Settling Disputes

Hezel, Francis X. (2002-01-15). [www.micsem.org Settling Disputes]. Micronesian Counselor (Report). Kolonia, Pohnpei: Micronesian Seminar. pp. 1–8.

• Has attachment: File:6VN5PU3H.pdf

Abstract: A young man, distracted for a moment while driving his car, had accidentally struck a boy, injuring him seriously. Now a party of the young man’s relatives were coming to see the family of the injured boy. Twenty-five or thirty of them were making their way slowly up the hill toward the house, the men crawling on their hands and knees, the women stooped with their heads bowed low. In the lead was an older man, who prostrated himself in front of the house. The slow procession came to a complete halt not far from the house while the supplicants anxiously waited to be told to rise and enter the meeting house. After a few minutes, someone appeared at the door, greeted them formally and told them to rise. One by one, the party entered the meeting house, depositing their burden–the sacks of rice, the basins of breadfruit, and the strings of fish they carried– on the ground. In a few minutes the formal apologies would begin, each one speaking in turn. Tears would flow, and perhaps envelopes with cash gifts would be presented to the boy’s family. This is how a formal apology was conducted in Chuuk when a member of one family caused injury or death to another...

Extra details:

DOI: 10.4324/9781315040486-34
CorpusID: 242935290
OpenAlex: W4252049025