Water spirits, medicine-men and witches : avenues to successful reproduction among the Abelam, Papua New Guinea

• This chapter describes how the Abelam, in the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea, attempt to gain control over their reproductive health. The ethnographic study reported was carried out in conjunction with a nutrition study of pregnancy, childbirth and infant growth in the same area, in collaboration with the Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research in Madang. The Abelam comprise an ethnolinguistic group occupying the area between the southern foothills of the Torricelli Range and the Sepik River in the East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea. However, the people are unevenly distributed, and in the Wosera the density is as high as 400 per square mile, making it the most densely populated area of mainland Papua New Guinea. The nianmi ensures that adolescent girls become fertile by providing a special mixture and can later be consulted for infertility, while water spirits called wala are needed for conception to take place.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi -- Socialantropologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology -- Social Anthropology (hsv//eng)

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