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‘Being Sociological hits the sweet Society today faces many pressing challenges including
spot for an introductory sociology unprecedented inequalities, unparalleled technological
textbook. Featuring contributions from surveillance, and unmatched environmental degradation. Have
an impressive international cast of you ever wondered what you could do to tackle problems like
sociologists, it provides an exciting and these? While such challenges may seem insurmountable,
engaging introduction to the discipline.’ studying sociology gives you a pathway to understand and the
– Amanda Wise, Maquarie University, tools to overcome these most urgent issues of our age.
3E
Australia
Being Sociological urges you to explore the world around you and
‘An original, highly relevant and your place within it. It sees sociology as more than academic ideas
contemporary approach to sociology and theories, as a way of being, living, and interacting with the
and social research. There is perhaps world. Embracing the breadth of this lived experience, this textbook
no better time for being sociological.’ looks at twenty aspects of existence, from working to believing,
– Julie Parsons, University of communicating, playing and more. Its active approach builds the
Plymouth, UK skills you need to uncover the roots of social phenomena and,
crucially, to sow seeds of change. With coverage of important recent
‘An introduction to sociology that speaks phenomena and a diverse roster of contributors, this textbook
directly to students in these rapidly presents a fresh take on society today.
changing and confronting times.’
– Kevin Dew, Victoria University of Key features:
Wellington, New Zealand
• Compact yet critical, this textbook develops the skill of thinking
‘This textbook is the best foundation for sociologically, bolstered by theoretical underpinnings
learning not only how society works, • Timely insight into recent, or still-unfolding challenges such as
3E
but how it can be changed.’ – Dan the COVID-19 global pandemic to give you an up-to-date view of
Woodman, University of Melbourne, today’s world
Australia
• Multifaceted and well-rounded, reflecting our global society and its
diverse make-up and incorporating perspectives from international
‘A valuable educational resource that
experts
uniquely emphasises the relevance
of sociology to the student’s own
Contemporary, student-centric, and globally-informed, this
Always-already global 40
SHiP: History 41
Sociological solutions: Sociology and legitimating a colonial
world order 43
Anti-globalization44
Conclusion 45
Suggestions for further reading 46
References 47
4. Dividing: Inequalities 49
Daniel Smith
Introduction49
Theories of dividing: Marx, Veblen, and Weber 50
SHiP: Individual 53
Global wealth and its sociological dramas 55
Sociological Solutions: Wealth and morality 60
Recognition and re-distribution? 61
Conclusion 63
Suggestions for further reading 63
References 64
5. Urbanizing 65
Adrian Franklin
Introduction 65
Urbanizing: Sociology versus common sense 65
Unexamined population growth 68
Unexamined urban change 71
SHiP: individual 72
Sociological solutions: Building an arts and cultural economy 74
Unexamined heterogeneity 76
Conclusion 80
Suggestions for further reading 80
References 80
6. Working 83
Bruce Curtis
Introduction: Working and labouring 83
What was work? 84
SHiP: Power 86
Control and resistance in work 87
Sociological solutions: Mobilization and territorial jurisdictions 94
Fin de siècle: Then and now 95
Conclusion: There are alternatives 97
Suggestions for further reading 97
References 97
Contents ix
7. Transgressing 101
Sara Salman
Introduction101
Toward a structural explanation 102
The pleasure of transgression, the excitement of evil 105
The power to define and the power of panic 107
Sociological solutions: Drug decriminalization and legalization 110
Transgressors as others in the age of neoliberal politics 111
SHiP: Structure 112
Conclusion 113
Suggestions for further reading 113
References 114
9. Racializing 135
David Mayeda
Introduction135
Ethnicity, race and racism 137
SHiP: History 141
Colonialism, neo-colonialism and Indigeneity 143
White privilege and fragility 144
Conclusion: Resisting racism 145
Sociological solutions: A high school violence prevention programme 145
Suggestions for further reading 147
References148
Conclusion 285
Suggestions for further reading 285
References 286
Glossary337
Index351
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
Figures
4.1 Top 10 countries in the world by number of billionaires (2001–2019) 54
4.2 Number of billionaires in the Americas (2001–2019) 58
4.3 Number of billionaires in Asia (2001–2019) 59
6.1 Forms of resistance at work 89
8.1 Social media use by gender, age, education and income 119
15.1 Migrants as a percentage of the global population 241
Tables
2.1 Dimensions of qualitative and quantitative research 24
2.2 Quantitative and qualitative research and goals of inquiry 28
10.1 Waves of feminism 163
12.1 Estimated proportion of ‘nuclear families’ (couple with dependent children households) 187
12.2 Age at first marriage, men and women 189
12.3 Age of women at first birth, and fertility rate (average number of children per woman) 190
12.4 Estimated proportion of single-person households (‘living alone’) 190
12.5 Estimated proportion of one-parent households 190
13.1 Categorisation of fundamentalist groups 215
xiii
TOUR OF THE BOOK
Key points
Key points:
Outline the core ideas and themes
that you will discover in the chapter.
