著者
田辺 明生 Akio Tanabe
出版者
国立民族学博物館
雑誌
国立民族学博物館研究報告 = Bulletin of the National Museum of Ethnology (ISSN:0385180X)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.33, no.3, pp.329-358, 2009-02-27

This article discusses the relationships between Subaltern Studies andSouth Asian anthropology. After surveying the mutual influences between thetwo, the article argues the following: 1) the field of historical anthropologythat pays attention to the history and structure of workings of power, subjectformationand the role of agency, has the potentiality of fruitfully combininganthropological knowledge and inspirations from Subaltern Studies; 2) thereis a need to pay attention to the role of cultural re-imagination by the subalternsin the contemporary process of political group formation; 3) in additionto understanding the social structure and/or moments of change representedby revolts, it is necessary to consider the dynamics of social “becoming”, thatis, the process of transformation of social relationships and patterns throughevery day events. Lastly, the article argues that care should be taken to notethe change in the semantics of the term ‘subaltern’ under the present day globalization.Attempts to locate the presence of the ‘subaltern’ in the present situationcan function to identify a group as a holder of particular resources—e.g. genetic resources or medicinal knowledge—instead of shedding light onalternative viewpoints. This would only work to enrol the subalterns in globalcapitalism instead of appreciating and respecting their way of life. We need tobe extremely careful about studying the subaltern under such conditions.
著者
須藤 健一 スドウ ケンイチ Ken’ichi Sudo Sauchomal Sabino
出版者
国立民族学博物館
雑誌
国立民族学博物館研究報告 = Bulletin of the National Museum of Ethnology (ISSN:0385180X)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.6, no.4, pp.639-766, 1982-03-30

The texts of the three folktales presented here form part of thelong story of Panziwnap (Great Navigator) and his family on SatawalIsland, a small coral island in Micronesia. Although the GreatNavigator theme is widespread in the Caroline Islands (e.g., onUlithi Atoll [LESSA1 961], Lamotrek Atoll [KRAMER1 937], PuluwatAtoll [ELBERT1 971], and Pulap Atoll [KRAMER1 9 35] ), its motifvaries from island to island. This article presents the folktale ofPantiwnap and his family as a text, and then clarifies the "Navigator'sWay" by examining the motif suggested in these tales. Fieldworkon which this paper is based was conducted on Satawal fromJune to September, 1978 and from May, 1979 to March, 1980.Our informant was the late Isidore Namonur, a renowned Satawalesecanoe builder and navigator.In summary, the texts of the three folktales are as follows:TEXT 1: Pangwnap lived on Uman Island with his sons,Rongonap, Rongolik, Yatiniman, and Pause. When Rongonap andRongohk trapped fish, Rongohk's trap caught more than Rongonap's.When they were felling breadfruit trees to make canoes, Rongohk'swork was completed without trouble whereas Rongonap's tree didnot fall, since, unlike Rongohk, he failed to make an offering to thetree's spirit. Rongonap became angry with his father because hethought that the father had taught more knowledge to Rongohkthan he taught him. And he killed his brother, Yatiniman, whowas expert in making weather forecasts in the morning.This murder prompted Panavnap to use the name of some ofRongonap's actions in the killing as terms for parts of the canoe thatthey were making. He told Rongonap that the canoe float would becalled "taam" (lit. "raising"), implying Rongonap's raising of thestick with which he hit his brother. The sail would be called "yggw"(lit. "neck"), signifying Yatiniman's neck to which Rongonap tied arope when he dragged him into the sea. In all the names of seventeencanoes parts were derived from Yatiniman's murder.TEXT 2: Pangwnap lived on Uman with his sons Rongonapand Rongohk. One day Rongonap decided to sail to Wuung's island.On the way he met and chased away Pangwnap's nieces. He failedto prepare spear to harvest taro and coconut and therefore could notobtain any. Knowing little about Wuung's island, he did notinstruct his crew to remove their hats and coats when they nearedthe island. Further, he disobeyed his father's teaching by notpresenting a gift to the islanders who came to welcome him. Onthe island, Rongonap and his crew bathed in a clear pond, whichmade them sleepy. At night, he disobeyed Wuung's request to tellstory, and instead Rongonap and his crew fell asleep. They werethen eaten by Wuung.Sailing in search of his brother, Rongoiik met Pangwnap's niecesand gave them food. He could obtain taro and coconut because hehad brought along a spear. He instructed his men to remove theirhats and coats when they neared the island, and he obeyed hisfather's teaching by giving food to the people who welcomed him.Of the two ponds, he chose the dirty one for his men to bathe in,and this pond had the power to repel sleep. In advance, Rongohkhad woven a net which was used to catch the fish sent to destroyhis canoe. At night he put pieces of copra on the eyes of his menand recounted stories to Wuung until dawn broke. He set fire toWuung's house when Wuung fell asleep and departed the islandafter collecting his brother's and his crew's bones. Wuung's peopletried to