Absorption, Trade and Warfare: Beachcombers on Ponape, 1830-1854

Zelenietz, Martin; Kravitz, David (1974). "Absorption, Trade and Warfare: Beachcombers on Ponape, 1830-1854". Ethnohistory. 21 (3): 223. doi:10.2307/481171. ISSN 0014-1801.

Abstract: The phenomenon of beachcombing has received minimal attention in the anthropological literature on Oceania, and yet it represents, in many instances, the first period of sustained contact between whites and native peoples, making it of crucial interest in studies of culture contact and social change. We have analyzed this phenomenon for the island of Ponape, in the eastern Caroline Islands, for the period 1830-1854. Conflicting accounts of the role of the beachcomber in Ponapean society have been reconciled by perceiving the role as changing over the period in question, and by demonstrating the existence of alternative patterns of behavior within the society. The primary tool of analysis employed is patron-broker-client analysis, which allows for understanding the nature of the role of the beachcomber in his interaction with Ponapeans. In particular, we examine the beachcomber's role in trade and exchange, and in indigenous warfare, with an eye towards explaining why there did not occur on Ponape (now "Pohnpei") the political and military centralization that happened in other areas of the Pacific following contact and distribution of firearms. We suggest that the introduction of European diseases, and the resultant epidemics, came at a crucial time, and prevented the centralization of power.

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QID: Q124442940
MAG: 2316324617
OpenAlex: W2316324617
CorpusID: 155460930