ABSTRACT
The Western presence had a deep-reaching effect on the male cult and secret initiation rites that were a central component of the social and cultural life of many of Papua New Guinea’s societies. Systematic studies focusing specifically on changes in this male ritual sphere have rarely been undertaken. Ethnographic interest has thus far primarily been concentrated on societies with allegedly archaic ritual systems, seemingly part of the continuity of precolonial tradition (for example, Herdt 1982). Preference for an ethnography of timeless and authentic male ritual activities was linked to a specific conceptualization of change. While the creeping influence of the Western world in the ethnographic present was viewed as a process only involving the periphery of the cultural system, leaving (for the time being) certain core domains intact, further Western penetration mainly evoked visions of future decline and demise. This notion of change, which confined itself to diagnosing future cultural tristesse, stressed the continuity and authenticity of the investigated ritual system. ‘The great narrative of entropy and loss’ (Clifford 1988:14) was constitutive for research into Papua New Guinea’s male cults and initiation rites.
