Journal de la Société des

océanistes

Urbanisation Process and Changes in Traditional Domiciliary

Behavioural Patterns in Papua New Guinea
Sababu Kaitilla

Abstract
This paper explores the effect of urbanisation process on domiciliary behavioural patterns in Papua New Guinea. Urbanisation
process in PNG has had significant effects on traditional socio-cultural norms despite its low level. The rate of cultural change
has of course been exacerbated by many years of missionary and colonial activities. Using ethnographic and anthropological
evidence the paper first traces what has, for many years, been considered traditionally acceptable and expected domiciliary
behavioural patterns. These are then examined in the context of the current urbanisation process and its attendant effects. It is
then argued that any severance of the traditional domiciliary behavioural patterns are likely to cause considerable stress
amongst household members and kinship groups. Finally, the paper calls for detailed studies into cultural domiciliary patterns.
These will enable for the designing of appropriate dwellings in which culturally acceptable behaviours can unfold unimpeded. It
is argued that the built environment is extremely important for both expressing and structuring domiciliary behaviours.

Citer ce document / Cite this document :

Kaitilla Sababu. Urbanisation Process and Changes in Traditional Domiciliary Behavioural Patterns in Papua New Guinea. In:
Journal de la Société des océanistes, 103, 1996-2. pp. 149-161;

