by: Giovanni J.R.C.

--Thomas Hobbes, an English philosopher famous for his work entitled Leviathan, states that the original condition of man is to be at war (Keeley, #5). This, he claims, was because all men were of equal stock and therefore when one discovers what he desires, but cannot have from another man, the natural response is to wage war. He even furthers this notion by stating that a centralized government is always necessary to keep men from reverting to their savage ways. He adds that as can be seen throughout history, when governments and monarchies were toppled, citizens often behaved as “savages” until a semblance of order had been restored.

--This concept is further expanded by two researchers named Quincy Wright and Harry Holbert Turney-High. Both studying warfare of “primitive” societies, they classified and enumerated the differences between this type of warfare and that of “civilized” cultures. According to their studies, they state that such types of scrimmages often are caused by trivial, if not worthless, reasons (Keeley, #11). In addition, they claim that motives were of primitive sort such as boredom, sport, venting anger, and other such irrational and impractical purposes. Furthermore, compared to “civilized” warfare, which Turney-High claims is engaged for more practical reasons such as increasing territory, plunder, and promoting hegemony, “primitive” warfare shows lack of organization, poor command, inadequate logistics, and no military specialization (hence supposedly making such campaigns less effective).

--Documentaries often aid in the showcasing of such seemingly illogical behavior. Napoleon Chagnon’s work for example, portrays the Yanomamo of Venezuela and Brazil quite irrationally violent. According to him, although the lands surrounding the tribes were quite abundant (thus would have been enough to support all the inhabitants), they still opted to create animosity towards each other for the sole purpose of fighting (Keeley, #16). Furthermore, he adds that some motivation for such violent behavior also stem from the desire to capture women.

--Through this documentary, and others like it, people of different cultures are made to appear savage and seemingly irrational hence ostensibly proving the Hobbesian concept that war is a permanent social condition (especially for the “savage” types). Due to this, westerners often feel that such groups are truly primitive and therefore lack humanity to a certain extent.

--Another example of this sort of documentary is one made by Robert Gardner entitled Dead Birds. Recording the everyday life of the Dani people of New Guinea, Gardner shows the villagers constantly at war with neighboring communities for no seemingly apparent reason rather than retaliation. Through out the film, the notion of avenging the life of a murdered comrade was continuously displayed. What is most peculiar about this, is that the reason for the murder was never disclosed and it thus seemed like the killings were just constant reciprocations between the two villages. Often they hold feasts for such victories by shooting some of their domesticated pigs at very close range and cooking them through cooperative means.

--In totality, the Dani is a horticultural society who solely depends on a number root crops and the herding of their domesticated pigs. Most of the farm work is relegated to the women of the village while the responsibility of herding pigs is assigned to the children. This is due to the fact that the men are often occupied with tasks related to keeping their areas of habitation secure from any sort of attacks. This is done by constructing extremely tall lookout posts which the Dani use as their first line of defense. Through constant restorations and magical enchantments, these posts serve to counteract covert assault. Men are always assigned to be perched on top of these posts in order to survey the land and warn those below of impending violence. These contraptions, however, never deter the neighboring villagers from causing havoc and strife throughout their lands. In the movie for example, while the villagers were preparing for a feast to commemorate the killing of an enemy, one of the children were killed (ironically) by the same people their victim was a member of. This caused great agitation throughout the entire village prompting them to have a different sort of banquet (it still involved the killing of pigs however). After the mourning-feast, war once again broke out although no one really died after long hours of fighting. This is due to the fact that their battles were highly stylized and involved more slinging of insults at each other rather than projectiles.

--Because such warfare seems quite trivial, this leads back to the question asked by Wright and Turney-High regarding the reason (or lack there of) of such skirmishes. Karl Heider’s book entitled Grand Valley Dani: Peaceful Warriors, attempts to answer such queries. Although Heider’s initial intention was to study the stone axes from an ethno-archaeological perspective, he gradually changed his focus to the effects of warfare on the society. According to him, Dani warfare is not at all trivial but is a stabilizing factor which keeps their society in tact. Furthermore, he adds that Dani life makes sense with regards to the larger cultural pattern of the people (Heider, #22).