SHiP boxes
Explore the broader forces that come
SHiP: History
to bear on social environments. See
further explanation on p. xvii. located in between Hawai‘i and Papua
ulation shows disproportionately high
2003) and is coping with the threat of
xiv
Tour of the Book xv
References
Citation details for the major works References
and research studies referenced in Albrow, M. (1990) ‘Introduction’ in M. Albrow a
the chapter. and Society, London: Sage.
Appadurai, A. (1996) Modernity at Large
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Pre
Bearak M (2016) Theresa May criticized the te
SHiP
In order to be sociological, you need to be able to see beyond yourself, to see the
connections and relationships you have with others, to understand the environ
ment you are embedded in and to know the broader social, economic, political
and historical forces that bear down upon you. This textbook makes use of a
SHiP framework to help you do this, where:
S = social structure
H = history
i = individual
P = power
Social structure
Social structures are relatively stable across time. Structures exist beyond indi
viduals and groups but operate on them continuously. They shape social life.
When sociologists talk about social structure they are referring to three things
– orders, patterns and outcomes. Orders are institutions and social systems.
Sociologically speaking, institutions are systems of rules (Hodgson, 2015: 45).
Institutions involve people taking on various patterned and lasting roles, sta
tuses and norms in order to meet fundamental social needs. Social systems are
formal structures of institutions, roles and statuses as they apply to particular,
identifiable stable groups. Patterns refer to customs, habits, norms and trad
itions (social life is typically ordered and predictable). Sociologists devote a lot
of their time to studying the consequences of particular social structures. For
example, patriarchy is a structure. The outcomes it produces include the under
representation of women in positions of power, feminized jobs with low status
and low wages, laws and practices that regulate and control women’s bodies, and
the use of violence by men against women.
History
There is not one fixed human society, rather human society exists in numerous
historical forms, and each changes across time. This is significant for sociologists
because the person we can become is intimately connected to the society, and
times, in which we live. Comparing different societies, and examining and
explaining them, is a key component of sociological work. Across time our soci
eties have got larger and more complex, their social structures have changed, as
have their means of external control (and modes of self-regulation), all of which
means that what it is to be human has changed markedly throughout history. As
the novelist L.P. Hartley (2002: 17) put it, ‘The past is a foreign country: they
xvii
xviii About the SHiP and Sociological solutions boxes
individual
Under the SHiP framework, Structure, History and Power are accented through
capital lettering over the lowercase ‘i’ for individual. While individuals can exert
power in particular contexts, a society’s structural composition, its historical
patterns and power inequalities are far more significant in shaping people’s lives.
In other words, while we all act in the world, we do so under conditions of con
straint. Individual fates are socially shaped. The relations that people find them
selves in – what we do with, to and for others, and what is done to us – largely
define us. They determine our life chances; they give us our sense of self (soci
ologists have long observed that how we think of ourselves is heavily informed
by how others think about us – see Chapter 8: Becoming). The individual is
therefore a social being. To understand individuals we need to understand the
collective to which they belong. Individuals exist within multiple social systems
(family units, friend networks, cities, nations). We can only make sense of the
personal if we also pay attention to the structural. As C. Wright Mills (1959: 3)
wrote, ‘Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be
understood without understanding both’. This is what sociology does.