doi : https://doi.org/10.3406/jso.1996.1986

https://www.persee.fr/doc/jso_0300-953x_1996_num_103_2_1986

Fichier pdf généré le 16/01/2019

Urbanisation Process and Changes in Traditional

Domiciliary Behavioural Patterns in Papua

New Guinea

par

Sababu KAITILLA (Ph.D)1

Introduction in many developing countries this is still at a very

low rate, often between 1 5 and 30 percent of the
Urbanisation and development processes are total population, but increasing rapidly. This is
inextricably linked. Both create economic, socio- also the case in Papua New Guinea (PNG) where
cultural and technological change, may vary the level of urbanisation is currently between 15
from place to place. Urbanisation is a process and 16 percent of the total population of 4
whereby a country or region undergoes a million people. However, the rate of urban
transition from agrarian subsistence to a cash population growth in major centres is unprecedented
'modern' 2 dependence. In other words, it is a elsewhere in the developed countries.
shift from agricultural to nonagricultural Nonetheless, almost everywhere, the process
employment. This process is often accompa- of urbanisation is often accompagnied by
gnied by changes in land-use, increase in urban serious problems such as socio-cultural change,
population, economic growth, industrial and shortage of housing, employment, lack of
technological development. Urbanisation adequate social and physical infrastructure facilities
process is also accompanied by a variety of other (see Segall 1979; Saile 1978, among other
features of 'modern' development and progress things). Similar concerns have often been echoed
such as the provision of schools, health-care, and by many scholars of urbanisation in PNG (see
infrastructure facilities (see Conroy 1977:59). Connell 1985, Oram 1989 and 1974, among
Consequently, it contributes to gradual but others). It is for these reasons that urbanisation
significant social and economic changes (Kai- in PNG is merely tolerated by successive
tilla 1990: Oram 1989; Rowley 1965). However, governments for lack of realistic alternatives. Several
social and cultural changes in most developing attempts to slow urbanisation process, for
countries is largely the result of missionary and example, forced repatriation of urban migrants have
colonial activities rather than of industrial and had little success (Oram 1974; 170).
technological developments (see Connell and The concept of town 3 in PNG was not only
Lea 1994). Unlike in most developed countries foreign but generally almost all settlements rarely
where the process of urbanisation has stabilised, exceeded a few hundred sparsely scattered (Oram
1 . The author is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Architecture and Building at the PNG University of Technology. The
author is grateful to Dr. Paul Memmott of the Aboriginal Data Archive for his extensive and constructive comments. The
author is also indebted to three anonymous reviewers for their criticisms and valuable suggestions. However, any limitations
remain solely those of the author.
2. Also, the idea of modernisation is almost inseparable from industrialisation. McCarthy (1970:47) was of the opinion that
the introduction of any industry in PNG would considerably halt the changes to traditional families.
3. As in the whole of Melanesia, towns were built by colonial administrations to serve the interests of the few expatriates
communities (see, for example, Levine and Levine 1979). Urban houses too were built to serve the interests and meet the values
of the expatriate communities as in their countries of origin. Unfortunately, even independent governments have continued to
preserve and enhance expatriates social values in their housing programmes.
150
1974; 170). For many areas, this population
remained fragmented into small ethno-linguistic
groups or even on a clan basis (see Levine and
Levine 1979). On these premises, it is argued that
any urban conglomeration is likely to cause
considerable stress to those who traditionally and
culturally interacted only with relatively small
groupings of their own kin or clan. As argued
below, stress may arise because urban life
operates on different value systems, different
conceptions and different forms of social organisations.
In addition, contemporary urban 4 housing
style in almost all PNG societis is also alien in
terms of layout, space utilisation and building
style. Like elsewhere, in pre-contact period,
Melanesians lived in traditional houses. But with
the coming of missionaries and colonial
administrators alien housing styles and alien settlement
layouts were imposed upon the indigenous
populations (Clay 1986; 100-1 19; 264). This is
particularly highlighted in the housing literature which
shows a growing concern between user
dissatisfaction (Kaitilla 1993) in relation to space
utilisation and behaviour in the home environment. A
serious problem in most housing schemes is the
neglect by designers to consider socio-cultural
norms of the people that shape domiciliary
behaviours (Mangar 1980). In PNG, these cultural
norms are collectively shared. These are in turn
fundamental in dictating domiciliary
behavioural patterns and spatial use of the home
environments by different members of a household.
This paper explores the impact of urbanisation
process on domiciliary, or dwelling, behavioural
patterns among the people of Melanesia and
Papua New Guinea in particular. A historical
exploration of this process is, therefore,
important to understand the basis of these changing
values and norms. A theoretical assumption
underlying this study is that traditional cultural
norms of social organisation between and among
kinship groups are important in the ordering and
use of space. Any ordering and use of space in a
dwelling that ignores these norms is likely to
cause considerable cultural changes leading to
psychological stress among its members (see
Segall 1979; Pellow 1988 and Lawrence 1988).
This historical exploration is beneficial in
understanding the changing domiciliary patterns, that
is, individual behaviour and use of space on the
one hand. It is only when the changes in
domiciliary patterns are thoroughly understood can
architects design dwellings and dwelling spaces
which are culturally appropriate. To achieve this,
architects must be conversant with spacial
4. For a detailed coverage of urban housing satisfaction in PNG (includes plans and elevations) the reader should refer to
Kaitilla (1993).
SOCIÉTÉ DES OCÉANISTES
personal relationships between and among
individuals. This means knowing what types of
behavioural patterns occur where, when, how and by
whom, and to whom they are directed. It is
argued that strict compliance with socio-spatial
distances are important to ensure that
interpersonal relationships are maintained at all times. In
other words, how far apart or close can people be
to each other when they interact? Indeed, this
distance varies considerably between and among
cultural groups. This cultural 'distance' is
significantly influential in the spacing of objects,
sitting arrangements or even in the layout of
rooms in a house.
This paper is not intended to offer a complete
theoretical foundation to this issue, but sets out
the basis for further exploratory studies in this
important area. The paper is based on a literature
review on the subject. It also reviews
ethnographic and anthropological data, and where
necessary supplements it with written information by
early explorers, travelers and missionaries.
Cultural generalisation
PNG's population of nearly four million
inhabitants is sparsely and unevenly distributed
among the 700 small tribal groupings. Each has
its own specific socio-cultural development.
Although the people of PNG are very diverse, it is
possible to make some generalisation about them
on the basis of their domiciliary behavioural
patterns. To a reader familiar with distinctive
features of the people, for instance, facial différencies,
such a generalisation would appear to do
injustice and perhaps distort some subtle internal
differences. This bias must deliberately remain as
the focus of the generalisation is restricted to
commonly shared cultural norms (see, Rowley
1965), social organisation and interactive use of
