THE ECONOMIC SYSTEM OF GORENDU, BONGU, AND GUMBU VILLAGERS (NEW GUINEA) IN MODERN REALITIES (BASED ON FIELD RESEARCH)

DOI: 10.33876/2311-0546/2021-3/261-273

Abstract

In April–May 2019, the research expedition of the Miklouho-Maclay Foundation (led by N. N. Miklouho-Maclay, Jr.  – the Director of the Foundation) continued comprehensive fieldwork in the villages of Gorendu, Bongu, and Gumbu on the Maklay Coast (the north-east of the New Guinea island) in the Madang Province of the independent State of Papua New Guinea. The ethnographic part included studying various aspects of the economic activity of the Papuan-speaking ethnic group Bongu (Bonguans) living in these villages and their associations with the corresponding traditional occupations of the past centuries recorded in the works of Russian scientists. In the second half of the XIX century, the outstanding Russian scientist-humanist Nikolai Nikolayevich Miklouho-Maclay conducted his long-term scientific research in this region. Soviet ethnographers worked there in 1971 and 1977. The research conducted by the author revealed the strong preservation of authentic elements in this sphere of life, which, in turn, is reflected in other cultural aspects. The innovations emerging from the outside world do not fundamentally transform the economic life of the Bongu Papuans but are organically incorporated, giving it even greater stability.

For Citation: Chininov, I.V. 2021. The Economic System of Gorendu, Bongu, and Gumbu Villagers (New Guinea) in Modern Realities (Based on Field Research). Herald of Anthropology (Vestnik Antropologii) 3: 261–273