In the Midst of Life: Affect and Ideation in the World of the Tolai (Studies in Melanesian Anthropology, No 9)

661 Pages·1992·1.9 MB·English

by  A. L. Epstein

In the Midst of Life : Affect and Ideation in
title: the World of the Tolai Studies in
Melanesian Anthropology ; 9
author: Epstein, A. L.
publisher: University of California Press
isbn10 | asin: 0520075625
print isbn13: 9780520075627
ebook isbn13: 9780585127934
language: English
Tolai (Melanesian people)--Psychology,
Tolai (Melanesian people)--Social life and
customs, Philosophy, Tolai,
Ethnopsychology--Papua New Guinea--
subject
Gazelle Peninsula, Emotions, Affect
(Psychology) , Gazelle Peninsula (Papua
New Guinea)--Social life and custo
publication date: 1992
lcc: DU740.42.E67 1992eb
ddc: 155.8/4995
Tolai (Melanesian people)--Psychology,
Tolai (Melanesian people)--Social life and
customs, Philosophy, Tolai,
subject: Ethnopsychology--Papua New Guinea--
Gazelle Peninsula, Emotions, Affect
(Psychology) , Gazelle Peninsula (Papua
New Guinea)--Social life and custo
Page i
In The Midst of Life
Page ii
STUDIES IN MELANESIAN ANTHROPOLOGY
General Editors
Donald F. Tuzin
Gilbert H. Herdt
Rena Lederman
1. Michael Young, Magicians of Manumanua: Living Myth in
Kalauna
2. Gilbert H. Herdt, ed., Ritualized Homosexuality in Melanesia
3. Bruce M. Knauft, Good Company and Violence: Sorcery and Social
Action in a Lowland New Guinea Society
4. Kenneth E. Read, Return to the High Valley: Coming Full Circle
5. James F. Weiner, The Heart of the Pearl Shell: The Mythological
Dimension of Foi Society
6. Marilyn Strathern, The Gender of the Gift: Problems with Women
and Problems with Society in Melanesia
7. James G. Carrier and Achsah H. Carrier, Wage, Trade, and
Exchange in Melanesia: A Manus Society in the Modern State
8. Christopher Healey, Maring Hunters and Traders: Producation and
Exchange in the Papua New Guinea Highlands
9. A. L. Epstein, In the Midst of Life: Affect and Ideation in the World
of the Tolai
Page iii
In The Midst of Life
Affect and Ideation in the World of the Tolai
A. L. Epstein
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
Berkeley / Los Angeles / Oxford
Page iv
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press
Oxford, England
Copyright © 1992 by The Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Epstein, A. L. (Arnold Leonard)
In the midst of life : affect and ideation in the world of the
Tolai / A. L. Epstein.
p. cm.(Studies in Melanesian anthropology; 9)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-520-07562-5 (alk. paper)
1. Tolai (Melanesian people)Psychology. 2. Tolai
(Melanesian people)Social life and customs. 3. Philosophy,
Tolai. 4. EthnopsychologyPapua New GuineaGazelle
Peninsula (New Britain Island) 5. Emotions. 6. Affect
(Psychology) 7. Gazelle Peninsula (New Britain Island, Papua
New Guinea)Social life and customs.
I. Title. II. Series.
DU740.42.E67 1992
155.8'4995dc20 91-31561
CIP
Printed in the United States of America
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements
of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984

Page v
Ta ra tarai
Matupit
upi
a varvanuknuk ure kaugu kini
livuan pirediat
and for
Michelle and Debbie
who will have their own recollections
of Rabaul
Page vi
The human being is the most complex system in nature; his superiority over
other animals is as much a consequence of his more complex affect system as
it is of his more complex analytical capacities. Out of the marriage of reason
with affect there issues clarity with passion. Reason without affect would be
important, affect without reason would be blind. The combination of affect and
reason guarantees man's high degree of freedom.
Silvan Tomkins 1963:1, 112
Page vii
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
1 1
Exploring Affect: Some Preliminary Issues
2 29
The Tolai: Habitat, History, Society
3 53
The Language of the Emotions
4 80
Work, Ambition, and Envy
5 116
Of Kin, Love, and Anger
6 150
Tambu, Grief, and the Meaning of Death
7 198
Affect and the Self
8 248
Epilogue: The Anthropologist as Onion-Peeler