space. When examined closely there are common
threads that make this cross-cultural
generalisation among Papua New Guineans possible.
Many common similarities, such as social
organisation and behavioural patterns, considerably
outweigh differences of facial appearances or
forms of subsistence. It is only when the different
societies are examined as one that specific and
common threads emerge (see Schieffelin 1976,
among others).
This paper adopts a limited definition of
culture as revolving on the concept of social
organisation and comprises shared common customs,
beliefs and socio-cultural values by a group of
URBANISATION PROCESS AND CHANGES
people. These values are both factual and
symbolic. Cultural groups confer common meanings
and significance to things. Meanings that are
established are statements of particular
associations and connections or disjunctions that
sustain specific understanding of the social world.
Social organisation also includes the means
by which societies adapt to their
environments for survival, protection, security and
continuity.
One important aspect of socio-cultural norms
is that they can be learnt, diffused, altered or
incorporated into other social and cultural
systems, retaining the same form but with different
functions and meanings. It is often suggested that
any changes or amendments in technology
induces social and cultural changes in the persons who
either invent, introduce, implement and/or
respond to them (Jequier 1976 and Morgenthaler
1977). Although new features may be invented,
adopted or difffused in a relatively short-time
Connell and Lea (1994:277), Connell (1988) and
Rowley (1965:45) further argue that traditional
rural habits often die hard. In other words, the
process of adaptation involves a continuous
interplay between the need for stability and the
need for change. However, Marris (1975) argues
that although individual desire for change may
predominate, collectively and verbally,
individuals may claim not having changed. This may
oblige some individuals to pretend to be
maintaining part or all of the rural socio-cultural
traditions.
How does this relate to the PNG situation? In
PNG many people consider urban residence as
permanent only if they can accrue some
economic benefits from it. Often, migrants show a
strong desire to return to, and permanently retire
in, their rural areas (Kaitilla and Sarpong-Oti
1993; Connel and Lea 1994; Connell 1988). This
may exert pressure on individuals to maintain all
of rural cultural traits or parts of rural and urban
cultural norms. Available evidence, for example,
suggests that urban migrants usually seek the
support and security of those who are left in the
villages. This can be either during difficult times
or when the urban sojourn is over (Kaitilla and
Sarpong-Oti 1993; Connell 1988; Levine and
Levine 1979 among others). In this sense
urbanisation in PNG has created a 'sub-urban culture'
to use Levine and Levine 's (1979:132)
terminology. It is common for migrants to regularly
oscillate between villages and cities. That is, a
sub-urban culture is one in which migrants hold
neither rural nor urban to the fullest (see also
Connell and Lea 1994:274). As Rowley (1965:52)
rightly comments, despite obvious social changes
151
the rural - urban culture co-exists alongside as a
constant reminder of the past; and that the past is
far from dead.
In each society there are certain features that
most individuals or groups of individuals hold in
common. For example, what makes Papua New
Guineans recognisably Melanesian as a
distinctive cultural group from Micronesians or
Polynesians? Firstly, Melanesians are connected
socially, culturally, and geographically (see,
Kaitilla 1990). Secondly, it is the pattern of how
Melanesians interweave common features in the
process of social organisation, including those
socially and culturally determined behaviours
that make them a distinctive group. These
common features include shared systems of thoughts,
beliefs, lifestyle, behaviour, initiation rites,
feasting, marriage and social exchange of goods of
traditional value and so on. A Melanesian is,
therefore, no more than a convenient term for people
who are "more or less in a common predicament"
(Rowley 1965:33). Consequently, the concept of
a single culture can be extended to those societies,
or communities, that are socially, culturally and
geographically connected (Kaitilla 1990).
Social organisation as the basis of cultural
generalisation
In this paper social organisation is used in its
broadest sense and refers to commonly held
beliefs about things and ways of doing things. It
also implies all the things, people in a given
society, do either in their daily social interaction
such as reciprocal obligations between kinsmen.
In several parts of PNG this was, and still
remains, the basis of morality. It was also an
important way to ensure survival and security
among clan members. Reciprocal obligations
were, usually, maintained through either trading
{moka, tee, etc) or exchange of good and food
stuffs (hiri, kula ring etc) between neighbouring
villages (Kaitilla 1992). The objects of exchange
were highly valued for ritual ceremonies (Feil
1987:251). However, Oliver (1989:554) and
Rowley (1965:37) argue that the primary reason
for exchange was to maintain friendly
relationship between neighbouring clans or villages.
A close examination of these is, therefore,
important to decode ways members from different
cultural groups, think, share and express their beliefs
to one another.
Firstly, is the need to understand the system of
thoughts and beliefs and how these are connected
to the general domiciliary behavioural patterns of
the people. Some of these include: (i) shared
152
beliefs in sorcery 5 (ii) supernatural powers to
harm or cause disaster, (iii) ability to foretell
future events or (iv) to reveal the guilty or the
innocent. An understanding of these beliefs is
central in any study of domiciliary behaviour.
According to Rew (1974:22) and Rowley
(1965:34-35) particular cultural norms promote
or inhibit certain behavioural display. Beliefs in
sorcery, for example, have had fundamental
impact on the social organisation including
family protection, among other things; Rowley
( 1 965 :46) highlight a widespread "use of spells to
manipulate deities and ancestral spirits for
human purposes, ... as a means of dealing with
one's enemies, ...". Another cultural norm in
common practise was that prohibiting
trespassing by a stranger in one's garden or hamlet.
Reasons for this are not hard to find, as anyone
who unnecessarily trespassed was regarded as
having bad intentions.
A second form of social organisation is that
based on the structure and meaning of
mythology (see, Finch, 1985). According to Finch
(1985:197) myth represents a very special and
interesting form of communication - unique
repository of cultural information. Myth
operates on the principle of sacredness which protects
it from conscious tampering. It serves as a vehicle
for collective rather than individual thought.
Finch ( 1 985) is of the opinion that myths provide
moral order of society and they either:
...provide an account of the origins of social
regulations, or they make a normative statement about
those regulations. ...rules developed do form an
important set of constraints on the behaviour of
individuals. These moral regulations are an important
part of what prople see as making themselves
distinctively human. Myth not only creates the distinction
between nature and culture but also provides the
basis for cultural behaviour that makes this distinction
significant (p. 213, emphasis added).
One such myth is the belief in gender
separation. Gender separation was widespread in
Melanesia and included strict and distinct
divisions of labour and space use in home
environments. Gender separation was particularly
notable in the display of domiciliary behaviour.
Several villages still have prescribed places where
men and female gather separately. A number of
reasons have been advanced for excluding
women from men's affairs. One of the reason was
the fear by men of being contaminated 6 from
5. According to Bateson (1980:124) a man gains a social standing in the community by his achievement in sorcery.
