Buka
Also known as: Kurtatchi; Tinputz
Buka is an island separated by a narrow strait from the larger island of Bougainville to the south. The people of Buka and northern Bougainville speak related Austronesian languages, and are sometimes considered a cultural unit. The primary source on this culture, Beatrice Blackwood's 'Both Sides of Buka Passage', is based largely on fieldwork carried out in the Tinputz-speaking village of Kurtatchi on the north coast of Bougainville.
Traditional Culture(1929)Expand All +
Belief
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Supernatural Beings |
| Nature Spirits | Present, but not a major focus of supernatural practice (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 462-543, 524-525 | |
| Nature god(s) | Present, but not a major focus of supernatural practice (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 462-543, 505 | |
| Ancestral spirits | Present, and a major focus of supernatural practice (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 477-478 | |
| Deified ancestor(s) | Absent (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 462-543 | |
| God(s) | Present, but not a major focus of supernatural practice (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 462-543, 505 | |
Supernatural Punishment |
| Supernatural punishment for impiety | Present (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 516-517 | |
Afterlife and Creation |
| One's actions while living can affect the nature of one's afterlife | One factor in determining one's afterlife (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 505-506, 513 | |
| Myth of humanity’s creation | Absent (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 37-40 | |
| Primordial pair | Absent (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 37-40 | |
| Culture hero(es) | Present, but not a major focus of supernatural practice (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 462-543 | |
General Features |
| Forces of nature are controlled by or imbued with the supernatural | Present (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 505 | |
Classes of Tapu |
| Social hierarchy tapu | Absent (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 32-81, 462-543 | |
| Resource management tapu | Absent (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 298-543 | |
| Kinship tapu | Present (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 64-65 | |
Mana |
| Mana as a spiritual or religious concept | Absent (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 475 | |
| Mana as a personal quality | Absent (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 475 | |
| Mana related to social influence or technical skill | Absent (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 475 | |
Practice
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General Supernatural Practices |
| Headhunting | Absent (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935) | |
| Costly sacrifices and offerings | Present (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 278-279, 491 | |
| Largest religious community | Larger than a household, no larger than the local community (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 1-624, 278-279 | |
| Political and religious differentiation | Some overlap (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 50-51, 462-543 | |
Rites |
| Tooth pulling | Absent from culture (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 426 | |
| Scarification | Present in the culture as a rite or feature of a rite (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 426-432 | |
| Piercing | Present in the culture as a rite or feature of a rite (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 424-426 | |
| Tattooing | Absent from culture (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 426 | |
| Genital cutting | Absent from culture (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 424-432 | |
Social Environment
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| Population of largest political community | 100-999 (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 24 | |
| Importance of Patrilateral descent | Low (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 32-33 | |
| Importance of Matrilateral descent | High (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 32-33 | |
| Kinship system | Iroquois (Source) |
| Ogan (1991), pp. 132 | |
| Marital residence | Matrilocal or uxorilocal - with wife's kin (Source) |
| Ogan (1991), pp. 132 | |
Conflict |
| (No) external warfare | Occasional, at least every generation (Source) |
| Ogan (1991), pp. 131, 133 | |
| Conflict within community | Low (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 32-81 | |
| (No) internal warfare | Rare or never (Source) |
| Ogan (1991), pp. 131, 133 | |
Isolation
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| Contact with other cultures | Frequent, through trade, warfare, travel, etc. (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. xxii-xiii | |
| Distance to closest landmass inhabited by a different culture (km) | 0.0 (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. xxii-xxiii | |
| Distance to nearest continent | 1447.0 (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. xxii Daft Logic Distance Calculator (2014) |
