A Chuukese Theory of Personhood: The Concepts, Body, Mind, Soul and Spirit on the Islands of Chuuk (Micronesia): An Ethnolinguistic Study

Käser, Lothar (2016). A Chuukese Theory of Personhood: The Concepts, Body, Mind, Soul and Spirit on the Islands of Chuuk (Micronesia): An Ethnolinguistic Study. Nürnberg, Germany: VTR Publications. ISBN 978-3-95776-116-3.

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Abstract: The work centers on the islands of Chuuk in Micronesia and presents sections on research foundations and procedures, including Prerequisites on page 34, Field Research on page 35, Characteristics and Problems Associated with Researching in paragraph 2, Techniques of Questioning on page 38, The Role of the Language as a Research Instrument on page 41, Safeguarding the Results on page 41, Difficulties in Description on page 42, and The Chuukese Language and Its Written Form on page 42. These sections foreground the use of the Chuukese language in an ethnolinguistic context specific to Chuuk, Micronesia. The Concept of Body is detailed for Chuuk, Micronesia with subsections covering The Region of the Buttocks or Posterior (kuwoku) on page 74, The Genital Region (ekinissow) on page 75, The Female Genital Organs (ekinissowunfe efin) on page 76, Menstruation (semwmwenin feefiri) on page 78, Pregnancy (pwoopwo) on page 79, Birth (faamw) on page 81, The Male Sexual Organs (ekinissowun mwääri) on page 84, Sexual Intercourse on page 85, The Inner Organs (pisekin noon inis) on page 86, Food Processing on page 86, Breathing, Heart and Circulatory System (ngasangas) on page 89, and Coughing (faafa) on page 91. These entries enumerate body-related terminology and topics specific to Chuukese usage on Chuuk. Chapter 8, titled The Extremities on page 93, includes The Concepts paaw and peche on page 93, The Arm and Its Parts (paaw) on page 93, The Fingers (ewüt) on page 95, Right- and Left-handedness on page 97, and The Leg (peche, taang) and Its Parts on page 97. These sections catalog terms and subdivisions for limbs as used in Chuuk, Micronesia. Chapter 14, Conclusions on page 106, presents The Place of the Body as a Concept in the Thinking of the Islanders on page 106 and an Excursus: Language and Reality on page 106, situating these topics within the context of Chuuk in Micronesia. Further materials associated with Intellect and Character appear around page 119 and lead into Chapter 16 on Characteristics of the Seat of the Emotions, followed by Chapter 17 on Dispositions, which includes Presuppositions on page 124, The Metaphorical Labels Attaching to the Dispositions of This Group in Detail on page 124, and a List of Non-metaphorical Terms for Dispositions of This Group on page 135. These sections continue the Chuuk-based ethnol