Although separated into three or four different language groups, Buka society shows very similar traits throughout the island. Traditional Buka society conformed to a broad pattern of Melanesian horticultural organisation. Coastal (or "tasi" – beach) villagers, namely the Haku, Halia and West Coast speakers, planted taro, kept chickens, fished and collected shellfish. The Solos fished in Buka's rivers and traded forest products and taro with the Halia and West Coast islanders. As in most Pacific Islands, pigs were, and still are, extremely important and are seldom eaten except in the course of rituals and formal feasts. The cuscus (a type of marsupial) and various birds also supplement the diet. Descent is matrilineal and the kinship terminology is based on a
Hawaiian system. Buka kinship does not prescribe a post-marital residence, but it is generally preferred that a young couple live first with the husband's maternal relatives, and later move to the wife's land. The reason for this is that though a man will require assistance from his clansfolk, his children belong to his wife's clan.
Chiefs There are inherited positions of authority for men, or chieftainships called tsunono (in Halia, or close cognates in the other languages). Women can also be "chiefs", known as teitahol in Halia and tuhikauu in Haku. Traditionally, women chiefs have little overt authority, although they are extremely well respected. Women have a sacred value, rather than secular power. This is changing somewhat under the influence of NGOs and also because of women's leadership role in the peace movement during the Bougainville Civil War. Although tsunono are in theory genealogically determined, in practice the rule is often broken. If a man is not a good speaker, or if his brother is an exceptional one, the body of tsunono can recognise him as a "mausman" (spokesman in Tok Pisin) or tsonpepeito (guardian in Halia). Tsunono do not wield arbitrary power. They must represent the interests of their clan. Although the clan cannot (easily) remove a tsunono if he fails to do this, they can make it very difficult for him to mobilise the land and labour resources required to be an effective political agent. Each sub-clan has its own clan house, known as a tsuhana. These buildings are extremely important in Buka political organisation, they are public buildings in which feasts are conducted for funerals, memorials and reconciliations. Typically, a clan or village will meet to discuss political affairs within the tsuhana. Large wooden slit-gongs are kept there, and struck to call meetings, announce funerals, deaths and other village events. Tsuhana are associated with the body of the tsunono. Striking the post of a tsuhana in anger is said to be equivalent to assaulting the chief, and requires expiation by the sacrifice of a pig. The construction of a tsuhana is an elaborate process, though the actual building is usually quite humble. Each step in the construction requires the sacrifice of pigs, and this in turn requires mobilisation of the sub-clan and its allies. A tsuhana must be built for a tsunono chief to be regarded as powerful and authoritative. In general, tsunono and tsuhana have authority over a sub-clan, or hamlet sized territory encompassing between five and twenty nuclear families. There is, however, a hierarchy of tsunono. Typically several tsuhana will combine under the leadership of a preeminent clan, and the leader of this clan will be called tsunono mal. This relationship is not irrevocable, and requires the assent of other tsunono. It is not possible, or at least it is not easy, for a tsunono to conquer and force other tsuhana to submit to his own. The most powerful chief is called munihil. This chief has in theory power over clans of a moiety class in a district encompassing perhaps several villages. Such a chief will not be the largest and most powerful landholder, and will rarely have a strong genealogical claim over all the villages. Sometimes such a chief will not even be a local, but a preeminent leader drawn from a distant area. His claim to leadership is not his own, but derives from the collective agreement of the tsunono who "put him forward" so that he can represent them.
Moiety classes and clans In all Buka societies there are four
moiety classes – Nakaripa, Naboen, Nakas and Natasi. Nakaripa and Naboen are represented by totemic emblems, the fowl and the eagle, while Nakas is represented by a dog and there is no consensus as to the totem of Natasi, but kotoiana, a kind of sea hawk, is often suggested, along with pue, the froth of the sea break. Nakaripa and Naboen are prestige classes and the overwhelming majority of the population will claim to belong to one or the other, even if they are genealogically members of the low prestige classes Nakas and Natasi. Traditionally, the latter carried out the prestige classes' dirty work; more recently these groups have become independent ('bruklus') and assert themselves as "clans in their own right". While Buka will call their moiety categories "clans" in Tok Pisin and English, this is not sociologically accurate and the word is actually used in two different senses, corresponding to what anthropologists would recognise as
moieties and
clans. (This is also a feature of the Halia language, the Halia term in question is pinaposa.) There are clans, which trace common descent and will occasionally act as corporate entities. These clans are land-holding groups, though often clans will be represented by sub-clans in different villages, or even in different linguistic areas. By contrast, the moiety classes encompass many different clans. Moiety classification is important in conflict resolution and in the organisation of authority. For a man to succeed his mother's brother as tsunono, the "opposite" moiety (always either Nakaripa or Naboen) will hatsunono (make tsunono). During reconciliation ceremonies, the "opposite" moiety will make speeches setting conditions on the reconciling parties and will preside over sacrifices.
Contemporary religion Today the overwhelming majority of Buka are Christians, divided into a Roman Catholic majority and a large minority of United Church (Methodist), as well as many different Pentecostal and evangelical sects.
Social and religious movements Buka is famous in the anthropological literature as the site of a large and militant social movement called the
Hahalis Welfare Society, as well as several other political and religious movements. These are often termed "
cargo cults" by their opponents, although the utility of this term is a matter of dispute amongst anthropologists and historians of the Pacific. ==Notes==