Dissertation Research: Knowledge and Social Structure In Papua New Guinea

该论文研究奖将支持一名研究生 在人类学领域， 在巴布亚新几内亚的一个高地群体中。 大多数先前 研究已经审查了互惠交换作为社会基础， 这种群体的生活;这项研究着眼于拒绝 交流，通过保密有价值的实用知识， 这是如何限制社会关系的。 方法包括 参与式观察和结构化访谈。 这项研究是重要的，因为它修改了立场， 分享知识是小社会社会生活的基础。 事实上，拥有秘密知识是一个重要的事实 在每一个社会系统中，这个项目将揭示如何 一个小规模的社会利用保密来建立和维护 社会关系。 该案例研究将是有价值的， 与小组知识交流研究的比较 过程

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.