Power
Sociologists understand power in several ways: as the ability to do or act, as
recognized authority and as social dominance and control. The powerful are
influencers and rule makers. They get their way, even when others resist. Power
is linked to notions of social stratification (since it determines access to, and
control over, resources – see Chapter 4: Dividing). This in turn connects to
lifestyles and life chances, which is to say how we live our lives and how well we
fare in the world. In the strongest sense of the word, the powerful have the abil
ity to broker our reality, to successfully name and classify the world, to say what
can exist and how the world should be. The truly powerful, then, can limit what
can be thought and said (Bourdieu, 2018). Sociologists are interested in how
groups and individuals come to have power, what the consequences of their
power are, why people comply with the powerful (conformity) and why they
resist (deviance – see Chapter 7: Transgressing). Power is a central sociological
concern because authorities have the ability to determine the horizons of our
existence, stipulating what is acceptable, what is thinkable and what is possible.
It is central to understanding social structures and dynamics since the powerful
create the institutions and values that govern social life. These institutions tend
to reflect their values and serve their interests. For Manuel Castells (2016: 2)
power relationships are ‘the DNA of societies, the source code of all cultures,
and the thread that links everything and ultimately reveals the possible paths of
evolution of social life’.
Each chapter applies one element of SHiP to the subject matter under discus
sion in order to help you enhance your understanding:
Chapter 1: On Being Sociological – SHiP and identity
Chapter 2: Researching – Structure
About the SHiP and Sociological solutions boxes xix
Sociological solutions
Sociology seeks to make sense of ourselves, each other and our times. In reflect
ing upon your place in the world and your prospects, you may have cause to feel
dejected. After all, ours is a world of unprecedented inequalities, unparalleled
surveillance and unmatched environmental degradation (see Chapters 4:
Dividing, 16: Communicating and 20: Impacting). For this reason, each
chapter features a Sociological Solution for the issue under discussion. They
serve to remind us that social structures are the products of social action. They
are made, they can be remade. In doing so, they also align us with sociology’s
original impulse, which is to make the world a better place (Bauman, 2011:
160). We know how to do better.
Sociologists are able to offer a range of solutions to any social problem. Take Social problem
the monumental inequalities we just mentioned. Achim Steiner has stated that An issue that impacts
‘[w]hat we are seeing today is the crest of a wave of inequality. What happens upon many people
next comes down to choice’ (quoted in UNDP, 2019: iii). This is absolutely the within a society.
case. These inequalities only grew so large because we allowed them to. In the
United States, for example, thanks to intense lobbying, significant political
donations and a false belief that entrepreneurs create wealth (workers do), and
that said wealth would ‘trickle down’ to the less fortunate, the taxes on billion
aires were cut by 79 per cent across four decades. The result was that ‘the sum
total of US billionaire wealth jumped from $240 billion in 1990 to nearly $3
trillion today’ (Day, 2020).
In neoliberal countries the world over, CEOs were rewarded with enormous
bonuses, social welfare provisions were cut, union powers were curbed and, as
noted, taxes on the wealthiest were reduced. The social consequences of this are
xx About the SHiP and Sociological solutions boxes
Universal basic well-known to sociologists: rising public health problems, increased criminal
income offending (see Chapter 7: Transgressing), decreased levels of trust and higher
A public programme of levels of anxiety and depression (Brewer, 2019).
periodic payment to all What can we do about this? Plenty. We can change our taxation systems,
to ensure that everyone labour legislation and corporate governance models. At the level of ‘pre-distri
has adequate means to bution’, which is to say before taxation is involved, we could institute a living
live and participate in
everyday life.
wage, we could limit corporate salaries (including maximum wages for CEOs)
and we could institute a universal basic income. At the level of redistribution
Wellbeing economics we could enact progressive taxation regimes, close tax loopholes and also imple
An approach to eco- ment new taxes as appropriate, for example capital gains taxes in jurisdictions
nomics which takes where they currently do not exist. We could also insist upon high levels of
human wellbeing and worker representation on company boards (some countries mandate as much as
the ability to live a life of 50 per cent, but we could demand even more). And we could promote worker
value as the true unionization, and embed unions into formal bargaining processes.
measure of the worth of Beyond all of this, we should be prioritizing measures of human wellbeing
the economy rather
over economic growth, since the true point of the economy is to promote con
than money generation
(for example GDP).
