropologist Raymond Firth 1928-29. Polynesian ramages typically are denoted by a prefix along the lines of Sa, Haa, Pa, etc. followed by the name of the founding ancestor.
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Background The people of Tikopia Island were studied by New Zealand Anthropologist Raymond Firth 1928-29.
Polynesian ramages typically are denoted by a prefix along the lines of Sa, Haa, Pa, etc. followed by the name of the founding ancestor. Many features of chiefdoms can be understood by reference to religious beliefs involved with ancestor veneration.
Ancestor Veneration • The power of the souls of ancestors is held to endure in death. • In stratified societies, the power of the dead is in proportion to their status in life. • The dead are held to be able to influence the fortunes of the living. • Burial places and objects owned by the dead exude this power.
Animatism: impersonal power • Animatism is the belief in a power that runs through all of nature, over which humans have some control, for good or evil. It gives efficacy to magic. • It is manifested as the force in the Star Wars movies – and was probably inspired by the concept.
Mana and Tapu • Impersonal power is called Mana in Polynesia and Melanesia. In Samoan: also called Mamana. • It is found in unequal degree in places, in men and women, and in aristocrats and non-aristocrats, hence it is the supernatural justification of social inequality, separation, and avoidance. • A corollary concept of mana is tapu, or taboo. The word expresses the caution or avoidance that must be exercised in the presence of someone or something with great mana. A Hawaiian temple is called tapuapuatea.
In Ireland • These concepts have their counterparts in early Medieval Ireland where aristocrats were considered to be nemed individuals, or “holy,” and they were bound by certain avoidances, or gessa.
Chieftains • In contrast to the status of headman, chieftain is an office in that it exists apart from the person who fills it. In that respect, it is what anthropologists term an institution: …”..a reasonably enduring, complex, integrated pattern of behavior by which social control is exerted…” • Succession to office is determined by rules involving descent from a chief, such as primogeniture. Primogeniture is the rule that the first-born male inherits everything, exclusive to his siblings.
Aristocracy • In contrast to egalitarian societies in chiefdoms there are social strata where it is accepted that there are groups of people that are social superior and socially inferior. Hence a chiefdom is a stratified society. • Relatives and descendants of chieftains are a class of socially superior people. Therefore they constitute an aristocracy. They are set off by titles, speech, dress, possession of prestige objects, etc.
