Dreaming and Ghosts among the Hagen and Duna of the Southern Highlands, Papua New Guinea

Abstract

According to many people, including Papua New Guineans, dreams allow communication with the dead, spirits, and deities. An examination of dream narratives provides a window through which to view the social life-worlds of people, perceptions of self and personhood between the genders and otherwise, and patterns of thinking. The literature on dream research and the scientific or psychological interpretation of dreaming and dreams is very extensive (see, e.g., Tedlock 1987 and Van de Castle 1994), as is work on phenomenological approaches to dreaming and to social life generally (e.g., Jackson 1996; Parman 1991; Riches 1995; Stephen 1996; Tuzin 1997). Some earlier studies of dreaming in the New Guinea Highlands include, for example, Herdt (1987); Meggitt (1962); Meigs (1983); and Wagner (1972). These studies indicate the diversity of concerns that may be revealed by or taken up in dream narratives. In all instances it is clear that dreams are treated as potentially serious, perhaps privileged, sources of information that bears on the circumstances of the dreamer. Nevertheless, people recognize that dreams may be difficult or impossible to fully interpret. Our discussion includes materials from two areas in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea, Hagen and Duna, from which we have collected ethnographic materials. The historical timelines will be given in relation to each case. We begin our discussion with the topic of dreams and knowledge and then we show how dreaming impacts wakeful life and vice versa.