6. Reay (1959:84) claims that the wealthier Kuma men practised taboo of avoiding sexual relations with their wives while
breast feeding or during menstruation. She also claims that the self-respecting clansmen did not sleep with their wives in
women's houses for fear that they might reveal clan's secrets to these women who might in turn reveal them to their own close
agnates (cited in Reay 1990:70-71).
SOCIETE DES OCEANISTES
too frequent sexual contacts with, and the
menstrual conditions of, women (see, Meggitt 1964;
Berndt 1962; Strathern 1972; Newman 1965;
Read 1952; among others). According to Gelber
(1986) many men believed, and some still believe
in the power of women to pollute and
contaminate men. Using evidence from PNG, Brandewie
(1981:119-122) further stress the debilitating
nature of women pollution. It was held that
heterosexual intercourse drained the strength of
men, weakening them for battle and
diminishing their skills for hunting and trapping
(Meigs 1984; Kembol, et al 1972). Strathern
(1972) offers a succinct insight into this fear
thus:
...sexual relations are held to be debilitating, so that
men lose their strenght through too frequent sexual
contact with women; and since women [anyhow] are
not strong, their presence threatens men's strength,
(p. 164).
The fact that women's presence threatened
men's strength and hence the basis upon which
the well-being of the household depended for
protection, security and livelihood provides
strong evidence for this segregation. Reasons for
this fear and subsequent gender segregation are
not hard to find. Firstly, not too long ago, much
of the subsistence depended on what one could
gather from the natural environment, either by
gardening, hunting, fishing or food gathering in
the forest. Secondly, the survival and the
continuity of a society relied on its strength to defend
itself from neighbouring hostile clans.
Intertribal warfare was particularly common between
hostile clans especially before pacification. For
the purpose of this paper inter-tribal hostility is
considered as another form of social
organisation. This was even when the same hostile groups
maintained intact friendly trading contacts and
marriage relations between them (Bateson 1980;
Kaitilla 1992). The fear of attack being so real it
was the responsibility of the male members to
protect and ensure security and continuity of
their own clans (Meigs 1984:15-6; Rowley
1965:41). For these reasons the need to maintain
strength to defend one's clan members greatly
influenced the defensive spatial layout of
settlements. This meant that tools of survival had
to have 'good luck'. To achieve this it also
meant that such tools must be kept away from
women and uninitiated children. This fear of
rendering tools of survival with bad luck is well
URBANISATION PROCESS AND CHANGES
highlighted by Kembol, et al (1972) among the
Engans:
[...] if women happen to walk over any of our
property such as weapons, they might reduce the
success of ...fighting or ...any of the activities carried
out by men. (p. 21).
Daily, therefore, men congregated in
prescribed male areas not only for leisure purposes or to
discuss village politics, hunting and fishing
expeditions alone, but also to debate and plan wars.
By the same token, many women's activities
usually took place in prescribed female spaces.
For example, meal preparation, cooking and
gossiping took place mainly in the 'haus-kuk',
the kitchen, or at the rear of the houses.
To summarise, it is evident that some common
themes emerged from this generalisation. It is
obvious from this discussion that uniformities in
social organisation, system of thoughts and
gender segregation make cultural generalisation
possible. Almost everywhere social and cultural
beliefs, ideas, aspirations, and fears have
contributed to particular lifestyles of domiciliary
behaviours, building and layout of dwellings,
sleeping and so on. To better understand
culturally appropriate domiciliary behaviour in any
society it is important to begin with
anthropological and ethnographic accounts which detail
space utilisation in home environments.
Space utilisation in home environments
It is clear that gender segregation also generated
distinct separation of spaces in which each
group congregated in isolation of the other. This
segregation is marked in domiciliary space
utilisation, building and settlement layout. Space use
and gender separation have preoccupied many
anthropological studies especially those
regarding domiciliary behaviour (see for example
Waterson 1990, and Brandewie 1981:53). Rules
about space use provide potentially powerful
means of encoding cultural aspects of social
relations. In many traditional societies gender
has been a major factor in the layout of houses
and the use of space in other cultures as well.
Barth (1975), for example, describes a Bakita
village as consisting several:
[...] house types and areas of different degrees of
sacredness and purity. Menstrual huts are placed on
the ground, outside the bounds of the village;
...Women's huts, in which women, children, and pigs
reside are built low but with their floors off the
7. According to other observers, longhouses in Gulf Province, for example could accommodated more then 100 people.
(Personnal communication with Professor W. Ruff). Also, in Western Province more then 1 00 Gogola resided in one longhouse
whereas for the Hesif, the largest number never exceeded 25 people (Anonymous Reviewer).
153
ground; they are located in a circle or semi-circle
arount the plaza and are reluctantly entered by men,
...Men's houses, forbidden to women and children,
are generally larger and built on higher posts well off
the ground at one or another end of the plaza circle
or oval. (p. 20).
This type of village layout (Figure 1) was by
no means typical throughout PNG or
Melanesia. Where this was not the norm, gender
segregation among members of a household was
instead achieved, for example, through optimisation
of interior space. Alternatively, this was achieved
through body posture or avoiding eye contact
between and among particular members of the
household. This was a common practice among
the residents of the longhouse, for example, the
Samp of Western province (Shaw 1990:34-38)
and the Kaluli of Southern Highland province
(Schieffelin 1976:32-41). Generally, the number
of occupants in any longhouse varied from place
to place depending on a number of factors, for
example, raiding, alliance selection and sorcery
accusation. But it was not uncommon to find up
to 60 people 7 or 1 5 families from two or three
clans residing in one longhouse (Schieffelin
1976:38). However, even with such high
occupancy rate the interior space of the longhouse
was usually divided into several major areas as
shown in Figure 2. Fronting the main entrance is
an activity area predominantly for women and
where food was prepared and cooked. Beyond
the entrance are the male and female sleeping
areas. These are distinctly separated by a long
and wide corridor that was often used as a male
activity area. From the women's activity area,
there is a separate side entrance which leads to
the females' sleeping area. Close to this entrance,
is located an alcove for the confinement of
women during menstrual period. The sleeping
area for unmarried boys is located at the other
end of the longhouse, on each sides of the
central corridor.
Also, in West Britain province where
traditionally husbands shared the same dwelling with
their wives, yet males spent a considerable part
of their daily time in men's quarters - usually
away from the females and children (see,
Alexander and Cloutier 1980). A man who had more
than one wife built separate houses for each wife.
According to McDowell (1991:49) and
Brandewie (1981:51) this was necessary to reduce
conflict among agnate. But where two or more
wives shared dwelling each had a separate
fireplace (see, also Bateson 1980:143). In many
 13
0
SITE PLAN
14
23
1G 10 ^ N/
o o •<
n
0 22
O in#
~
O
ô
O
11 6 5
o20
U O19
1
Ô 6
h>2.Vs house with cerenonial pla?.a
>taren ' s houâo FAHILY^'''"'-.'-./:^---1"'-"1"''
a Display liCHir^; rm-"-'
Spirit bousi?
f^nst-ruation hut
A: Mbowamb, Central Highlands after Brandewie (1981:41). B: Gwali village, Maprik, East Sepik after Nashikawa (198
Figure i . - Settlement layout.
URBANISATION PROCESS AND CHANGES 155

