Violence and Warfare in the Pre-contact Caroline Islands
Younger, Stephen M (June 2009). "Violence and Warfare in the Pre-contact Caroline Islands". Journal of the Polynesian Society. 118 (2): 135–164. doi:10.2307/20707479.
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Abstract: The Caroline Islands represent a particularly interesting case for the study of social phenomena in indigenous cultures. Spread out over 2700km, they range from tiny Eauripik, whose area of 0.2km 2 is thought by its inhabitants to support a maximum population of 150 persons (Levin and Gorenflo 1994: 117), to Pohnpei, with an area of 334km 2 and an estimated pre-contact population of 10,000 (Hanlon 1988: 204). Ecologies range from the isolated volcanic island of Kosrae to many atolls that are within easy sailing reach of their neighbours. The exceptional ability of Carolinean navigators made this one of the most interconnected parts of Oceania. Lessa (1962) argued that frequent canoe voyages led to a homogenisation of culture, but detailed studies of linguistics across the region by Marck (1986) indicate some divergence in dialect (and, one might presume, other cultural elements) when voyaging distances exceeded about 100 miles (161km), i.e., for a canoe journey of more than one day. In this article I examine the relative levels of violence on and between the Caroline Islands. Lessa (1962: 354) noted that "warfare was part of the way of life throughout all of the Carolines, even though the atolls waged it less intensely." Yet the differences were more than between high islands and atolls. Chuuk (95km 2) was perhaps the most violent island in the region (Gladwin and Sarason 1953), but Kosrae (110km 2) experienced prolonged periods of relative peace (Peoples 1993). Violence on and between atolls varied between Puluwat, described as the "scourge of this area of the Pacific" (Steager 1971: 61), feared even by the Chuukese, and Namonuito, whose inhabitants vacated their home island when threatened by invasion (Thomas 1978: 32). I divide violence into two types: interpersonal violence and warfare. Interpersonal violence involves a dyadic relationship between individuals who are frequently, but not always, known to one another. Individual murders, assassinations and revenge killings fall into this category of violence. I use Tefft and Reinhardt's (1974: 154) definition of warfare as "an armed aggression between political communities or alliances of political communities." Warfare differs from interpersonal violence precisely because it is a group-to-group rather than an individual activity. A rich literature exists on the causes of warfare in small societies (see, for example, Durham 1976, Fry 2006, Haas 1990, Keeley 1996, Kelly Violence and Warfare in the Pre-contact Caroline Islands 136 2000, and Otterbein 2000). Since there are few enduring goods on most islands (apart from Yapese stone money and other artefacts), conflict over material resources tended to focus on productive land, especially in the case of atolls (Alkire 1977, Lingenfelter 1975, Steager 1971). The high islands of the Carolines were less affected by the windward (wet) / leeward (dry) asymmetry (Bath 1984) that led to competition on large Polynesian islands (Kirch 1994, Ladefoged 1995), but natural disasters (particularly typhoons) stimulated one group to attack another for resources (Steager 1971). Other causes of war included population pressure (Alkire 1978, Mitchell 1970, Takayama and Intoh 1978), cycles of revenge (Goodenough 1961, Weckler 1947), women (Dernbach 2005, Mitchell 1970), prestige (Hanlon 1988, Lewis 1967, Peoples 1993), and even recreation (Riesenberg 1968). In a previous study of Polynesian islands (Younger 2008), I found that prestige and a desire for power were dominant causes of war between islands. In this article I show that causes of war varied across the Caroline Islands, being a complex mixture of geography, ecology and social dynamics. The method used is that of "controlled comparison" (Eggan 1954), which limits the range of study to a well-defined set of societies related by culture, history and geography. It is analogous to cross-cultural studies of violence by Ember and Ember (1992), Otterbein (1968), and Otterbein and Otterbein (1965).
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MAG: 1529559764 OpenAlex: W1529559764 CorpusID: 142537288