destroy the canoe but failed. Wuung was also killed in theattempt and Rongohk, Rongonap and the crews returned safely toUman.TEXT3:Pαnuwnap lived in Uman with his sons Rongonap and Rongorik.Coming back from their sister's island, Rongonap lied to his father, contending that the inhabitants of that island had ill-treated him, so Pαnuwnap went to make war on the islanders. He scolded his son severely after learning from his daugherthat Rongonap had told a lie. Rongonap and Rongorik were further in-structed bytheir father to give food to Yanunuwayi, their younger brother, while on a voyage.Rongorik complied but Rongonap gave only empty coconuts and food wrappers.He payed for his mis-behavior when his canoe was destroyed by a typhoon during a latervoyage. He drifted alone in the sea and was rescued by Yaneinawayi,who took him to his own sand islet. Rongonap became hungryand Yanitnetwitygia ve him empty coconuts and food wrappers, justas Rongonap had done to Yaneznezwayi.Yantinziwayci aused him to suffer more by making him staylonger on the islet after he was overcome by homesickness. FinallyYanfinizwaytio ok Rongonapb ack to his home in Uman.Examination of the three folktales reveals the following mainpoints as fundamental to the etiquette of canoe builders and navigators:(1) Supernatural beings play an important role in the processof canoe-making. Before felling a breadfruit tree to build a canoe,the builder must make an offering to the spirit of the tree;(2) Navigators must learn and obey many rules. They mustreceive properly people encountered while on a voyage; they mustobserve the customs of other islands, such as removing hats andcoats when approaching it; and they must tell stories about the tripto their hosts when requested to do so; and(3) While on a voyage, navigators are obliged to offer food tothe Spirit of Navigation before they themselves eat. Failure to doso would inevitably lead to difficulties during the voyage.
著者
友枝 啓泰 トモエダ ヒロヤス Hiroyasu Tomoeda
出版者
国立民族学博物館
雑誌
国立民族学博物館研究報告 = Bulletin of the National Museum of Ethnology (ISSN:0385180X)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.5, no.1, pp.240-300, 1980-03-30

In the southern part of the Central Andes there are numerousversions of a popular fox-tale, in which the fox hero travels to theheavens and crashes to the ground on his return. Some versionsend with the origin of cultivated plants which spill from the stomachof the gluttonous hero who devoured them at a celestial banquet.Dispersion after disjunction (high/low) is an invariant featurewhich characterizes story-formation (combination and functioningof tale elements) of all the versions. And this pattern recurs inthe cortamonte,o ne of the popular carnival activities in the northernpart of the Central Andes. In this activity numerous participantsin the festival fell a tall tree erected in an open square (disjunction)and rush to possess the objects with which it was decorated(dispersion).Although information on the magico-religious motive or symbolicmeaning of the Andean cortamonteis lacking, its formation is quasiidenticalwith the story of some upper Amazonian (montana) myths,which relate that humans obtained various cultivated plants fromthe fruits of an original tree which they had felled. Andeanfox-tales and the Amazonian myths thus coincide in their messageand pattern.The Amazonian myths treat not only cultivated plants but alsohuman mortality, which originates as if it were forced on those who"Chiwaco the Liar," a transformation of the fox-tale.In these versions the thrush hero, acting as spiteful mediatorbetween the celestial God and terrestial humans, is the source ofvarious aspects of human life, such as agriculture, herding, orcooking and eating. Here, man's mortality is treated indirectlyor in a reduce of form because human beings are forced to laborhard to obtain foodstuffs and their teeth, which wear-out, representman's mortality.When man participates actively in the origin process of cultivatedplants, as in the Amazonian cases, he experiences deathsimultaneously. Participating passively in the same process only asthe recipient of messages from the God, as in the chiwaco-tale,lessens his mortal experiences to a degree of labor and pains, whichgives a certain negative value to the plants derived. When he doesnot participate in the process, as in the fox-tale, only the dispersiveaspect of the origin process remains constant and seems to bestressed.Our final observation on an Andean children's play, sachatiray(cutting tree), validates these arguments.felled the miraculous tree. In the Central Andes the message ofthis simultaneous origin of cultivated plants and man's mortality istransmitted in a more attenuated form by another popular tale,
著者
庄司 博史 ショウジ ヒロシ Hiroshi Shoji
出版者
国立民族学博物館
雑誌
国立民族学博物館研究報告 = Bulletin of the National Museum of Ethnology (ISSN:0385180X)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.15, no.3, pp.847-910, 1991-03-18