tentment. As such, our efforts should be geared towards ensuring that people are
able to live the life they value. This means paying attention to the qualities of
Zero growth A move- peoples’ personal relationships, their environments, health and leisure opportu
ment which opposes nities. Numerous sub-branches of economics advocate precisely this, including
the capitalist economy ‘wellbeing economics’ (Dalziel and Saunders, 2014) and ‘human capabilities’
which is based upon approaches (Nussbaum, 2011).
growth for growth’s Just as there are sociological solutions to promote human wellbeing, there
sake. Relentless growth are solutions to enhance environmental wellbeing (see Chapter 20: Impacting).
is incompatible with a These include the zero growth movement and those advocating the circular
finite planet.
economy. The quest for constant economic growth has had serious environ
Circular economy
mental impacts. In order to live better, zero growth advocates argue that we
An alternative to the should consume less and recycle more, and reorient our values away from indi
traditional linear vidualism and self-interest. The basic idea with the circular economy is that
economy. Resources everything that is made can be unmade. This means minimizing waste and pol
stay in use for as long as lution at the point of design, making sure products and materials stay in use and
possible, the maximum working to regenerate natural systems. Such an economy is underpinned by
value is taken from renewable energy.
them while they are When new ideas for organizing society are first proposed they may seem
used, then products and
preposterous. For example, the idea of women’s rights was originally mocked
materials are recovered
from them at the end of
and derided. We must remind ourselves that for most of human history women
their ‘life’. were not subjects, rather they were objects passed between men, typically from
father to husband (see Chapter 10: Gendering). Bonnie Honig (2009: 62)
observed that ‘[t]he new is always laughable, a point worth recalling when called
Ideologies Beliefs, to the serious work of “real politics”’.
often peddled as truths Progressive change may even appear to be impossible. It will be presented as
by the powerful, which such by those with the most to gain from the current social order. The power
justify social inequalities. ful typically oppose change as they profit the most from the status quo. It is
in their interests to disseminate ideologies that cement current social arrange
ments, and that make them appear natural rather than constructed. If they are
part of the natural order of things, they may be impossible to change. It is for
this reason that Mark Fisher (2009: 18) stated that ‘emancipatory politics must
always destroy the appearance of a “natural order”, must reveal what is pre
sented as necessary and inevitable to be a mere contingency, just as it must make
what was previously deemed to be impossible seem attainable’ (see Chapter 19:
Mobilizing).
About the SHiP and Sociological solutions boxes xxi
References
Bauman, Z. (2011) Collateral Damage: Social Inequalities in a Global Age, Cambridge:
Polity Press.
Bourdieu, P. (2018) Classification Struggles, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Brewer, M. (2019) What Do We Know and What Should We Do About…? Inequality,
London: Sage Publications.
Castells, M. (2016) A sociology of power: My intellectual journey, Annual Review of
Sociology, 42: 1–19.
Dalziel, P. and Saunders, C. (2014) Wellbeing Economics, Wellington: Bridget Williams
Books.
Day, M. (2020) Billionaires are the pandemic’s villains, not its heroes, Jacobin, 27 April,
https://jacobinmag.com/2020/04/billionaires-coronvirus-pandemic-profiteers-
taxes?utm_source=Jacobin&utm_campaign=c728e04a8c-EMAIL_
CAMPAIGN_2019_10_01_07_50_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_
be8b1b2846-c728e04a8c-85530066&mc_cid=c728e04a8c&mc_eid=f0cf8d0dfa
(accessed 1 May 2020).
Fisher, M. (2009) Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? Auckland: John Hunt
Publishing, ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/
auckland/detail.action?docID=954706 (accessed 1 May 2020).
Hartley, L.P. (2002) The Go-Between, New York: New York Review of Books.
Hodgson, G.M. (2015) Conceptualizing Capitalism: Institutions, Evolution, Future,
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Honig, B. (2009) Emergency Politics: Paradox, Law, Democracy, Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press.
Latour, B. (2020) Where to land after the pandemic? A paper and now a platform’,
Bruno Latour Homepage, 29 March, http://www.bruno-atour.fr/sites/default/files/
downloads/P-202-AOC-ENGLISH_1.pdf (accessed 7 June 2020).
Mills, C.W. (1959) The Sociological Imagination, London: Oxford University Press.
Nussbaum, M. (2011) Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach,
Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.
Scheerer, S. (1986) Towards abolitionism, Contemporary Crises, 10: 5–20.
