Dobu Island is an island, part of
D'Entrecasteaux Islands in
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
. It is located south of
Fergusson Island and north of
Normanby Island. It is currently administered by
Dobu Rural LLG
Dobu Rural LLG is a local-level government (LLG) administering Dobu Island in Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Pap ...
.
The people of Dobu were the subject of a seminal anthropological study by
Reo Fortune
Reo Franklin Fortune (27 March 1903 – 25 November 1979) was a New Zealand-born social anthropologist. Originally trained as a psychologist, Fortune was a student of some of the major theorists of British and American social anthropology i ...
. He described the Dobuan character as "paranoid", obsessed with black magic, and as having extremely unusual attitudes toward sex and violence.
Fortune's account was reiterated by
Ruth Benedict
Ruth Fulton Benedict (June 5, 1887 – September 17, 1948) was an American anthropologist and folklorist.
She was born in New York City, attended Vassar College, and graduated in 1909. After studying anthropology at the New School of Social Re ...
in her popular work ''Patterns of Culture''. However, many later anthropologists expressed skepticism.
Ann Chowning
Martha Ann Chowning (born 18 April 1929 in Little Rock, Arkansas; died 25 September 2016 in Auckland) was an anthropologist, ethnographer, archaeologist and linguist known for her work on the peoples, languages, cultures and histories of Oceania.
...
, review of Fortune's ''Sorcerers of Dobu'', ''American Anthropologist'', New Series, Vol. 66, No. 2 (Apr., 1964), pp. 455-457
Fortune's analysis was significantly challenged by
Susanne Kuehling Susanne Kuehling is a scholar of anthropology and ethnology. She currently works at the University of Regina.
Career
Kuehling is interested in the study of small matrilinear and matrilocal societies. Her research and teaching includes also the eth ...
in her 2005 title ''Dobu: Ethics of Exchange on a Massim Island, Papua New Guinea''. In particular, Kuehling's interest lies at the intersection of ethics and personal conduct.
References
Sources
* Benedict, Ruth (1934). ''Patterns of Culture''. New York: Houghton Mifflin.
* Fortune, Reo (1932, repr. 1963). ''Sorcerers of Dobu: the social anthropology of the Dobu Islanders of the Western Pacific''. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
* Kuehling, Susanne (2005). ''Dobu: Ethics of Exchange on a Massim Island, Papua New Guinea.'' Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
External links
George Brown, ''Melanesians and Polynesians, their life-histories described and compared,'' Published 1910 by Macmillan and co. Ltd., London - Open Library
D'Entrecasteaux Islands
Islands of Milne Bay Province
{{MilneBayProvince-geo-stub