factionalism

U28550@UICVM.BITNET
Mon, 16 May 1994 12:47:16 CDT

Ever since the publication of Stern's work on "pervasive factionalism," it
was assumed that this kept reservations disorganized. On the basis of my
experience in Oceania, like Regina's, I've come to the opposite view. I
suspect that factionalism is an organizational form and that a longitudical
study or three will show the same sort of "opposition scenario" that Buck
Schieffelin described for the Kaluli of New Guinea (in _The Sorrow of the
Lonely and the Burning of the Dancers_, one of the best ethnographies that I
ever read). I think Reginah is right, and I'd take it yet a step further--why
stop at politics?
Mike Lieber