Critical review

Critical review

nThe Sambia: Ritual, Sexual and Change in Papua New Guinea by Gilbert Herdt are books that focus on the culture of the Sambia people, an ethnic community in the eastern highlands of Papua New Guinea. The book also focuses on Sambia unique perceptions on sexuality and rituals that exposes their cultural identity. The author also covers other important aspects of Sambia culture such as importance of masculinity and gender relationships. The author goes farther in detailing the pertinent background information and an overview of the Sambia culture. Herdt delivers unique insights in the culture such as initiation of Sambia boys at an age of 10 years. He describes the process that marks the process from boyhood to adult hood. The process involves male insemination; the older male inserts the semen into the younger male so that he can become masculine and acquire warrior characteristics. Through the authors work, readers are capable of seeing things from the perspectives of the Sambia people themselves.

nOverview of ethnology

nIn 1974, Gilbert Herdt travelled to Papua New Guinea in the village of nilangu in attempt to understand and analyse the culture of the Sambia people. In addition, he sought to discover what sexual culture and sexual relationships meant and mattered to the Sambia.

nWhile living with the Sambia people, the author discovered that they are people of war who depend on strong, masculine warriors for protection. Their culture was stemmed from their ancestors, numboolyu, who created cultural practices such as initiation rights and cultural institutions. Herdt observed a unique rite of passage that he referred to as “ritualized homosexuality” or the oral insemination of young boys. The purpose of this ritual is to make sure that young boys become strong men, full of jerugdu, who can protect the community. Jerungdu is the embodiment of physical strength and supreme essence of maleness in the body, personality and spirit. The Sambia people believed that the young boys cannot achieve Jerungdu on their own because they are weak. Moreover, the community believe that the only way to achieve Jerungdu is to have semen, kweikoonbooku. Since the young boys cannot produce kweikoonbooku, they must imbibe it from the older male. This marks ‘the physiological transition from juvenile to adolescence and fierce warrior manhood.” After this initiation, the young men are referred to as aamooluku- war leaders. Jerungdu determined a mans status in the community. For instance, the weak men were known as wusaatu or rubbish men. Furthermore, the importance of masculinity determined the gender roles in the sambian society. Women were believed to weaken boys with their breast milk. The Sambia society do not consider masculinity as natural or innate, hence it has to be achieved through consumption of Jerungdu. The society associate Jerungdu with the growth of masculine qualities in terms of personality and biology. Therefore, in order to expunge this weakness, boys were required to stop any contact with women. This part of the ritual is extremely important to ensuring the ritual is carried out properly and it works. The ritualized homosexuality makes the concept of homosexuality tangible and corporeal. The ritual is symbolic and material which is passed from old people to young people. The mystical powers of manhood ensure that boys correctly follow the guidelines of the ritual. Boys were forcefully removed from their mothers and sisters at least four times so that they can avoid developing to wusaatu or rubbish men. Furthermore, boys aged 10-15 years would bleed and vomit to get rid of the contaminating influence of women.

nThe separation of sexuality in the Sambia society is viewed as an important concept in the development of male authority and masculinity. Jerugdu ritual is made more effective for the male participants by separating the young boys from all female influences. This is because the culture holds to the notion that female body is contaminated and poisonous to males. From birth until initiation, male young men are dependent to their mothers for care, shelter and food. Hence the ritual process is meant to rigorously inculcate the young boy with manliness which is achieved through separation from their female nurturers. The first step to make young boys stronger is by separating them from the general society and place them in cult-house. In the cult-house, the young boys are under the support of the older initiated men.

nSeparation of young boys is may seem harsh and merciless to them but this is a critical stage in transforming the young boys into men. It also stresses the roles of men and women are required to play in the society and connect to the discourse about masculinity and femininity. Additionally the ritual is meant to make men independent, active and hardened which are key qualities associated with masculinity. It also ensures that young boys are not under the influence of women for the ritual to be carried out properly. Femininity is associated with empathy, dependence and passivity in the sambian society. This part of the ritual clearly shows that men and women have different roles to play and illustrates the believe that men and women exist differently and separately in this world.

