Naven
A Survey of the Problems Suggested by a Composite Picture of the Culture of a New Guinea Tribe Drawn from Three Points of View

Gregory Bateson (Author)

9780804705202

Paperback / softback, published 1 June 1958

368 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.417 kg

"Naven" is the name of a peculiar ritual practiced by Iatmul, a head-hunting tribe of New Guinea.Th e ceremony is performed to congratulate members of the tribe upon the completion of notable accomplishments, among which homicide ranks highest. Ordinarily this tribe insists upon an extreme contrast between the sexes, but in the "naven" ceremony, tranvestitism and ritual homosexuality are represented. The "naven" serves in this book as a motive around which the author has constructed one of the most influential works of field anthropology ever written.