ABSTRACT
The Mendi were first contacted by the Australian Administration in 1950 and had only limited Western-government rule by 1954 (see Lederman 1987). They inhabit a narrow valley area in the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Most Mendi are dark skinned, short and strongly built. They live in dispersed homesteads with clan or tribal group boundaries. The groups are patrilineal and are organized in kinship and descent formation. Nearly all members are primarily subsistence farmers or horticulturalists and secondarily pig herders, kaukau (sweet potato) being their staple diet supplemented by pork. Their socio-economic welfare has been and still is their major concern. Broadly speaking, this is the fertility of the people, their food crops and animals, as well as success in the manufacture, distribution and use of wealth. The ability to guide and control the socio-economic welfare of a group is the essential qualification for gaining power, authority or leadership.
