Citation

Brison KJ. Anthropol. Humanism. 1996; 21(1): 5-18.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1996, Society for Humanistic Anthropology and the American Anthropological Association, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1525/ahu.1996.21.1.5

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of European representations on identity in a Papua New Guinean village. Local leaders reinforce their authority by echoing a colonial rhetoric portraying Melanesians as "ignoble savages." On other occasions the same leaders praise local society as orderly, showing that they do not entirely subscribe to European views. But villagers have internalized the European view that Melanesians are violent, an assumption that helps to keep villagers poor and powerless.

Language: en