TEXTURES OF RECIPROCITY: SOCIAL STRUCTURE AMONG THE MOI OF IRIAN JAYA

(original in Dutch: Weefsels van wederkerigheid; sociale structuur bij de Moi van Irian Jaya)
Ph.D. Thesis, University of Nijmegen, 1991, 175 pp.

By Paul Haenen

This study is based on material which I collected during 18 months of anthropological fieldwork amongst the Moi people in the western part of the Bird's Head area, Irian Jaya (Indonesia), during the years 1984-1985. Research work has been carried out within the framework of the Cultural Agreement between the Republic of Indonesia and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and as part of the Indonesian LEKNAS LIPI Project for Multi-Disciplinary Research in the Bird's Head Area under the coordination of Dr.E.K.M. Masinambow and field supervision of Dr.A.C. van der Leeden. The Program for Indonesian Studies (PRIS) provided me with the necessary funds. Research work was mainly focussed on the history and social structure of Moi society.

Moi society consists of patrilineal clans which according to mytho-historical tradition once migrated from various directions across the northwestern part of the Bird's Head into the present coastal and coastal surround regions of the Moi. These migrations took place on the basis of segmentation, a process during which interclan relations of "kinship" and marriage were established, which still characterize the social system of the Moi. Clan dispersion and clan contraction combined in one and the same process, which ultimately also resulted in the development of a language with eight dialect groups.

"Internal regionalization" of this kind coincided with a process of "external regionalization" because the Moi also participated, directly and indirectly, in the political and economic networks of centers of foreign power, the influence of which extended as far as the coastal regions of the Bird's Head area. As a result, economic exchange relations developed, through which hitherto unknown goods reached the Moi area. Amongst these were textiles, called kain timur ('eastern cloths') in local Indonesian, which eventually were to play a crucial role in Moi ceremonial life. As the most important articles for marriage gift-giving and bride-price payment, they circulate by way of an extensive network of ceremonial exchange relations through the whole of, and even far outside, the Moi area. Based on the principle of reciprocity, the circulation of kain timur contributes substantially to social cohesion in a society in which interpersonal relations play an important structural role.

The circuits along which the kain timur circulate are defined by the prevailing marriage system based on matrilateral cross cousin marriages. In line with the preferential quality of this marriage type, the overall asymmetrical implications of the Moi marriage system are flexible. Omaha classification, on which Moi kinship terminology is based, fully harmonizes with the flexibility of the marriage system. It is in this connection relevant to cite McKinley's hypothesis that "Crow-Omaha systems supply 'instant' generational depth exactly where it is needed - to important interlineage ties which would otherwise lack structural continuity". This hypothesis may seem surprising in view of Lévi-Strauss's assertion that the "turbulence" (read: alliance alternation) of the Omaha system contradicts asymmetrical marriage arrangement (reed: alliance continuity). According to Lévi-Strauss, the Omaha system is based on a marriage prohibition which through a number of generations results in a strict separation between kinship and affinity. However, and contrary to Lévi-Strauss's hypothesis, such a prohibition is altogether lacking in the Moi system. The Moi case, therefore, offers evidence that matrilateral cross cousin marriage and Omaha kinship classification are indeed reconcilable.

In the Moi system, this reconcilability is further emphasized by a connubial implication of the kinship terminology. If we reduce the kinship classifications, in line with Lounsbury's formal analysis of Crow/Omaha terminology, to their proper generational categories, and study them next as "contracted" to their structural positions within an alliance chain which becomes manifest if the participants consistently adhere to matrilateral cross cousin marriage, then we see that they reflect an ideal system of fixed connubial ties between five exogamous units. In actual practice, however, such a connubial pattern, implying minimal dispersal of alliance, never becomes fully realized. This also applies to the opposite situation in which alliances occur maximally dispersed. Moi marriage practice appears to waver between these poles. This confirms McKinley's view that Omaha classification offers an "ideological reconciliation of the conflict which is present when the descent groups of a society try to maintain old alliances at the same time that they are trying to create new ones".

Like the originally foreign kain timur textiles, the teaching of the gospel has also greatly influenced the ceremonial life of the Moi people. Just as much as the kain timur are considered to bring about unanimity and cooperation, so obedience to biblical rules of conduct is regarded as one of the foundations of a well-functioning society. These rules of conduct, with which the Moi have become acquainted through missionary activity since the 1930s, receive much emphasis during religious services held several times a week.

Christianity has become a relevant factor, in particular with regard to the circulation of kain timur. The return of the Pax Neerlandica after World War II has led to the gradual pacification of intervillage relations and the dispersal of contacts through marriage and exchange throughout the Bird's Head area. This has also affected the kain timur circulation, which became so intensive that it started to show symptoms which Pouwer has called "critical symptoms of specialization". Kamma and Miedema have characterized this phenomenon as a "spontaneous capitalist revolution" and the rise of "kain timur capitalism", respectively. In order to mitigate this development, which also occurred, and is in fact still current, in the Moi area, the church continuously emphasizes the need of a Christian inspired mentality of giving and exchanging kain timur. This should ultimately find expression in a life style which prevents the need of progeny, truly the foundation of kain timur circulation, from becoming subordinated to private interests in cloths.