Barbara Black
BOOK REVIEW

Conversations with Cannibals,
The End of the Old South
Pacific, by Michael Krieger, Ecco
Press, 291 pp., hardcover.

ROM HIS téte-d-téte

with reminiscing canni-

bals to a white-knuckle
trek up vertical mountain-
sides to visit a tribe whose
name translates as “! Kill
You,” Michael Krieger's
book on disappearing South
Pacific culture never fails to

captivate the reader.
Krieger's goal — to describe
the “extraordinary people who
represent an epoch on the verge
of extinction” — is noble. The
result is sobering. The tew
remaining “original” cultures he
describes, unsullied by encroach-
ing modernity or capitalism,
struggle for their very survival or
hobble onward as a patchwork
culture of old and new ways.
Krieger's journey begins on

the tiny island of Palmerston in
the Cook Islands. Here, on this
miniscule atoll, live 61 people,
all descended from the island’s

founder, one William Marsters.
They live in corat huts amid the
palm trees and spend the day
tending their pigs, fishing, and
gathering coconuls. IEseems a
happy sort of subsistence.

But Krieger senses discontent
lurking in the litle paradise.

What his gentle probing
reveals is an island dominated by
a tyrannical ex-minister,
Reverend Bill.

Although the man seems to
swindle and manipulate all who
block his path of unrighteous-
ness, Krieger is puzzled by the
islander’s lack of retributive
action. The local school teacher
predicts that if the family feud
does not end, the cooperative
way of life on Palmerston will
soon crumble, and its new pener-
ation wiil leave for bigger lands.

Naturally, Krieger’s quest to
uncover the old way of life in the
South Pacific leads to the topic of
cannibalism. Unlike the skeptical
anthropologists who “covered
the western Pacific like flies on
sugar,” Krieger is convinced that
cannibalistic practices existed,
and he sets out to Vanuatu to
prove his theory. (This could
prove difficult because native
converts to Christianity are
coached to deny such bar-
barism.)

The adventure starts: “{ am sit-
ting in a thatched-roof village on
the island of Malekula listening
to some old ex-cannibals as they
have the time of their lives faugh-
ing and reminiscing about some-
one they once ate.” In this cock-
tail party atmosphere, Krieger
learns that during tribal warfare,

Exhibition shows kids’ work

“ARTWORKS REPRESENTING the
theme “Cultural Transition” are
on view in North Vancouver City
Hail as part of the Art in Public
Places exhibition series.
The exhibition features work
‘by Bob Yoshisuke Araki, Karin
Bubas, Ruth Grant, William
Holmes, Yang Hong, Terry
L’Hirondelle-Lofthouse, Jean
Morrison and Angie Radwan-
Pytlewski.
It also includes works from
children of Queen Mary commu-

“AIA
ui ce

nity school, including Diana
Trifonova, 10; Sarh Jamali-Rad,
10; Natalia Mikiciuk, 11; Danica
Sherman, ‘11; Jackie Surmacz,
10; Deanna Mitchell, 10; Julia
Griffiths, 10; Kelly Evans, 10;
Neda Hadizadeh, 10; Sepidah
Niki, 10; Eva Gazo, 10; Mandy
Bradshaw, 10; Christian Marcu,
11; and Eidar Sehic, 10.

Today, Aug. 17, is the last clay
to catch this exhibition,

For more injormation, phone
988-6844.

enemies of the Big Namba tribe
were often captured (dead, alive
or somewhere in between) and
eaten, The body parts were
wrapped in banana leaves and
steamed overnight. Only warriors
ate the delicacy.

He is convinced these
accounts are authentic.

Krieger explains that, with the
introduction of modern weapons,
tribal warfare threatened to wipe
out whole tribes. After the
Second World War, tribal war-
fare and its accompanying ritual
cannibalism died out.

Krieger's adventure subse-
quently leads him to a famous

native sorcerer, who, unfortu-
nately, flatly denies dealing in

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magic because of his fear of
arrest, Throughout this chapter
the author explores the etfect of
the sorcerer’s cnagic on the
natives. Unable io helieve wholly
ina man transforming himself
into a woman or catching a fish
on dry tan, Krieger nonetheless
finds himself unable to discount
entirely the mystery and power
surrounding these native magi-
cian-doctors.

Probably the strangest groups
in the book is the Frum Society
which lives on Tanna Island.

Krieger visits a village which
is the cornerstone of the John
Frum cargo cult, an eclectic reli-
gion that mixes bits of
Christianity with the belief that

by Dan River

their American-style messiah,
John Frum, will one day return
with gifts of material wealth,
Although Krieger has trouble pin-
ning down the dogma, he
acknowledges thal their “rmessi-
ah’s" advice that both the Bible
and their custom beliefs are true
has helped preserve their culture.

With his healthy sense of
humor, investigative instincts and
sincere interest in peopie, Krieger
creates a vivid picture of the
South Pacific in the throes of
change. He is well aware of the
complexity and irony of a situa-
tion in which people are saved
from extinction by the efforts of
missionaries, but doomed to cul-
tural extinction.

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