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Elders in the shadow of the Big-Man
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Baker, Victoria |
| Copyright Year | 1983 |
| Abstract | Leadership in the South Pacific has drawn the attention of a number of scholars in the last several decades. Following the model given by Sahlins in his much-quoted article, 'Poor Man, Rich Man, Big-Man, Chief (1963), anthropologists could work with a handy dichotomy: leadership based on achieved status in a sphere of egalitarianism (the big-man of Melanesia) versus leadership based on ascribed status of hereditary rank in a sphere of social hierarchy (the chief of Polynesia). These two ideal types apparently left little room for much focus on the many overlapping and divergent types of leaders to be found in the vast areas of the South Pacific. The spectacular Melanesian big-man ? the Songi of Oliver's monograph on the Siuai of the Solomon Islands, who, according to Bronwen Douglas (1979:3), was the inspiration for Sahlins' article ? was threatening to become a caricature. Literature abounded in which the Melanesian big-man's charac teristics of personal ambition, managerial and oratorical skill, and calculated generosity were illustrated. In the meantime, however, one scholar challenged the position of the big-man. The Austrian anthro pologist Justin Stagi, in a relatively unknown article in the German Zeitschrift f?r Politik, juxtaposed the big-man's leadership with that of the elders. In his article, '?lteste und Big Men. Politische F?hrungs rollen in Melanesien' (1971:368-383), the two types of Melanesian leaders were compared and analyzed, and in the end both were merely reduced to an interplay of authority and power inherent in every form of political organization (pp.369,380). This undermining of the big man's theoretical status by bringing the elders into the picture did not make any waves ? not even ripples ? on the sea of anthropological |
| Starting Page | 1 |
| Ending Page | 17 |
| Page Count | 17 |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| DOI | 10.1163/22134379-90003453 |
| Volume Number | 139 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://brill.com/downloadpdf/journals/bki/139/1/article-p1_1.pdf |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://doi.org/10.1163/22134379-90003453 |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