Kaiulila
rear veranda open end
j gowali '
dulunalu dulunalu (*> "lighting platform" O 50
I socializing
men
fire sbox I! main poslO w arrows I Jco g°-
bachelors and boys 'exclusive male ready 1 S "«
t activity arsa |Or use t

D □ 2
hchocli monsoon
"dance room"

predominantly
male activity menstrual
area confinement
area
D D
ga kudo ga kudo
women's women's
socializing area socializing area
nanlin monsoon
1 "tood room" n
predominantly female fl f\
activity area
(ront veranda main
entrance
entrance ladder
roof
ID fire box overhang
• house post
" I wall or partition

A: Kaluli longhouse after Schieffelin (1976:32). B: Kandila longhouse after Shaw (1990:36).
Figure 2. Interior space utilisation in the longhouse.

rural areas, gender separation was, and still is,
extended to the use of toilets and bathing areas.
Gender as a basic concept in the organisation
of space and layout of houses and settlements
has been observed in other cultures as well.
Waterson (1990) has shown in her work in South
East Asia that where social relations are rapidly
changing it is important to apply certain rules in
the use of space. She goes on to show the merits
of allowing people to behave as required their
preferred relationships to each other. This can be
achieved through, for instance, prohibition and
manipulation of objects in space and through
body orientation and movement through
particular spaces. For example, the longhouse,
discussed above could, at times, be used as a private
space, and at other times as a public space. But for
most part, the longhouse provided, for its
pants, a space for individual sleeping, sitting,
socialising and cooking as well as ritual and tribal
politics. At other times, it became a public space
in which socialising and sing-sing, or dancing,
took place with clans from other longhouses.
It can therefore be said that in village
environments males have had a special areas to which
they retreated when they wished to be away from
the females and children, and vice versa.
Inevitably, much of the traditional Melanesian and
particularly PNG vernacular architecture has
responded well to local cultural values and
systems of social organisation. However, such
responsive and conducive arrangements are not
provided for in most urban housing schemes (see
Kaitilla 1993 for details of urban housing).
Attention is now turned to examine
interpersonal relations in the home environment.
156 SOCIÉTÉ DES OCÉANISTES