This paper aims to analyze the efforts of the Samis to revivetheir language as a modern medium of communication, and, inconnection with this, to throw light upon the role of languagerehabilitation in the Sami ethnopolitical movement.The Sami people, numbering from 50,000 to 70,000 accordingto different sources, are the oldest known indigenous inhabitantsin Northern Scandinavia and the Kola peninsula. Butexcept in some northernmost administrative communes, they nowconstitute only a small portion of the total inhabitants, even intheir own traditional territory, which is partitioned and controlledby four countries, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and theSoviet Union. In sections 2-4 of this paper, the unfavourableconditions of the present Sami language are outlined from variouspoints of view : as a lower-ranked spoken language in multilingualcommunities, as a standard written language, and as anobject and medium of education.The next section attempts to sum up the problems of theSami language under three major factors: its socio-functional stateas a minority language, the linguistic competence of the Samisin their mother tongue, and its normative crisis. By the lastterm I mean (1) the lack of available linguistic norms in the commonwritten language, (2) the lack of means of protecting thelanguage from direct exposure to foreign influence, and (3) aninability to match the language to the demands of presentdaySami society.The next two sections, 6 and 7, summarize the developmentof the Sami ethnopolitical movement in three phases: the periodof growth from the beginning of this century, the revival of themovement after World War II, and the period of remarkable progressfrom the 1970s onward. Attention is paid here also to thechange of conditions surrounding the Samis, i.e. the attitudes ofthe authorities toward them and general notions about the inherentrights of indigenous minority peoples. In this connectionwe discuss the present tendency of the Samis to seek a newethnical identity by emphasizing their cultural uniqueness onthe one hand, and on the other by identifying themselves withindigenous minority peoples. The latter tendency seems to beparticularly significant to the movement, because an increasingnumber of countries and political organizations have, during thelast two decades, recognized the preferential rights of indigenousminorities to territorial claims and other natural resources.In the light of Sami ethnopolitical development, sections8 and 9 characterize various attempts to establish the Sami languageas a full-fledged working language for the Samis. Followingthe generally accepted schema of language planning,Sami language rehabilitation activities are described along twolines: linguistic policy and extralinguistic policy. In the case ofthe Sami language or, more precisely, Northern Sami, the mostcentral issues in linguistic policy were the establishment of normsfor a common orthography for Northern Sami, which has hadseveral systems, and lexical elaboration, i.e. the standardizationand modernization of the lexical stock.Extralinguistic policy, the ultimate aim of which is to raisethe status of the language in society, is directed to three majorpoints. These are: (1) the acquisition of a legal guarantee tothe official status of the Sami language in various situations, includingeducation; (2) the expansion of the domain of useof the language, particularly by ensuring its position in massmedia; and (3) the encouragement of the people to revaluatetheir own language as an irreplaceable medium of their ethnicvalues. It is not difficult to associate the ideology of the lastpoint with that of the recent tendency in the ethnopoliticalmovement mentioned above, i.e. the emphasis of cultural uniqueness.It is to be noted, however, that their demand for the rightto the mother tongue, especially in education, is not accountedfor only in terms of this "uniqueness." It appears that increasingstress is being put on a kind of universal axiom concerningboth the importance of the mother tongue in elementary education and the injurious effects of failure in normal language acquisition.This theory, which has been repeatedly resorted toin various connections (e.g. in demands for the improvementof Sami language education and in parents' meetings) seems extremelyeffective, because little is left for either the political authoritiesor individuals to argue against when presented withthese scientifically attested human rights.The achievement of these activities, at least in the normestablishmentand social-legal settings of the Sami language,has been notable since the early 1970s and, in particular, fromthe late 1970s, when a common orthography for Northern Samiwas finally created. In reality, however, concrete achievementin language rehabilitation e.g. an increase in language use or animprovement in the language competence of the speakers, hasnot been seen yet.The last two sections, 10 and 11, discuss the role of the Samilanguage rehabilitation movement in Sami ethnopolitics. Theaim to revive their mother tongue has been accounted for asbeing similar to the recovery of their ethnic right to their nativelands. It is also to be noted that the language movement itselfhas played an important role in the entire ethnopolitical movementas a unifying force for the national assembly of the Samis.The unique value of the language in relation to the Sami environmentand traditions, coupled with their cooperation to achievethis collective common goal of revitalizing their language inpresent-day Sami society, has without doubt contributed to therecent ethnopolitical processes of the Sami peoples.
