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Bibliographia
Anthropos 68. 1973
round fiat stones of various sizes with drilled holes in the middle, also stone star clups
and birds and human face figurines. These implements, however, as I have noticed, had
no other functional use among the Chimbus but as for magical fertility rites and white
war magic. That such implements have been part of the former Chimbu culture, as P.
Brown claims, seems to me rather being a conjecture.
Great and rapid changes had taken place in Chimbu culture from the begin of
the first contact in 1933 till 1958 when the author commenced her field work. Even
greater changes can be noticed up till 1972, hence her statements referring to Local
Government Councils authority and activities, and to Primary school curricula as being
divorced from the daily lives of the native children would rather comply with the situa
tion of some years past. Nowadays Native Local Government Councils stand firmly on
their own feet. They set up their Agenda for their monthly meetings and conduct the
meetings even without the Government adviser.
Wat P. Brown has said of the Chimbu man in 1958 that he observes the better
way of life of Western Civilization and desires the goods that could give him a higher
life’s standard holds still for the same man in 1973.
But when she says such discrepancy in the standard of living as up to date would
be the result 1. of the people not having been shown the proper means of obtaining the
knowledge and capabilities which would make them equal partners with the Europeans
and 2. of the return for their labour and produce being too low in comparison to the prices
they have to pay for those goods desired, the reader does not get the full truth of the
situation. There are other facts she did not mention, e.g., the inconsistency of hard work
and planned efforts, hence the low quality of the main cash crop coffee offered for sale.
Besides utopic ideas that money and material for better housing for schools and aidposts
should be the responsibility of a generous Government instead of their own hard efforts,
were favouring further inequality and distance between hope and reality for a better
standard of living.
Despite these discrepancies with reality in P. Brown’s book the student in
Anthropology may still find the book a valuable source of information of a Stone Age
culture in change. John Nilles