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| Pre-Austronesian population | Present: Clear evidence of human occupation prior to Austronesian settlement (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 109 | |
| Hindu / Buddhist influence on supernatural belief | No evidence of influence and not in region of known contact (Source) |
| Cribb (2000), pp. 2.21 | |
| Islamic influence on supernatural belief | No evidence of influence and not in region of known contact (Source) |
| Cribb (2000), pp. 2.23 | |
| Christian influence on supernatural belief | No evidence of influence but in a region where contact is likely (Source) |
| Ogan (1991), pp. 131 | |
Subsistence and Economy
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Land-based means of subsistence |
| Animal husbandry as a source of food | Minor (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 271-297, 281, 284 | |
| Land-based hunting performed by individuals | Minor (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 284, 317-326, 326 | |
| Land-based gathering | Medium (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 271-297, 276, 277-278, 283-284 | |
| Land-based hunting performed by one or more groups | Minor (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 284, 317-326, 326 | |
| Agriculture / Horticulture | Principal (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 272 | |
Water-based means of subsistence |
| Fishing and water-based hunting performed by one or more groups | Major (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 272, 284, 326-358 | |
| Fishing and water-based hunting performed by individuals | Major (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 272, 284, 326-358 | |
| Water-based gathering | Medium (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 271-297, 276, 284-285 | |
Commercial Activity |
| Trade / wage labour as a source of food | Major (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. 272-273, 284 | |
| Metalworking | Absent (Source) |
| Bellwood et al (1975) | |
Physical Environment
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Geographical Range of Culture |
| Number of islands inhabited by culture | Two (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. xix, xxii | |
Features of Island with Largest Culture Population |
| Island type (island with largest culture population or largest island if unknown) | Volcanic high island (Source) |
| Yule (1995), pp. 507 | |
| Island Size (km²) | 8600.0 (Source) |
| Yule (1995), pp. 507 | |
| Maximum elevation (meters) | 2772.0 (Source) |
| Clark & Bedford (2008), pp. 64 | |
Location |
| Latitude | -5.2 (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. xxii Google Maps (2014) |
|
| Longitude | 154.6 (Source) |
| Blackwood (1935), pp. xxii Google Maps (2014) |
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Post Contact History(1929-2014)Expand All +
Religious History
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Conversion |
| Adoption of a world religion | Present and predominant (Source) |
| Regan & Griffin (2005), pp. 318 | |
| Resident missionary involvement in conversion process | Present, and from non-Austronesian societies (Source) |
| Regan & Griffin (2005), pp. 126, 318 | |
Secular History
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Economic Changes |
| Exportation of goods to other cultures | Present and substantial (Source) |
| Regan & Griffin (2005), pp. 240-258 | |
Current Culture(2014)Expand All +
Belief
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Religious Demographics |
| Dominant world religion | Christianity (Source) |
| Regan & Griffin (2005), pp. 318 | |
External Links
References
Bellwood, P., Ayres, W. S., Clune Jr, F. J., Craib, J., Durbin, T. E., Young, F. A., ... & Green, R. C. (1975). The Prehistory of Oceania [and Comments and Reply]. Current Anthropology, 16(1), 9-28. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2740946
Blackwood, B. (1935). Both Sides of Buka Passage: An Ethnographic Study of Social, Sexual, and Economic Questions in the North-Western Solomon Islands. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press.
Brunton, R. (1989). The Abandoned Narcotic: Kava and Cultural Instability in Melanesia. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Buka Island (2013). In Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/place/Buka-Island
Clark, G.R. & Bedford, S. (2008). Friction Zones in Lapita Colonisation. In G.R. Clark, G.R, S. O'Connor & B.F. Leach, Islands of Inquiry: Colonisation, Seafaring and the Archaeology of Maritime Landscapes (pp 59-73). Canberra, Australia: ANU Press.
Cribb, R. (2000). Historical atlas of Indonesia. Surrey, UK: Curzon Press.
Daft Logic Distance Calculator. (2014). http://www.daftlogic.com/projects-google-maps-distance-calculator.htm.
Google Maps (2014). Retrieved from maps.google.com
Hamlin, H. (1932). The problem of depopulation in Melanesia. The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, 4(3), 301.
Ogan, E. (1991). "Kurtatchi". In T.E. Hays (Ed.), Encyclopaedia of World Cultures (Volume II: Oceania) (pp 131-133). New York, NY: G.K. Hall & Co.
Regan, A. J. & Griffin, H. M. (2005). Bougainville Before the Conflict. Canberra, ACT, Australia:Pandanus Books
Yule, C.M. (1995). Benthic Invertebrate Fauna of an Aseasonal Tropical Mountain Stream on Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea. Marine and Freshwater Research, 46 (2), 507-518. DOI: 10.1071/MF9950507