著者
赤嶺 淳
出版者
国立民族学博物館
雑誌
国立民族学博物館研究報告 (ISSN:0385180X)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.25, no.1, pp.59-112, 2000
被引用文献数
1

東南アジア海域世界の人々は,香料や乾燥海産物などの生物資源をもとめて移動分散をくりかえす傾向が強い,と指摘されてきた。本研究の目的は,人々の移動を誘発した資源のなかでも干ナマコに焦点をあて,ナマコ資源の経済的価値の多様性と利用状況について報告することにある。従来の海域世界論研究では,干ナマコやフカのひれなどの乾燥海産物をめぐる人の移動とネットワークに着目する必要性が唱えられてきたものの,実際の流通事情を調査したものはほとんどなかった。また,干ナマコも一元的に高級食材として理解されるにとどまっていた。ところが,現在のフィリピンでは20種の干ナマコが生産され,高級種と低級種との価格差が30倍におよぶように,干ナマコ資源の価値は多元的である。さらに,近年においては低級種の価格は上昇する傾向にある。また,香港やシンガポールなど干ナマコの主要消費地とフィリピンでおこなった聞き取り調査によって,多様な経済的価値をもつ干ナマコが,高級料理と大衆料理の異なった料理に区別されて使用されていることがあきらかとなった。そのような消費概況と各種の統計資料から,本稿はフィリピンのナマコ資源の特徴を低級種の大量生産にもとめた。そして,パラワン島南部マンシ島の事例にもとついて,その仮説の実証を試みた。マンシ島でみられる干ナマコ生産の現状を「フロンティア空間の重層性」と解釈し,ナマコ資源の価値変化に敏感な漁民像を記述した。In this paper I discuss variation in trepang or holothurian resourceutilization in the Philippines generally, and on Mangsee Island, in thesouthern part of Palawan Province. Many scholars working inSoutheast Asian maritime societies have noted the dynamic human networksinvolved in pursuing dried sea products like trepang or shark fins.However, few scholars have dealt with the actual materials of the trade.This paper establishes that 20 species of trepang are traded in thePhilippines at present, and that the price of the most expensive is some30 times greater than that of the cheapest. Moreover, in recent years,lower quality trepang has been acquiring more commercial value.Trepang today is not just an exclusive expensive foodstuff as mentionedin historical records it is also an ordinary material used in the present.The cheaper trepang species are consumed more than ever before in thePhilippines and elsewhere. One of the most important aspects of thePhilippine trade is that the country exports a huge volume of trepang oflower commercial value. Here, I interpret fishing activities on Mangsee,where mostly lower value species are harvested today, in relation to theisland's 30 year history as a location for modern frontier settlement.
