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Re: Heider's Dead Birds
HEADLAND (tom.headland@SIL.ORG)
Tue, 7 Dec 1993 11:25:51 -0500
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On Wed, 01 Dec 1993 19:10:38 -0500 , HEADLAND wrote:
>Dear Reinhardt,
> I don't have much to say about John Marshall and whether he shot the
>famous giraffe. But John himself recently spoke to this question in the new
>book edited by Jay Ruby titled THE CINEMA OF JOHN MARSHALL, published this
>year. Sorry I can't remember the page number. He denies that he shot the
>giraffe. I accept his word. (I've never met him, by the way.)
>
>Regarding the statements you said about Heider, the Dani in his area, when
>he got there in 1961, were not yet pacified by the Dutch government, and
>this much we know, it is false to think that they had not practiced warfare
>for years, let alone decades. Ritual warfare was still recent, although
>maybe there had been no wars for a year or two.
>
>I'll tell you who the expert witness are on all this: The missionaries who
>were in the area before Heider got there. I talked with Gordon Larson
>tonight, a C&MA missionary (protestant) who lived in the upper Baliem for 35
>years. (he is now age 68). No dumb fundamentalist, Larson got his Ph.D. in
>anthro in 1987 at U Michigan under Roy Rappaport! Wrote his dissertation on
>Dani warfare. He and his family used to watch wars from their front porch,
>and his is one of the most breathtaking dissertations I have read in my
>life.
>Ask him. Dr. Gordon Larson, 4884 Keats Grove Lane, Lexington, KY 40513.
>
>Also C&MA missionary Dr. Myron Bromley who was there for 30 or so years, and
>no dummy either (has his Ph.D. in linguistics, I think also from Michigan).
>817 Trinity Church Road, Monroe, NC 28112-8967.
>
>Better if you could ask the C&MA missionary Ed Maxey, who lived for many
>years just a 2 hours hike from Heider's area, and was there before Heider.
>I don't know how to contact him, but his daughter's phone number is: Mrs.
>Joy Hudson, 708/383-2674, which is also her fax no.
>
>Larson does not believe that Heider did what the rumor says. It may be true
>that the Dutch military pacifying patrols stayed out of that one valley
>while Heider was there, to let him study an "uncontacted" or unpacified
>area. In that sense, the wars there may have gone on a bit longer than in
>other valleys.
>
>I hope this helps.
>
>Thomas N. Headland, Ph.D.
>Summer Institute of Linguistics
>7500 West Camp Wisdom Rd.
>Dallas, TX 75236
Tom: Thanks for the response, and I didn't know about anyone's having
quoted John Marshall in print about the purported giraffe "shooting." As
for the Dani and Heider, it was someone else on anthro-l who'd asked
about the veracity of Heider's having "staged" a bow fight or not. May I
suggest you send this message, yours and mine, to anthro-l. I think
they'd benefit from your insights and added information; I know I did.
Greg
Gregory A. Reinhardt, Ph.D. e-mail: Reinhardt@Gandlf.Uindy.Edu
Dept. of Behavioral Sciences Phone: (317) 788-3440
University of Indianapolis FAX: (317) 788-3275
1400 E. Hanna Ave.
Indianapolis, IN 46227-3697
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