Social relations among kin son's, wife or enter her house when the brother,
or the son, was not present (Bateson 1980:143).
Social relations refer to primarily The same avoidance rules also applied to women
interpersonal relationships among kinship 8 groups who hat to avoid their husband's brothers. If, for
through which most social organisation takes example, a woman entered a house in which her
place. Kinship systems provide patterns of husband's brothers was present she was obliged
domiciliary behaviour, define and regulate group to sit at one side of the house and address him
membership. They also prescribe rules of decent without staring directly into his eyes 10.
and marriage. Kinship obligations affect the Also, and according to McDowell (1991:209)
social behaviour of people with respect to their and Mead (1992:77) eating had strong cultural
spatial relations, relation between father and ramification in terms of avoidance and respect,
son, son-in law and mother-in-law and so on. even between affines of the same sex. It was not
Social relations may be manifested in positive or permitted for a woman to eat close to her
negative behaviour to certain members of the daughter-in-law nor was a man permitted to sit
household. This may refer, for example, to one's near his brother-in-law or near where his affine
body posturing such as body orientation, body had recently sat. This is well highlighted by
contact, or eye contact toward various kin 9 . Mead (192) of what she observed in Manus
Often, traditional cultural norms dictate the use where:
of space and oblige appropriate social distance ...a house is divided into two parts by one or more
for various types of interactions. mats hung from the ceiling. Such a house can
There are, generally, three types of accommodate two households in which live a man
interpersonal relationships centred on avoidance, respect and a woman whom he calls daughter-int-law and
and joking (see Mead 1992:56). Avoidance refers who must therefore avoid him, and never raise her
to behavioural display toward people whom one voice so that he can hear it at the other end of the
must avoid, whereas respect refers to house. Nor can she go into this section of the house
behavioural display which evoke shame toward certain except when he is absent, (p. 79).
people. However, respect is primarily an This arrangement allowed people to practise
avoidance behaviour and both potentially evoke respect and avoidance behaviours between
embarassment. Joking, on the other hand, is affinal relatives. As already mentioned above, it
usually a behavioural display addressed to was not uncommon for a female visitor to
people who may be jested or played with. This also remain outside the house because her affinal
included the right to behave disrespectfully male relative was inside the house. A mother-in-
towards a senior person (Rowley 1965:34). law, for instance, would not enter a house when
McDowell (1991:200), however, claims that her son-in-law was present nor a woman would
avoidance and respect behaviours may have also not attend a feast at which her brother-in-law
prevailed even among persons who exercised joking was also present (Mead 1992:80). Furthermore,
relationships. and according to Mead (1975:52), the use of
These forms of social organisations have as personal names among the people of Manus was
well been observed among several PNG likely to cause considerable strain to the
societies. Among the Mundugumor of the Sepik relationship between members of a household.
region, for instance, the relationship between
affine of the opposite sex was generally that of
respect and near avoidance (McDowell 1992: Social and cultural change in PNG 1 1
209; Mead 1975:51). Rules of avoidance affect
daily spatial behaviour including body These types of cultural domiciliary
orientation and eye contact. For instance, a man was behaviours still predominate in several rural
not permitted to directly address his brother's, or communities in PNG. Generally, avoidance behaviours
8. Kinship refers to culturally specific ideas and methods of categorising people in terms or real or putative ties of
consanguinity and affinity. One of the process of entering into a personal relationship is on the basis of shared blood or through
marriage.
9. It is remarkable to especially note where people choose to sit and their sitting orientation. In PNG most people sit
anywhere, and their sitting arrangement (body orientation) does nos necessarily follow on any particular order. See, for example,
Mead (1992:53) on eating behaviour among the people of Manus.
10. In New Ireland province, tradition dictates that a sister-in-law cannot pass in front of her sister's husband without her
head being covered by a head dress (personal communication with Cletus Gonduan).
1 1 . Some writers claim that the destruction of old cultures is a form of development. This has been the case with the
replacement of men's houses - places of associations - with religious buildings which are places for worship (Kaitilla 1992;
Rowley 1965)
URBANISATION PROCESS AND CHANGES
were not meant to express or signify hostility.
But they were meant to maintain rituals, taboos
and respect for kin and elder members of the
clan. What happens to people who move to
towns where cultural traditions are no longer
closely maintained? Alternatively, are there any
cultural mechanisms to cope with stress brought
about by social and cultural change?
Over a hundred years of cultural contact with
missionary and colonial agents have left a
devastating effect on PNG although not on the same
level as in other developing countries (Oram
1989:70). However, having been ignorant of the
significance of the Melanesian cultural
traditions both missionaries and colonial
administrators suppressed most of them. They, instead,
imposed their own alien cultural values. Both
males and females were made to abandon,
among other things, their separate living
lifestyles and instead they were forced to adapt to a
nuclear family house and the organisation of
cultural domiciliary behaviour was also significantly
changed.
The most likely people to be affected by
urbanisation process would be migrants. McCarthy
(1970) recorded a useful insight on urban
lifestyle of migrants in Port Moresby:
The old days were good, ...That's all finished now...
[The old people] were all bitter about Port Moresby
and regarded it as a place of horror which had
swallowed and destroyed their families. Our children get
sick there. ...they run around and sell themselves to
men. ... Port Moresby is a bad place, (p. 45, emphasis
added).
Such problems are unheard of in most rural
settings. Urban context foster a sense of
anonymity and, besides, urban lifestyle is based on the
concept of sharing. For example, members of an
urban household share among themselves
almost everything. Household members live,
sleep, eat, relax in the same dwelling space. They
use the same toilet, and same bathing facilities.
Unlike in rural areas where gender separation is
distinct, in an urban area a household lacks an
area that can exclusively be called a male or
female activity area nor separate huts for
