THE EMBODIMENT OF RESPONSIBILITY: “CONFESSION” AND “COMPENSATION” IN MOUNT HAGEN, PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Authors

Andrew Strathern, University of Pittsburgh
Pamela J. Stewart, University of Pittsburgh

Abstract

We discuss two contexts of responsibility for action in Mount Hagen, confession and compensation. Verbal confessions of either wrongdoing or resentment against wrongdoing are important signs of the exercise of agency, but if they are not made, it is expected that sickness will result. “Substance” thus takes over where “agency” fails, and the two are intimately linked. Compensation payments can be seen as nonverbal equivalents of confession or the logical result of it, and if they are not paid, sickness or a failure of wounds to heal is thought to be likely as a result. In contemporary times both confession and compensation have been deflected toward more individuated and commodified forms through the influence of Christianity and monetization of the economy

Recommended Citation

Strathern, Andrew and Stewart, Pamela J. (1998) "THE EMBODIMENT OF RESPONSIBILITY: “CONFESSION” AND “COMPENSATION” IN MOUNT HAGEN, PAPUA NEW GUINEA," Pacific Studies: Vol. 21: No. 1, Article 4.
Available at: https://digitalcollections.byuh.edu/pacific-studies-journal/vol21/iss1/4