--One of the most important aspects of Dani Society is their relationship with the ghosts around them. Through the concept of specters looming about and creating misfortune to those it bears ill-will towards, the Dani are prompted to be highly vigilant especially in keeping the ghosts satisfied. This is done by constantly avenging the deaths of a murdered kin (which supposedly agitates the ghosts into a frenzy of misbehavior). Through this, the cycle of war and murder is constantly propagated by the desire to keep these ghosts satisfied and the Dani religion in tact.

--If one looks at this in a Freudian sense (for amusement), these ghosts may be symbolic of the tribes superego that brings about childhood repression and chastisement. Such manifestations, who demand sexual abstinence and refrain from incest, result in male sexual frustrations. Such frustrations are then compensated by exerting pent-up energy through warfare using phallic shaped armaments such as spears and arrows (quite a laughable notion but interesting nonetheless).

--Another reason for the necessity of war may be due to the fact that the Dani does not have any true way of stabilizing their community. Because their society truly does not depend on each other economically, there really is no need for village cooperation making their social structure relatively feeble. Through warfare, men are forced to collaborate with one another making them into a more cohesive community. Through such endeavors, celebrations are often necessitated as well in order to commemorate the war victories. Due to this, the community is made to work together through cooperative preparations (ie. cooking etc.) hence making the outcome of warfare a unifying factor resulting in the harmony of the village as well.

--Another effect of warfare in the society is in the manner in which it delineates the society into unambiguous classes. First, it divides the men into groups of approximately three clusters: the married men, the young men, and the men who holds status based on their war skills. This can be observed in Dead Birds as skirmishes broke out. The first to arrive were usually the younger men of the village hence being the first to engage the enemy. The older men then follow along with those possessing prestige. Men of skill are often also marked-out by their appointment to function as look-outs high above the posts. Through this, the villagers show their confidence in the man’s abilities hence adding to his prestige and implied power within the community.

--Another way warfare creates social stratification is through labor division. Because men were always occupied with thoughts of war, they never seem to have any time to tend to agriculture or pastoral duties. Through this, women and children are then given such tasks hence excluding the war-like men from performing them (perhaps to the extent of giving the men an excuse from doing such menial labor). Through this, the Dani’s labor division is delineated and defined within the society hence leaving very little room for confusion as to how each member of the community contributes to the village.

--Roy Rappoport, a cultural ecologist who studied another New Guinea village similar to the Dani (the Tsembaga to be more specific), adds another compelling reason to why warfare was important. According to him, the natural environment’s capacity to hold pig population is quite low. Because of this, the growth in number of pigs may cause an imbalance in the habitat. If these animals are left to grow exponentially, he claims that their owners may suffer the consequences for the pigs may destroy their crops, be too much for children to take care of, and be a general nuisance to the community (Langness, #77). Through warfare, and the resulting celebrations that follow it, the pig population is held in check thus maintaining an equilibrium in the environment. Hence, according to Rappoport, the inhabitants of the central highlands of New Guinea were able to formulize a cycle of warfare and ceremony which aids in the controlling of pig overpopulation and ecological equilibrium (Langness, #80).

--In conclusion, although it may seem that such conflicts described by Turney-High and Wright as “primitive warfare” appear to be trivial and of no purpose, this is disproved however by a number of researchers. As can be seen through the movie Dead Birds, made by Robert Gardner, the early concepts of the savagery of non-Western cultures can be refuted especially by Karl Heider as he wrote his book Grand Valley Dani: Peaceful Warriors. Based on his research, he purports that warfare in fact serves the community in various means. Such measures are as follows: It helps unify an autonomous number of people into a cohesive community, it delineates class stratification among men, divides the labor force by specifying tasks for men, women, and children, and lastly it helps curve the population growth of pigs that if left unchecked may become a hazard to the environment. Through these reasons, the early idea that men of non-Western descent still retain semblances of inhumanity through their unfathomable thirst for war, is discredited. In fact, such battles serve a socio-economic purpose hence displaying the true ability of man to come up with ways to adapt through various means.

Gardner, Robert. (1962) Dead Birds. Del Mar, CA. :McGraw-Hill Films, 83 min.

Heider, Karl. (1997). Grand Valley Dani: Peaceful Warriors. Fort Worth: Brace College Publishers.

Keeley, Lawrence. (1996). War Before Civilization. New York: Oxford Press.

Langness, L.L. ed, (1971). Melanesia; Readings on a Culture Area. Scranton: Chandler Pub Co.

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