Collection Guide
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Strathern (Andrew) and Pamela J. Stewart Photographs and Audiorecordings
MSS 0477
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Table of contents
Languages:
English
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: Andrew Strathern and Pamela J. Stewart Photographs and Audiorecordings
Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0477
Physical Description:
0.4 Linear feet
(1 archives box)
Date (inclusive): 1964-1998
Abstract: Photographs and audiorecordings of Professor Andrew Strathern and Dr. Pamela J. Stewart, who are a husband and wife research
team. Strathern and Stewart have carried out long-term fieldwork in the Western and Southern Highlands Provinces of Papua
New Guinea, studying political and economic systems, kinship, religion, symbolism, genre identities, life histories, and farming
practices.
Acquired 1999.
Andrew Strathern and Pamela J. Stewart Photographs and Audiorecordings, MSS 477. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Professor Andrew Strathern and Dr. Pamela J. Stewart are a husband and wife research team who carry out long-term fieldwork
in Papua New Guinea, primarily with the Duna and Wiru people of the Southern Highlands Province and the Melpa people of the
Western Highlands Province, as well as, in Scotland, Ireland, Taiwan, Japan, and The Netherlands. Andrew Strathern is the
Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Anthropology and Pamela J. Stewart is Research Associate at the Department of Anthropology,
University of Pittsburgh. Drawing both on their fieldwork and analysis of older written sources, they published extensively
and co-authored articles and books.
Strathern and Stewart have a broad range of research interests within anthropology. Strathern's research interest include
the analysis of political and economic systems, kinship theories, social change, religion, symbolism, ethnicity, legal anthropology,
conflict and violence, the anthropology of the body, and the cross-cultural study of medical systems. Stewart's research focuses
on women's identities and life histories, farming practices and national identity, patient/physician communication, religious
change and sorcery, forms of violence and its impact in the U.S., Scotland, and Papua New Guinea.
Scope and Content of Collection
Photographs and audiorecordings from the Andrew Strathern and Pamela J. Stewart collection document daily life, customs, and
song performances of Wiru, Melpa, and Duna speaking people of Papua New Guinea, Western and Southern Highlands Provinces.
The collection comprises three sets of photographs and two tapes with audiorecordings that were produced during fieldwork
conducted over two decades in Papua New Guinea.
The collection is arranged in two series: 1) PHOTOGRAPHS and 2) AUDIORECORDINGS.
SERIES 1: PHOTOGRAPHS
The PHOTOGRAPHS series comprises three sets of black-and-white and color photographs taken during long-term fieldwork conducted
in Western and Sourthern Highlands Provinces of Papua New Guinea. The materials are arranged in three sets preserving the
titles and original order supplied by the owner.
The first set of photographs was taken among the Wiru-speaking people of Pangia and dates from the late 1970s to the early
1980s. The photographs document the construction of a longhouse at Mamuane, as well as facial decoration and costumes of Tunda
male recipients.
The second set of photographs, the largest in the collection, is comprised of 153 black-and-white photographs, dating from
the early 1970s to the mid-1980s. Photographs document the performances of the AMB KOR-Female Spirit Ritual - one of the most
important indigenous cults that is practiced in the Western and Southern Highlands Provinces of Papua New Guinea. The images
detail the events that occured during the ritual's enactment in the Melpa speaking vicinity of Mount Hagen in the Western
Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. The photographs capture various stages of the ritual sequence including preparations,
pig sacrifices, and final gatherings and celebrations and were published in
The Spirit Is Coming (1999) with extensive text commentaries by Andrew Strathern and Pamela J. Stewart.
The third set is a collection of color photographs taken among the Duna-speaking people in Hagu Village of the Southern Highland
Province of Papua New Guinea, dating from 1998. The photographs capture daily occupations, customs, and traditional outfits
of villagers as well as the village's natural setting and environment. Well documented in the set is food preparation and
consumption.
SERIES 2: AUDIORECORDINGS
The AUDIORECORDINGS series comprises two tapes recorded in 1967 in Pangia, Papua New Guinea. The tapes document Namasu sing-sing,
a celebration for an opening of a store, stories of tambaran cults told by local informants, and woman and man stories. The
collection contains both the original 3" reel to reel recordings and listener copies on cassette.
Publication rights are held by the creators of the collection.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Melpa (Papua New Guinean people)
Wiru (Papua New Guinean people)
Duna (Papua New Guinean people)