Dissertation Research: Knowledge and Social Structure In Papua New Guinea

该论文研究奖将支持一名人类学研究生对巴布亚新几内亚高地群体中保密和知识的作用进行实地研究。之前的大多数研究都将互惠交换作为这类群体社会生活的基础；本研究通过对有价值的实用知识保密来观察拒绝交换是如何限制社会关系的。方法包括参与观察和结构化访谈。这项研究很重要，因为它改变了共享知识是小社会社会生活基础的观点。事实上，拥有秘密知识是每一个社会系统的一个重要事实，这个项目将揭示一个小规模的社会如何利用秘密来建立和维持社会关系。该案例研究将作为小组过程中知识交换的小小组研究的比较有价值。

This dissertation research award will support a graduate student in anthropology in a field study of the role of secrecy and knowledge in a highland group in Papua New Guinea. Most previous studies have examined reciprocal exchanges as the basis of social life in this sort of group; this research looks at the refusal to exchange, by keeping secret valuable practical knowledge, to see how that constrains social relations. Methods include participant observation and structured interviewing. This research is important because it modifies the position that shared knowledge is the basis of social life in small societies. In fact the possession of secret knowledge is an important fact in every social system, and this project will shed light on how one small-scale society uses secrecy to establish and maintain social relations. The case study will be valuable as a comparison to small-group studies of knowledge exchange in group process.