United Nations Development Program (UNDP) (2019) ‘Human development report
2019: Beyond income, beyond averages, beyond today: Inequalities in human
development in the 21st century’, http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/hdr2019.
pdf (accessed 21/02/2020).
Watts, J. (2020) Bruno Latour: ‘This is a global catastrophe that has come from
within’, The Guardian, 6 June, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/06/
bruno-latour-coronavirus-gaia-hypothesis-climate-crisis?CMP=Share_iOSApp_
Other (accessed 7 June 2020).
Žižek, S. (2020) Pandemic! COVID-19 Shakes the World, New York: OR Books.
About the editors xxiii
Students and lecturers using the third edition of Being Sociological on their
introductory sociology modules have free access to a range of materials to sup
port teaching and broaden learning on the book’s companion website:
www.macmillanihe.com/matthewman-bs-3e
For lecturers:
• Lecture slides as a foundation for your lectures.
• Further questions that could be set as tutorial topics or as questions for essay
assignments.
• MCQs that could be set as part of formative or summative assessments.
• First day of class lesson plan to help begin your teaching with this book.
For students:
• What is Sociology to introduce you to this fascinating field.
• Interactive flashcards to support your understanding of important socio
logical concepts and terminology.
• Curated links to signpost further avenues to explore outside of the classroom.
xxvii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Steve Matthewman would like to thank his partner, Tracey. All of the editors
would like to thank our undergraduate students who serve as the inspiration for
this text, as well as the contributors who have made this collection what it is. We
also want to record a debt of gratitude to Lloyd Langman and Niki Arulanandam
at Red Globe Press. Without Lloyd’s concerted efforts, this project would never
have commenced. Here’s hoping that it’s a good season for Plymouth Argyle.
Semper Fidelis. Without Niki’s hard work, this project would never have con
cluded. The editors thank her for keeping them on task, and for providing such
a good overview of the project that we have a book to be proud of.
xxix
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
différence, pour le bruit, que du vol d’une hirondelle à celui d’un
aéroplane. Il balançait une espèce de pique, longue de plus de cinq
fois la longueur de son propre corps, et visait quelque chose, dans
un arbre. Son bras se détendit pour atteindre, à quarante mètres, un
magnifique perroquet, jaune et bleu, que je n’avais même pas su
voir. Mais ce n’était pas cette volaille qui m’intéressait, c’était la
pique, mince comme une canne à pêche : elle avait dix mètres de
haut ; et légère, et dure, inflexible ! Plus tard ce vieux m’expliqua qu’il
fallait abattre tout un gros arbre pour en tailler seulement deux. Il
coupait le tronc à la hache, et c’est encore avec cet outil civilisé qu’il
dégrossissait d’abord ses javelots : mais tout leur finissage était fait
avec des racloirs de pierre : un travail de six mois pour chacun
d’eux ! Au fond, des trucs comme ça, c’est peut-être plus difficile à
inventer et à fabriquer qu’un téléphone ; il y faut une espèce de
génie, et une adresse que nous n’avons pas. Ça m’amusait
tellement de le voir se servir de son bird’s spear — c’est le nom que
lui donnent les colons anglais — que je ne tirai plus un coup de
fusil : je le suivais comme un enfant pour le regarder. Ça le rendit
fier, et il devint ami avec moi, très vite. Il parlait assez bien pidgin, le
« sabir » international des mers du Sud, de sorte qu’on s’entendait
sans trop de peine. Il portait dans un sac en fibres de cocotier le
produit de sa chasse, près de deux douzaines d’aras de toutes les
couleurs, de beaux pigeons bleus, et deux porte-lyres. Je lui
demandai :
« — Tu les manges ? »
Il secoua la tête :
« — Manteau !… » fit-il brièvement.
Je sentis le cœur me sauter de joie. Ainsi, sans le vouloir, par un
pur hasard, j’étais tombé sur un bonhomme — le seul qui restât aux
Samoa, probablement, et dans toute l’Océanie — chez qui l’on
pratiquait encore cette industrie perdue. Je ne dis rien. J’ai vu assez
de sauvages dans ma vie pour savoir qu’il ne faut pas les brusquer.