women's menstruation. In addition, with
shifting composition, and its resultant changes of
loyalty, there are other significant structural
stresses to both sexes. Many traditional roles are
rapidly changing. More men are steadily taking
part in household chores. Cultural and
traditional female roles, for example, that of raising pigs
12. The author is aware of a similar sleeping arrangement in an urban setting intended to respond to cultural norms. A Sepik
friend has a three bedroom house in one of the urban settlements in Lae. All three bedrooms are accessible only from the outside.
The two extreme bedrooms belong to the two parents of the opposite sex whereas the children occupy the third bedroom in the
middle.
157
and subsistence gardening are less prevalent and
often discouraged in most urban areas.
One fundamental effect of urban lifestyle is
the severance of rural cultural norms that have
been responsible for the maintenance of
traditional domiciliary behaviours. The transition
from rural to urban lifestyle, although long and
slow, often requires a change in social
organisation with respect to gender and kin (see
McCarthy 1970). Not only do migrants undergo
economic change, but their cultural ideals about
society undergo fundamental changes as well. In
urban areas, migrants experience a transition,
from mono-cultural to less tangible
multicultural relationship. However, as suggested
earlier that rural habits die hard, it is not
uncommon therefore for people to deny that they are
undergoing socio-cultural change. Despite
complexity of this process, that is, cultural rigidity or
conservatism, it usually involves a continuous
interplay for the need for stability and the need
for change. It is this interplay between the old
and the new that eventually determines the
degree of assimilation into an urban society, on
the one hand, and a change in a rural lifestyle, on
the other. This transition is difficult, despite
migrants' claims for or against complete
adjustment to urban lifestyles.
Consequently, urban domiciliary behaviours
are likely to produce considerable stress, for
example, for individuals for whom avoidance
and respect practices were until now the norms.
Stresses may arise due, but not limited, to
changes in the domiciliary behavioural patterns. For
instance, from that of living in separate dwellings
to that of living in the same house and hence
constantly being in close contact with females
most of the time. Kembol, et al (1972) draw
attention to the feelings of traditional Engans
when men and women sleep in the same
dwelling 12.
[Our fathers] stayed away from women most of the
time but now we are living together. [We] know that
we are breaking the laws of our fathers and [we]
usually feel guilty when [we] sleep in one house with
women, (emphasis added, p. 61).
It is obvious that tensions may arise due tu
lack of alternative settings into which to retreat.
In urban areas, such tensions become potential
sources of conflicts between men and women
(see Herdt and Poole 1982). This conflict is often
directed at women. According to Alexander and
158
Cloutier (1980) excessive social contact between
male and female: 13
[... causes] a man to lose his masculine powers and to
physically degenerate. To avoid this, men... practise
the tradition of incising the penis to allow the blood
contaminated through contact with women to flow
out of their bodies. In the city they perform this
ceremony far more frequently [...] (pp. 53-4).
It is therefore argued that urban domiciliary
behavioural patterns produce stress (Connell
and Lea 1994:276; McCarthy 1970:45). As
already shown above, it distorts traditional
forms of social organisation and consequently
appropriate cultural behaviours. Herdt and
Poole (1982) and Brown (1988) show that the
male - female polarity and antagonism have
significantly diminished in the last 50 years (see
also Kaitilla 1992; Tuzin 1988). Paula Brown
(1988), argues that female segregation is
outdated; nowadays women join men to play cards in
the men's house. The family house has, instead,
become the focus of social interaction (see also
Brandewie 1981 :43). Using evidence from Simbu
Brown (1988; 126) claims of female
emancipation in recent years. She attributes these changes
to social contact and 'modern' influences
brought about by both colonial and post-colonial
institutions such as education, legal and
government. However, she fails to offer evidence, or
even to suggest how both genders cope with
stress that develops between the sexes as a result
of declining traditional cultural taboos and
ritual fears. Kembol, et al (1979), once again,
give an illuminating case how Engans cope with
stress there:
[...] Some very old men still keep to their traditional
beliefs and if the clan no longer has a men's house
they build themselves smaller houses and live in
them. (p. 61).
Nonetheless, Brown (1988:127) does admits
that traditional ways still persist in some remote
rural sections of Simbu province. Here for a few
days during first menstruation young women are
yet not permitted to handle food or touch their
bodies. It is for these people a culturally
appropriate design solution must be found.
Searching for culturally appropriate
alternatives
How then can a member of a household be
able to exercise, at least, symbolic avoidance and
respect with regard to affinal relatives in an
urban setting? In other words, how best can
13. See, also, Hogbin (1963:30) and Meigs (1984:14) for similar views about the Busama people of Morobe Province.
SOCIETE DES OCEANISTES
urban housing schemes, to which many people
aspire, ensure that socio-cultural norms of
domiciliary behaviours are not compromised?
Although further research is evidently required
before any specific design criteria can be
proposed, there is an urgent need to search for
alternative solutions. It is important that these
solutions are conducive and support the unfolding of
culturally appropriate domiciliary behaviours
even in urban contexts.
Most urban housing forms and designs in
PNG encourage transitory urban lifestyle rather
than permanence due to insensitivity to cultural
domiciliary behavioural patterns. It is not
uncommon to find building extensions take
place especially on many low-income public
housing schemes. Several of these extensions are
of the type 'hauswincF where the male members
of the household gather to talk and receive
guests or outside haus-kuk where food
preparation, cooking and women gossip take place.
Having an optimum setting into which to retreat
from the opposite gender is an important
opportunity for coping with potential socio-cultural
stresses. These stresses can only be tolerated
where they are of transitory nature, for example,
being able to regularly retreat to rural settings.
One important area to search for culturally
appropriate design alternatives is in the
increasingly 'informal' self-built urban and peri-
urban settlements. In other words, what
fundamental experiences can be learned from the self-
built housing layouts in both squatter
settlements and urban villages? What instructive
mechanisms for coping with stress do these
housing layouts offer? Evidence in PNG has shown
