Warfare, social organisation and resource access amongst the Wosera Abelam of Papua New Guinea

Abstract

In the precolonial period warfare was endemic amongst the Wosera Abelam and social organisation was sufficiently flexible to permit the movement of people between villages and groups, adn their full incorporation into the host societies.In the contemporary context of increasing population pressure, and in the absence of warfare, a significant response is a general tightening of the rules governing group membership and resource access. This response, it is argued, may represent a shift from a patrifilial system of social organisation to one based on patrilineal-like principles, resulting in a legacy of marginalised immigrant lineages of three generations or less of a village residence.