Culture as a Process of Collective Localisation

Abstract

Similar to the way in which Feld describes the landscape of the Kaluli in the Highlands, Miriam Kahn investigates social life in Wamira and the coast of Papua New Guinea: “The Wamiran landscape resounds for Wamirans with narratives of collective history and personal experience” (1996: 167). She first describes her own approach to the setting of her fieldwork which is full of feelings of uncertainty and foreignness. For the Wamirans, however, their landscape is a constant reminder of the myth of the origin of Tamodukorokoro, as well as a reflection of the importance of social relations which revolves around provision of food, caring for others and sharing.