著者
杉本 良男 Yoshio Sugimoto
出版者
国立民族学博物館
雑誌
国立民族学博物館研究報告 = Bulletin of the National Museum of Ethnology (ISSN:0385180X)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.31, no.3, pp.305-417, 2007-03-23

小稿は,南アジアに広く受けいれられている聖トマス伝説について,1)現在の状況の概要,2)聖トマス伝説の形成と展開およびその歴史的背景,3)ヒンドゥー・ナショナリズムとの関係のなかでの現代的意義,とりわけ2004 年末のスマトラ沖大地震・インド洋大津波をめぐる奇蹟譚の解釈をめぐるさまざまな論争と問題点,について人類学的に考察しようとするものである。問題の根本は,インド・キリスト教史の出発点としてつねに引き合いに出される聖トマスによる開教伝説の信憑性をめぐる論争そのものの政治的な意味にある。南インドには,聖トマスの遺骨をまつるサントメ大聖堂をはじめトマスが隠棲していた洞窟などが聖地として人びとの信仰を集めている。その根拠とされるのは新約聖書外典の『聖トマス行伝』であり,これを信ずるシリア教会系のトマス・クリスチャン(シリアン・クリスチャン)がケーララ州に400 万の人口を数えている。聖トマス伝説はポルトガル時代にカトリック化され,また聖トマスが最後ヒンドゥー教徒の手で殉教した,とも伝えられる。これが,さきの地震・津波災害のおりには,反キリスト教キャンペーンのターゲットにもなっていた。2 千年のときを経て聖トマスはいまも政治的,宗教的な文脈のなかで生きているのである。
著者
中牧 弘允 SANTOS Anton MONTEIRO Clo COUTO Fernan ARRUDA Luiz 古谷 嘉章 原 毅彦 武井 秀夫 木村 秀雄 SANTOS A.M.de Souza COUTO F.de la Roque ARRUDA Luiz・
出版者
国立民族学博物館
雑誌
国際学術研究
巻号頁・発行日
1993

アマゾン河流域の開発は、ブラジル西部以西の西アマゾンにおいて、急速に進展しつつあり、本研究は環境問題と社会問題の鍵をにぎる人物として、シャーマン、呪医、民間祈祷師、宣教師などに焦点をあて、実証的な調査をおこなってきた。研究対象とした民族のいくつかは僻遠の地に居住し、そこへの到達は困難を究めたが、短期間ながらも調査ができ、実証的なデータを集めることができた。1.先住民(インディオ)社会(1)サテレマウエ族 日本側とブラジル側とで最初に共同調査をおこない、国立インディオ基金(FUNAI)やカトリック宣教団体の医療活動の概要を把握し、さらにアフ-ダが保護区内で薬草と保健衛生について調べ、中牧も近接する都市部においてシャーマニズムならびに先住民運動に関する聞き取り調査を実施した。(2)クリナ族(マディハ族) 中牧はジュルア保護区のクリナ族(マディハ族)のすべての集落(6カ村)を訪問し、家族・親族、村と家屋の空間的配置、国立インディオ基金(FUNAI)とブラジル・カトリック宣教協議会(CIMI)の活動などについて調査をおこなった。シャーマニズムに関しては治病儀礼、トゥクリメ儀礼、ひとりのシャーマンの事故死をめぐる言説と関係者の対応などについて、データを収集した。自然観については、子供や青年たちに絵を自由に描かせ、かれらの認識や関心のありようをさぐった。また、うわさ話やデマがもとで女たちの間に集団的喧嘩が発生したが、その推移と背景についても調査した。(3)パノ語系インディオ 木村はボリビア、ペル-と国境を接する地域に住むカシナワ族を中心にシャーマニスティックな儀礼の観察をおこない、儀礼歌を収録した。また、非パノ語系クリナ族や「白人」などとの婚姻をとおして進行する複雑な民族融合の実態についても基礎データを収集した。(4)東トゥカノ系インディオ 武井はサンガブリエル・ダ・カショエイラにおいて東トゥカノ系インディオの神話と民間治療師たちの呪文の収録をおこない、ポルトガル語への翻訳の作業をすすめた。その呪文のなかでは、熱の原因としてプラスチック製ないしビニール製の袋に魂がとじこめられることが言及され、近代的な要素も取り込まれていることが判明した。また、呪文自体も昔とくらべ短くなっているいことがわかったが、今では文字を通して暗唱できることがそうした変化の一要因となっていた。(5)カトゥキ-ナ族 古谷はジュタイ川の支流のビア川流域に住むトゥキ-ナ族の集落を調査した。ここではOPAN(カトリック系インディオ支援団体)が教育・医療活動に従事している。カトゥキ-ナ族にはシャーマニズムそれ自体はほとんど見られないが、クリナ族に呪いの除去を依存していることなどが判明した。また、OPANの活動を通じて、FUNAIとは異なる接触・支援のしかたについても、情報が入手できた。(6)マティス族、カナマリ族、マヨルナ族、クルボ族 アフ-ダはジャヴァリ川流域の諸民族について民族薬学的調査を実施し、マティス族においてはシャーマンがほとんど死亡したという情報を得た。(7)カンパ族 コウトはペル-国境のカンパ族の幻覚性飲料の使用実態、ならびにシャーマンとの聞き取り調査をおこなった。2.非先住民社会(先住民およびその子孫を一部含む)(1)アマゾン河本流域 原はタバチンガ、レティシアにおいて複雑な民族構成とをる社会の民間呪術師を調査対象とし、ジャガ-やアナコンダ(大蛇)のような先住民的表象と、イルカのようにカボクロ(混血住民)のこのむ表象との混合形態をあきらかにした。さらに上流のイキトスにおいても予備的調査をおこなった。(2)ネグロ川流域 サントスはネグロ川流域の住民が利用する薬用植物、とくにサラクラミラについての研究をすすめた。(3)ジュルア川上流域、プルス川上流域 モンテイロはクルゼイロ・ド・スルを中心に幻覚性飲料の摂取をともなうシャーマニスティックな民間習俗について調査し、コウトも幻覚性飲料(サントダイミ)をつかう宗教共同体において、その生活文化ならびに環境保護運動について調査を実施した。日本側研究者も幻覚性飲料を儀礼的に使用するいくつかの集団を訪問し、最新の動向についての情報を入手した。以上の調査をふまえ、サントスを日本に招聘し、ブラジルのCNPq(国立研究評議会)への報告書作成、ならびにポルトガル語による研究成果報告書の作成にむけての打ち合わせをおこなった。
著者
大胡 修
出版者
国立民族学博物館
雑誌
国立民族学博物館研究報告 (ISSN:0385180X)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.3, no.3, pp.486-519, 1979-01-23

