The Gebusi Analytical Paper
Jon Kenney
ANTHRO 2 Wisniewski
"The Gebusi" Analytical Paper
March 11, 2015
"The Gebusi" Analytical Paper
1A.) From the beginning of the text/story I found that Bruce was having the most trouble during his first visit to Papua New Guinea. However, as time passed by during those first few years he made some interesting discoveries along the way. One of the first challenges I found him having problems with was trying to learn their complex language. Their use of the phonemes and morphemes are the two main things that really confused him. When he tries to explain the meaning of the word ‘kogwayay’ and how many different meanings each of the different root words, or morphemes, it has and how much meaning it has in their overall culture. One of his discoveries that he learned/found out early on was the fact that the Gebusi people tended to use their niceness and cover-ups to shade over the continuous struggle with their gender roles, their social inequalities, and the male social domination in the culture/community. For example, Bruce describes one of the spiritual rituals that the Gebusi people often performed is where the men often “gather in the dark longhouse and arrange themselves around the spirit medium while he sat, smoked tobacco, and went into a controlled trance (19)”. Then they would chant together the new voice of the spirit, (very loudly,) throughout the night. As the men do this, the females in the community/tribe are excluded from this ritual and often have to cook the food for the whole gathering of people while the males are laughing, joke, and socializing. However, I am pretty sure that this type of arrangement is very popular all around the world. Also, Bruce goes onto add that men are allowed to fantasize about women all day with their fellow men and no penalty, however, if a woman fantasizes about a man with another woman or is being too flirtatious, then she could easily be beaten by her husbands or brothers. What might be a weird or horrible
ANTHRO 2 Wisniewski
"The Gebusi" Analytical Paper
March 11, 2015
"The Gebusi" Analytical Paper
1A.) From the beginning of the text/story I found that Bruce was having the most trouble during his first visit to Papua New Guinea. However, as time passed by during those first few years he made some interesting discoveries along the way. One of the first challenges I found him having problems with was trying to learn their complex language. Their use of the phonemes and morphemes are the two main things that really confused him. When he tries to explain the meaning of the word ‘kogwayay’ and how many different meanings each of the different root words, or morphemes, it has and how much meaning it has in their overall culture. One of his discoveries that he learned/found out early on was the fact that the Gebusi people tended to use their niceness and cover-ups to shade over the continuous struggle with their gender roles, their social inequalities, and the male social domination in the culture/community. For example, Bruce describes one of the spiritual rituals that the Gebusi people often performed is where the men often “gather in the dark longhouse and arrange themselves around the spirit medium while he sat, smoked tobacco, and went into a controlled trance (19)”. Then they would chant together the new voice of the spirit, (very loudly,) throughout the night. As the men do this, the females in the community/tribe are excluded from this ritual and often have to cook the food for the whole gathering of people while the males are laughing, joke, and socializing. However, I am pretty sure that this type of arrangement is very popular all around the world. Also, Bruce goes onto add that men are allowed to fantasize about women all day with their fellow men and no penalty, however, if a woman fantasizes about a man with another woman or is being too flirtatious, then she could easily be beaten by her husbands or brothers. What might be a weird or horrible