ABSTRACT
This chapter develops a number of points which characterize the beliefs held by Kaliai concerning death and dying, beliefs which require the living, the dying, and the dead to behave toward each other in particular ways. The institutionalization of death and the dehumanization of the dying has become something of a cause celebre in North American society. The Kaliai were first contacted by whites around the turn of the century, but the succeeding decades have seen them remain on the fringes of even such little development as was occurring in New Guinea. Death almost never merely comes—rather, almost always, it is sent. Hence, for the Kaliai it is possible to describe a good death and a bad death. Kaliai political leaders are likely to slacken their exchange activities and enter semi-retirement from active leadership as they reach advanced age.