nFurthermore in the cult-houses, the young boys will be taught the secrets of the community. This will thereby facilitate the dramatic transformation on the initiates cultural orientation and their identity as male. Hence the boys lose and unlearn the childish way of life and learn to conform to rigid roles as the culture expects them to behave. The author terms this process radical resocialisation. The ritual is effective way of directing the boys towards the culturally standardized male gender identity and roles.

nThe author explains that, “a boy must be initiated and inseminated; otherwise the girl engaged to him will outgrow him and run away to another man, if the boy does not eat semen, he remains small and weak”. This statement shows retrogressive concept of the society and how sambian conceptualize the social life between men and women. Man-women relationship is determined by how strong the man is after imbibing semen. This also highlights how women are discriminated as inferior while men are perceived as superior in the sambian society. The ritual combined with avoiding women until puberty helps the redesign and transforms them into heterosexual men. The power of Jerungdu is perceived as effective in attaining power and authority over women in the society.

nThe initiation ritual is divided into three stages. The first stage is when the young boys are separated from the normal social role. The second stage is where they are moved into a liminal stage and the final stage is when they are re-introduced into the community with a new status. The final stage represents the transition to adulthood from adolescence. Once the young boys have completed all parts of the ritual they will not be the same boys they used to be since they are transformed in their own nature and in their social roles within the society. The newly initiated young men must now begin to reflect their identities, realize responsibilities about their own future social position. During the initiation stages, the initiates learn slowly about the secrets of the sambian people and how to become a real man in sambian culture. The initiations begin before the age of ten years and ends between the ages of 15 to 20 years. The initiation stages help the men to acquire qualities of war in hunting and protecting the community. The way the ritual is organised in stages serves as the emblem of the tradition and it is effective because the structure enables men to have a higher level of masculinity and completely move away from women world. Moreover, men share secrets, events and ritual those women and other outsiders do not know. Furthermore, the initiation stages helps to divert the sexual attraction of young boys towards other male. This helps to create stronger bonding that are needed during times of war.

nHowever, the ritual involves erotic behaviours such as homosexuality which is actively and publicly practiced. This is an exciting behaviour in sambian community against the expectations of other people in different communities across the world. Homosexuality is a controversial issue across the globe and in this community it is practiced without hesitation or victimization. The author explains that the ritual activities consist of ornate affair, some flirtation, erotic antics and foreplay.

nAfter the third stage of initiation, boys are no longer fellators. They have now biologically and psychologically transformed to men. They are now considered bachelors now and the ritual have worked their power. Interesting, the sambian community associate the biological changes of the boys to the success of the ritual. Therefore, they infer that the ritual is effective and crucial in achieving masculinity although the biological development of the boys results normal growth and development.

nAt adulthood the individual are supposed to gain higher status. Since this stage is linked with the society, individuals cannot move higher in the society unless they marry and have children. Therefore, this stage is important because it serves to structure the society. Moreover, the boys experience strong sexual desires, deep connections and need to grow into masculine figures in society.

nDefinition of terms

nRitual is a social action which requires cooperation of a group of individuals and acts as a tradition emblem of the society. They follow specific rules and regulations aimed to achieve specific goals.

nMasculinity is specific qualities of a male person after initiation. They must acquire aggressive behaviours, bravery and murder so that they can be good warriors

nRadical resocialisation is a process where the initiates are forced to leave their mothers and female people to divert their attention on the ritual

nInsemination is a practice the young man receives semen from the older man

nCulture is the social, political, beliefs and economic aspects of a particular community

nTransformation is the transition from boyhood to manhood among the sambian people

nJerungdu is the magical symbol which empowers boys with masculinity

nRitualized homosexuality is form of homosexuality where the initiates under a ritual obtain masculinity

nCultural expectations of manhood are gender roles of men which requires them to be strong, brave and aggressive in protecting the community

nFemininity is the subordination of women and other forms of discrimination of women in the sambian society. Women are expected to be passive, submissive and dependent to man