not allowed. We arrive at the paradoxical point that knowledge was
protected by not being passed on as much as by communicating it. The
whole elaborate hierarchy of initiation grades also seems to have been
devoid of politically coercive power. Those in the highest grade did not
command services from others except in relation to the ritual taboos
themselves. Why, then, the seven degrees of initiation at all in an economy
that was small-scale and based on subsistence? Barth’s careful and patient
work brought him eventually to two conclusions.
One was that the experts he worked with tentatively brought forward
what he calls metaphorical meanings in the objects used in rituals. By this
he is saying that the initiations of novices are all about growth of human
bodies and plants such as taro. That is, the main values sought out in the
rituals are clear and all are directed towards cosmic and social reproduc-
tion. The meanings of items were inflected according to these values.
Water, for example, was seen as a cleansing agent, but in the form of
dew on leaves it could be used to stimulate growth. Perhaps we are not
dealing, from the Baktaman ritual viewpoint with the same things here.
Perhaps stream water could be cleansing, while dew was seen as imparting
fresh powers of growth to plants. In any case it is not clear that we need to
invoke the idea of metaphor here, other than by saying that any object can
be seen to have powers associated with its emplaced life force.
Another feature captured Barth’s attention. Actions explained as secret
knowledge to lower grades were later said to be tricks or hoaxes. Items
said to be polluting would also turn out to be sacred when their meanings
were revealed at higher levels. The effect of this would be to bracket all
knowledge itself. Barth sensed that at another level this bracketing led to a
sense of mystery rather than established codification, such as a structuralist
analysis might seek to impose on the details.
Apart from this suggestion, Barth became aware of much local variation
in ritual practices among neighboring areas. In 1982 he was invited by the
Ministry for Energy and Minerals in the Papua New Guinea Government
to revisit the area of hisfieldwork and surrounding areas to assess changes
and adaptations to change stemming from the activities of the Ok Tedi
gold mine. Barth arrived in Papua New Guinea with his wife and colleague
Unni Wikan, and one of us (AJS) received them at the office of the Institute
of PNG Studies, where he was at the time Director, on leave from his
position as Professor and Chair of Anthropology at University College
London. Barth was to write a report for the Ministry and the Institute
was helping with the arrangements. In characteristic fashion Barth had
28 BREAKING THE FRAMES