reluctance among housing officials to adopt
solutions that are based on traditional cultural
values, as noted by Kaitilla (1 994) in a
correspondence between two government departments:
I note the considerable difference of opinion which
has arisen between The National Housing
Commission and the Lands Department in the advancement
of proposals for [Serafini area]. Noted is the rather
obscure requirements of the Department of Lands
in respect of group titles to be issued to wantok
groups, while the legislative framework for issuing
such titles still does not exist. Socially the
maintenance of clan groups within urban areas is not
particularly desirable, while the administration and
public health aspects of development by informal
group titles could be horrendous. The desire of The
National Housing Commission to proceed with a
formalised housing project is appreciated, for under
conditions of urban crisis is hardly an appropriate
time to experiment (pp. 313-314, emphasis added).
URBANISATION PROCESS AND CHANGES
Here is a case whereby the Lands Department
was about to put on trial traditional planning
concepts in an urban context. The concept
aimed at providing an integrated community in
which people were not only consulted but also
became active participants of their development
project. In this project community organisation
was seen as a most fundamental democratic
unity whereby housing layouts encouraged
community interaction. It was seen that such
interaction would, in turn, assist the process of self-
reliance and community development. The
layout of houses was to combine modern
planning standards and indigenous lifestyles by
promoting traditional forms of social and economic
activities, for instance, allowing urban
subsistence farming and allocation of housing plots on
the basis of the 'wantok' system. Although the
Lands Department eventually went ahead with
its proposal it certainly generated a great deal of
confusion and antagonism between the two
departments most directly involved with the
provision of housing in PNG (For details of this
project see Kaitilla 1994). Nonetheless, there are
great merits in closely examining how
domiciliary behaviour unfold in such human
settlements that are neither rural nor urban in
character (Connell and Lea 1994:274). Mangar (1980),
for example, shows that a village house is not
only a simple solution to the local climate and
materials but is also a response to complex issues
of socio-cultural needs. Many of these urban
and peri-urban settlements are formed on the
basis of ethnic or clan background where
cultural norms are likely to be maintained and
fostered. It is important that urban housing
programmes promote and facilitate the unfolding of
socio-cultural values, among other things. It is
only when these values receive special attention
that housing designs can help the unfolding of
culturally appropriate domiciliary behavioural
patterns. Urban houses must be designed to
allow for flexible needs that meet spatial options
for both short- and long- term visiting 'wantoks',
or relatives.
Conclusion
The paper has discussed the issue of space use
in contemporary urban and rural environments
in Melanesia and PNG in particular. Several
points have emerged out of this discussion such
as the importance of male-female spatial
segregation in Melanesian villages. It has also been
pointed out that most contemporary urban
residences and residential areas are not designed
159
with the view of upholding traditionally
appropriate cultural values. Finally, the paper makes
methodological suggestions in pursuit of
culturally conducive solutions which will allow the
unfolding of 'appropriate' domiciliary
behavioural patterns.
In many parts of Melanesia socio-cultural
sanctioned ideals of the environment and
appropriate gender separation in domestic spaces have
generally influenced traditional housing designs.
However, the on-set of social contact,
urbanisation coupled with the influx of rural-urban
migration in recent decades, have significantly
altered traditional housing designs and therefore
spatial gender segregation. Changes in housing
design have not, however, been associated with
the corresponding changes in the traditional
gender perceptions.
This is partly due to insensitivity to the values
and socio-cultural norms of the intended
recipients by housing designers that many public
urban housing schemes continue to fail. As
argued in the paper, this has been attributed to
the failure to recognise that the built spaces are
an integral part of a cultural system. What
contemporary housing designers fail to
comprehend is that regularities in social organisation
reflect the adherence to specific cultural
domiciliary behavioural requirements and ideals.
Although the study remains inconclusive in its
findings and specific design recommendations it
sets out the scene for further empirical study.
This invitation is made knowingly that there is
little or no comprehensive empirical evidence in
Melanesia, and PNG particularly, regarding
how different cultural groups actually organise
and utilise spaces in their domestic dwellings.
Most modern houses are designed and built as if
families were homogeneous and composed of a
nuclear family of six members, two parents and
four children. Meanwhile, the following points
sum up important observations emerging out of
this paper:
• sitting close to certain kin was normally not
culturally approved;
• visual and aural avoidance and respect behaviours
were culturally encouraged and maintained with
special categories of affins;
• direct eye contact with particular kin was avoided
through body orientation; and
• body contact was avoided with certain affinal
relations.
However, two areas need further close
examination, and namely:
i) the effects of increased participation by
women in wage employment against their
160
traditional roles and how these affect
home related behaviours and
ii) the effects on the role of male as the head
of the household in domestic chores.
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ABSTRACT
This paper explores the effect of urbanisation
process on domiciliary behavioural patterns in
Papua New Guinea. Urbanisation process in PNG
has had significant effects on traditional socio-
cultural norms despite its low level. The rate of
cultural change has of course been exacerbated by
many years of missionary and colonial activities.
Using ethnographic and anthropological evidence
the paper first traces what has, for many years,
been considered traditionally acceptable and
expected domiciliary behavioural patterns. These
are then examined in the context of the current
urbanisation process and its attendant effects. It is
then argued that any severance of the traditional
domiciliary behavioural patterns are likely to
cause considerable stress amongst household
members and kinship groups. Finally, the paper
calls for detailed studies into cultural domiciliary
patterns. These will enable for the designing of
appropriate dwellings in which culturally
acceptable behaviours can unfold unimpeded. It is argued
that the built environment is extremely important
for both expressing and structuring domiciliary
behaviours.