Mais je le menai à mon petit campement, j’ouvris devant lui mon
bagage en regardant ses yeux pour voir quelles choses tenteraient
ses désirs. Il demeura d’une froideur suprême, jusqu’au moment où,
ne croyant plus que rien le pourrait séduire, je refermais, presque
aussitôt que je l’avais ouverte, une boîte d’hameçons anglais, tout à
fait ordinaires. Alors il fit : « Heu ! » du fond de la gorge, avec
admiration, car il fabriquait encore ses hameçons avec des arêtes de
poissons et les esquilles du squelette de petits oiseaux. Je lui donnai
tout de suite la boîte, bien entendu.
C’est ainsi que j’achevai sa conquête. Il me conduisit chez lui. Il
avait planté sa case dans un endroit délicieux, au bord d’une lagune
qui n’est séparée de la mer que par une étroite bande de coraux.
Des cocotiers qui poussent dans le sable, un sable fait de toutes
petites coquilles ; près de là, une petite rivière ombragée de
fougères arborescentes. C’était là qu’il vivait, avec sa vieille vahiné,
son fils aîné, un beau diable aux traits presque européens, et pas
plus brun de peau qu’un Italien, aussi grand et aussi fort que lui,
mais qui boitait très bas d’une jambe ; la vahiné de ce fils, encore
jeune et très jolie, ma foi, malgré les yeux un peu enfoncés de sa
race, qui donnent l’air de regarder en dessous, et les deux enfants
du ménage, tout nus, souples, câlins et malins comme de petits
chats. Je croyais que c’était tout, mais j’entendis geindre et tousser
dans la case ; et quand j’y pénétrai, bien qu’il n’y sentît pas bon, car
elle n’avait qu’une fenêtre et une porte, toutes deux très basses, à la
mode du pays, je vis se lever à demi, pour me faire honneur, son
second fils, roulé dans des tas de couvertures, et grelottant. Ce
n’était plus qu’un squelette ambulant : il me parut au dernier degré
de la phtisie.
… Et puis la grosse vahiné et sa bru, en train de tisser le
manteau de plumes ! On ne peut pas se figurer ça, même en rêve,
même en fumant l’opium ! Le vieux, qui s’appelait Taouhaki, me dit
qu’il serait fini dans quinze jours.
J’en avais une envie, une envie, de ce manteau ! Je savais qu’à
Londres ou à Paris je le revendrais bien mille livres. Alors je tirai mes
plans pour me le faire donner… Je vois que je vous choque, mais
vous n’y êtes pas ; dans les mers du Sud, on n’achète jamais rien :
vous faites un cadeau, on vous rend un cadeau. J’envoyai mon
matelot, avec la barque, à Apia, en lui disant de me rapporter le plus
beau gramophone qu’il pourrait trouver.
J’en eus pour mes vingt-cinq livres ; c’était un gramophone
boche, tout ce qui se fait de mieux. Et, en effet, quand ils entendirent
la Marseillaise, Rule Britannia, la Wacht am Rhein, la chanson de
Mignon, et Plus près de toi, mon Dieu, l’hymne qu’on jouait, vous
savez, quand le Titanic a sombré, ils furent éperdus d’enthousiasme.
Le tuberculeux lui-même sortit pour entendre ; il pleurait d’émotion et
de volupté. Ces pauvres gens ne pouvaient croire qu’il y eût au
monde chose plus merveilleuse.
Je finis par leur laisser mettre les disques qu’ils voulaient, et
pendant ce temps-là, m’appliquai à lire les journaux. Vous vous
souvenez qu’elles n’étaient pas gaies, les nouvelles de la guerre, au
printemps 1918. Ça m’absorbait, et je n’avais pas envie de rire.
Taouhaki s’en aperçut. Il me demanda, compatissant :
« — Ton cœur est sous la pluie ?
« — Ce sont des nouvelles de la guerre, en Europe, lui dis-je.
Sa réponse m’étonna. Il prit une figure toute riante :
« — Vous avez la guerre, en Europe ? Vous êtes bien heureux !
— Heureux ! fis-je sévèrement ; notre guerre a coûté des millions
et des millions de vies ! »
Parler de millions à des gens qui ne peuvent compter que jusqu’à
cinq, sur les doigts d’une seule main, c’était une bêtise. Il ne comprit
pas, et me crut encore moins.
