Dobu - Sociopolitical Organization

Social and Political Organization. The village ( asa ) comprises between four and a dozen susu and is the most important social unit for the organization of marriage and mortuary exchanges. Between four and twenty villages form a named locality, which traditionally appears to have had a headman, probably one who had inherited much magic and was prominent in kune. The localities of a district (such as Dobu Island) were normally hostile to one another, though they sometimes combined for war making (and kune expeditions) under the leadership of a strong "war chief and standard bearer." Such was Bromilow's "friend" Guganumore, who had tallied eighty-six captives and whose position was reified in 1892 by his appointment as a government chief. Dobu Society is essentially egalitarian, and it lacks the ideology of hereditary rank found in Kiriwina to the north. In 1961 the Dobu Local Government Council was proclaimed, and today the Dobu area forms the constituency of an elected member of the provincial government. A number of Dobuans have also stood for national parliament, and their kune networks have proved effective in electioneering.

Social Control. In the absence of adjudicating authorities, dispute settlement and the redress of wrongs were matters for self-help. Sanctions were social (shame, ridicule, admonishment), supernatural (especially witchcraft and sorcery), or based on reciprocal response (revenge killing, sorcery feud, attempted suicide). The threat of sorcery was an effective means of enforcing economic obligations. Public harangues by the village headman were effective in shaming delinquents. Fruit trees were protected from theft by charms ( tabu ) believed to cause disease or disfigurement. Many of these sanctions still operate, somewhat modified by Christian ethics. Modern Dobu is served by a magistrate's court, though it is one of the local government councillor's tasks to settle disputes at the village level.

Conflict. Fortune represented Dobu as a society permeated by jealousy and suspicion. At its troubled heart was the syndrome of susu solidarity, marital antagonism, bilocal residence, and the ubiquitous fear of witchcraft and sorcery. Warfare was endemic in the nineteenth century, and the locality was the war-making unit. Furtive raids rather than pitched battles were the norm. Intermarriage between enemies was rare, though captives were sometimes adopted.