Anthropology: Melanesia

Anthropology: Melanesia

The tribal horticultural tribal societies of Papua New Guinea use food as physical and symbolic devices which serve to conciliate the ambivalent relationships of men and women , construct gender identity   and imitate reproduction . The parallels drawn between agriculture and sexual practices as well as exchange and sexual relations will be illustrated below.




Although yams, pork and taro are the key foods which offer insight into the total social system of Papua New Guineas entropic and initiatory tribal communities, all foods including their prohibitions, production and exchange play a great role in the formation of gender identity, sexual relations and reproduction. Among the Hua, food can serve in the capacity of “symbolic devices used to enforce male superiority”   but also as constructors of gender identity evidenced by the korogo-hakeri’a classification of male and female qualities of foods and all natural phenomenon.

Although this distinction is not limited to the initiatory tribes it is most important in enforcing male identity among the Hua who have concepts of sexual neutrality among children and elders . While the food taboos themselves tell a great deal concerning the ambivalence of sexual function and the segregation of the sexes, the intermixing of these two food group classes actually reduces sexual opposition and ambivalence .

“Clearly, the value of a food may depend of the relationship between its producer and its consumer. That is, food is a social Symbol”

Yams are attributed anthropomorphically in the highlands, with a variety of sexual attributes ranging from the possession of spirits that connect ancestral lineages to the secretion of semen and erectile qualities. In addition to the yams symbolic equivalence to male identity we will discuss their functions in marriage exchange and contribution to women’s wealth.  

In the mountainous regions of northern Papua New Guinea, yams are strongly associated with...