3. THE ORGANIZATION OF SOCIETY AND CULTURE lage societies unfolded entirely without fort, all of which initially seemed an in- a feast as lavish as that of the challeng- th disputes over possessions. As in every nocent extension of the basic principle ers, their mumi suffered a great social p social group, nonconformists and mal- of reciprocity humiliation, and his fall from mumi contents tried to use the system for their But how little our ancestors under- hood was immediate. wn advantage. Inevitably there were stood what they were getting themselves At the end of a successful feast, the freeloaders, individuals who consis- into! For if it is a good thing to have a greatest of mumis still faced a lifetime ntly took more than they gave and lay headman give feasts, why not have sev- of personal toil and dependence on the ack in their hammocks while others did eral headmen give feasts? Or, better yet, moods and inclinations of his followers. the work. Despite the absence of a why not let success in organizing and Mumihood did not confer the power to criminal justice system, such behavior giving feasts be the measure of one's le- coerce others into doing one's bidding, pbtgT eventually was punished. A widespread gitimacy as a headman? Soon, where nor did it elevate one's standard of liv belief among band-and-village peoples conditions permit, there are several ing above anyone else's. In fact, because attributes death and misfortune to the would-be headmen vying with each giving things away was the essence of malevolent conspiracy of sorcerers. The other to hold the most lavish feasts and mumihood, great mumis consumed less task of identifying these evildoers falls redistribute the most food and other meat and other delicacies than ordinary to a group's shamans, who remain re valuables. In this fashion there evolved men. Among the Kaoka, another So psr sponsive to public opinion during thei he nemesis that Richard Lee's IKung mon Islands group, there is the saying, divinatory trances. Well-liked indi- informants had warmed about: the youth "The giver of the feast takes the bones viduals who enjoy strong support from who wants to be a"big man, and the stale cakes; the meat and the fat their families need not fear the sha- A classic anthropological study of go to the others. "At one great feast at- man. But quarrelsome, stingy people big men was carried out by Douglas tended by 1, 100 people, the host mumi, who do not give as well as take had Oliver among the Siuai, a village people whose name was Soni, gave away thirty- who live on the South Pacific island of two pigs and a large quantity of sago- reaisnpfbo better watch out Bougainville, in the Solomon Islands. In almond puddings. Soni himself and FROM HEADMAN the Siuai language, big men were known some of his closest followers went hun- TO BIG MAN as mumis. Every Siuai boy's highest am- gry. "We shall eat Soni's renown,"they bition was to become a mumi. He began said. Reciprocity was not the only form of ex- by getting married, working hard, and change practiced by egalitarian band- restricting his own consumption of FROM BIG MAN TO CHEF and-village peoples. Our kind long ag meats and coconuts. His wife and par found other ways to give and take. ents, impressed with the seriousness of The slide(or ascent?) toward social Among them the form of exchange his intentions, vowed to help him pre- stratification gained momentum wher- isitihc known as redistribution played a crucial pare for his first feast. Soon his circle ever extra food produced by the inspi role in creating distinctions of rank during of supporters widened and he began to diligence of redistributors could be the evolution of chiefdoms and states. construct a clubhouse in which his male stored while awaiting muminai feasts Redistribution occurs when people turn followers could lounge about and guests potlatches, and other occasions of redis over food and other valuables to a pres- could be entertained and fed. He gave a tribution. The more concentrated and tigious figure such as a headman, to be ast at the consecration of the club- abundant the harvest and the less per- pooled, divided into separate portions, and house; if this was a success, the circle ishable the crop, the greater its potential given out again. The primordial form of of people willing to work for him grew for endowing the big man with power dpet redistribution was probably keyed to sea- larger still, and he began to hear himself Though others would possess some sonal hunts and harvests, when more food spoken of as a mumi. Larger and larger stored-up foods of their own, the redis- than usual became available feasts meant that the mumi's demands tributor's stores would be the largest. In True to their calling, headmen-redis- on his supporters became more irksome. times of scarcity, people would come to tributors not only work harder than their Although they grumbled about how hard him, expecting to be fed; in return, he followers but also give more generously they had to work, they remained loyal could call upon those who had special and reserve smaller and less desirable as long as their mumi continued to skills to make cloth, pots, canoes, or a irlrra portions for themselves than for anyone maintain and increase his renown as a fine house for his own use. Eventually, else. Initially, therefore, redistribution "great provider the redistributor no longer needed to strictly reinforced the political and eco- Finally the time came for the new work in the fields to gain and surpass nomic equality associated with recipro- mumi to challenge the older ones. He big-man status cal exchange. The redistributors were did this at a muminai feast, where both vest surpluses, a portion of which con compensated purely with admiration sides kept a tally of all the pigs, coconut tinued to be given to him for use in and in proportion to their success in pies, and sago-almond puddings given communal feasts and other communal giving bigger feasts, in personally con- away by the host mumi and his follow- projects( such as trading expeditions and tributing more than anybody else, a ers to the guest mumi and his followers. warfare), was sufficient to validate his in asking little or nothing for their ef- If the guests could not reciprocate with status. And, increasingly, people viewed