« Vous êtes bien heureux ! reprit-il. Ah ! si nous pouvions encore
avoir la guerre, aux Samoa ! Je n’aurais pas un fils infirme pour le
reste de sa vie, et l’autre qui va mourir ! »
Je traduis son pidgin, vous concevez. Et voilà l’histoire
incroyable, l’histoire absurde qu’il me conta :
« — Il y a beaucoup de feuilles mortes depuis ce temps-là
(beaucoup d’années écoulées), on se faisait la guerre une fois par
lune, aux Samoa ! Tantôt avec une tribu, tantôt avec une autre, un
seul jour, une fois par lune, et c’était un jour de réjouissance…
« — Mais les morts, les blessés ? lui représentai-je.
« — Il n’y avait jamais de morts, jamais de blessés, protesta-t-il,
stupéfait. On essayait de se surprendre, il y avait des règles établies
depuis toujours, pour montrer celui qui est le plus fort… Alors le plus
faible se reconnaissait vaincu : ce n’est pas la peine de se laisser
tuer quand on est le plus faible… Une fois, dans ma jeunesse, il y a
eu un mort, pourtant, par accident. Ça causa une telle tristesse que
les deux armées rentrèrent tout de suite chez elles, et c’est la seule
fois où il n’y a eu ni vainqueur ni vaincu !
« Mais les missionnaires protestants d’Amérique et d’Angleterre
sont arrivés, ils nous ont convertis, et ils ont dit : « Comment, vous
faites la guerre ! C’est immoral, c’est épouvantable, c’est défendu
par Dieu ! Il ne faut plus faire la guerre ! »
« On jour a répondu : « Mais c’est la seule chose qui nous
amuse ! — Nous allons vous apprendre un jeu qui a la faveur de
Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ, ont dit ces missionnaires, et qui est
bien plus amusant que la guerre. Ça s’appelle le kika (le cricket). »
« Ils nous ont appris le kika. Ça se joue avec des boules très
lourdes, entourées de peau, et des espèces de bottes encore plus
lourdes. A la première partie, notre roi est tombé, la tête fracassée
par une de ces boules, et il est mort encore trois Samoëns, parce
que nous y mettions beaucoup de vigueur. Alors les hommes de la
tribu qui avaient eu le plus de tués ont demandé leur revanche pour
le samedi suivant, et depuis ce moment-là, il meurt au cricket cinq
ou six Samoëns par semaine. C’est un fléau abominable ! Mon
second fils a eu la poitrine broyée par une boule, et c’est depuis ce
jour-là qu’il est malade. L’aîné a eu la jambe cassée… Je me suis
dit : « Ils vont le faire mourir aussi ! » Et c’est pour ça que je suis allé
m’établir avec ma famille à Toutouila, où on ne joue pas au kika. »
« — Voilà ! reprit le capitaine Birchwood ; j’appris ainsi qu’il est
toujours funeste de changer les usages d’un peuple, et ça me fit
plaisir de voir que les missionnaires avaient fait une sottise, parce
que nous, les marins et les commerçants, nous n’aimons pas les
missionnaires… Mais je pensais toujours au manteau ! Quand il fut
tout à fait fini, je dis à Taouhaki, en lui montrant le gramophone :
« — Tiens, je te le donne. »
Il secoua la tête :
« — Je ne puis l’accepter, dit-il, je ne puis rien te donner en
échange qui le vaille ! »
Je m’attendais bien à ça ; je suggérai :
« — Si, le manteau ! »
Il prit une figure désolée, et fit : « Non, non ! » de la tête. J’insistai.
Il s’obstina. Je devenais enragé ! Livre par livre, j’allai jusqu’à lui offrir
cinq cents guinées pour le manteau, en sus du gramophone. Il
secouait toujours la tête. « Cinq cents guinées ! fis-je. Tu pourras te
faire bâtir une belle maison, venue toute faite d’Amérique, avec un
toit en tôle ondulée ! » Je lui disais ça parce que c’est leur rêve, à
tous les Samoëns, d’avoir une maison américaine. Il répondait
toujours : « Non ! ».
— Mais enfin, pourquoi ne veux-tu pas ?
— Le manteau est pour mon fils qui va mourir, dit-il. Pour
l’ensevelir : afin qu’il soit chaudement et magnifiquement vêtu, sous
la terre ! »