Like the Wahgi, the Abelam also use
netbags, which they often call string bags, and only women make them. Women use
them for the same purposes as in the Wahgi culture, for both work and decoration. Like the
Wahgi mens house, called the bolyim house, in the Abelams male ceremonial
house, the tambaran house, fertility and women are depicted and referred to through the
architecture and designs of the house. In the tambaran house, pieces of bark, called
spathes, are sewn together to make the panels of the house. These panels are called wut,
and are used to line the initiation chamber inside the ceremonial house. The word
wut not only refers to decorated string bags, the only female artistic
activity, but also to nyan wut, which means womb" (Forge, 180). The interior
chamber of the tambaran house is the place where male initiation, or the socialization and
education of a boy, takes place. The presence of symbols of womens art and
childbirth is associated with the Abelam belief that during initiation a boy experiences a
re-birth into manhood. However, the actual training for a boys birth into manhood is
taken over by the men in the community (Forge, 174). Since the men
play a subordinate role in biological reproduction, they try to control the social one (Kan, 161). Therefore, the inside of a closed container, the spirit of the body, which in
this case is the male initiation chamber, is dominated by men. |
Anthony Forges argument that
women are "natural" creators and men are "cultural" creators
has to do with the differences between womens and mens biological capabilities
and gender roles. Biologically, women are the bearers of children and their wombs
"contain" the child during pregnancy. In this manner, women are natural
"containers" and their prime creativity is childbirth. Due to "mens
subordinate role in biological reproduction, they try to control the social one" (Kan, 161). Men are typically involved in public activities and thus, are
considered "cultural" creators because their primary creativity is in art and
ritual (Forge, 189). As "natural" creators, women are believed to have more
power because they have a greater access to supernatural power through childbirth. Men, on
the other hand, have access to the supernatural through rituals and religion, from which
women are excluded. This idea exemplifies the meaning of art to the Abelam, which is to
show the relationship between things, in this case, the relationship between women and
men. |