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Dossier 6e conférence de l'ESfO à Marseille (juillet 2005)

Revendiquer sa culture : nouvelles définitions et propriété des pratiques culturelles dans la Province de Manus (Papouasie Nouvelle-Guinée)

Steffen Dalsgaard
p. 229-236

Abstracts

In 1993 the Manus Provincial Government produced a draft for the Manus Culture Act, which was meant to protect and advocate the traditional culture of Manus, Papua New Guinea. Using legislation was a new way to define and claim ownership of cultural practices in Manus. Specialised practices, such as the construction of canoes and garamut (traditional slit-drums) or the performance of traditional rhythms and dance-steps, were the property of patrilineal descent groups in the past. Today processes of objectification of traditions in Manus have generated new cultural identifications and redefined the ways these are perceived as resources and can be claimed as property. This article traces the development of notions of tradition and culture in Manus and discusses these in the light of empirical material obtained in connection with an ethnographic exhibition on Manus. I assess how mechanisms of validating knowledge as well as ‘province’ and nation-building are important aspects to be taken into account when studying ownership.

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References

Bibliographical reference

Steffen Dalsgaard, “Revendiquer sa culture : nouvelles définitions et propriété des pratiques culturelles dans la Province de Manus (Papouasie Nouvelle-Guinée)”Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 125 | 2007, 229-236.

Electronic reference

Steffen Dalsgaard, “Revendiquer sa culture : nouvelles définitions et propriété des pratiques culturelles dans la Province de Manus (Papouasie Nouvelle-Guinée)”Journal de la Société des Océanistes [Online], 125 | Année 2007-2, Online since 01 December 2010, connection on 29 March 2024. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/jso/948; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/jso.948

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About the author

Steffen Dalsgaard

Département d’Anthropologie et d’Ethnographie, université d’Aarhus, etnostd@hum.au.dk

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Copyright

CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

The text only may be used under licence CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. All other elements (illustrations, imported files) are “All rights reserved”, unless otherwise stated.

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