This report describes the fishing activities of the Galelanpeople of North Halmahera. The data were collected from Septemberto November, 1976, when the author conducted fieldwork inLimau Village. Observations were made from two differentperspectives; (1) the relationship between fishing gear and techniques,and (2) utilization of traditional canoes in social activities.1) Fishing. In general, fishing is of secondary importancein the of subsistence economy, the people mainly depending onsago and several kinds of root crops, including banana and yam.Fishing activities shift seasonally according to the migration andassociated behavior of fish. Several fishing techniques are employed,including handline (pa hau), longline (pa lia), rod and line(pa totobe), scoop net (pa siu), gill net (pa soma bodo), fish trap(igi), and fish hedges (sero). Handline fishing is the most importantsubsistence pursuit. Fish traps and fish hedges seem tohave been introduced from Sulawesi by migrants. The othertechniques appear to be indigenous to Limau.2) Canoe. All canoes in Limau are of the double outriggertype. They are used now for fishing activities and formely also forlocal transportation. Thus can be classified into two types; smalldugouts (awa) and medium size dugouts (bolotu), and large, plankcanoes (pakata). A particular type of canoe is used with specificfishing techniques. The awa and bolotu are used for handline,longline, rod and line, gill net, and the pakata is used only with thescoop net.
著者
杉島 敬志
出版者
国立民族学博物館
雑誌
国立民族学博物館研究報告 (ISSN:0385180X)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.15, no.3, pp.573-846, 1991-03-18

The Lionese are an ethnolinguistic group numbering approximately150,000 who inhabit the central part of Flores,Eastern Indonesia. The population of this region is dividedinto numerous traditional domains (tans). These were autonomouspolitical units until early in this century. The dataon which the present study is based were collected during myfield research conducted from May 1983 to March 1985 inTana Lise, one of these traditional Lionese domains.The Lionese economy remains a subsistence one, dependenton the slash-and-burn or swidden cultivation of rice, maize,cassava, sweet potatoes, and various vegetables. Recently cashcrops such as coffee, cloves, and cacao have been introduced inmountainous areas, and irrigated paddy fields are found inflatland in the mountains and near the coast.It is only the swidden agriculture with which multiple andcomplex agricultural rituals are interwoven. These rituals appearto be symbolic behavior apparently related to a cosmologyor world view. But the Lionese people do not know and cannotexplain the symbolic meaning paired with the rituals by asemiological code. They answered my questions about themeaning or purpose of the rituals in a general way by saying'It is our custom' or 'We must perform it that way.' Accordingly,these agricultural rituals are rule-following behaviorrather than symbolic behavior. If this is the case, is it thenimpossible to advance the scientific study of these rituals beyonda mere description of them?My answer is 'no,' because in many cases the Lionese agriculturalrituals can be interpreted relevantly. Therefore wecan proceed from simple description to a fairly detailed interpretationof these rituals. The aim of this study is to describe theLionese agricultural rituals in detail and to investigate the culturalrepresentation of agricultural rituals (i.e. interpretations devisedby the Lionese themselves concerning their agricultural rituals)by means of the concept of relevance developed by Dan Sperberand Deirdre Wilson [SPERBER and WILSON 1986].After the exposition of a theoretical framework in the introductionof this study, three sections follow. In section one,there is undertaken a description and analysis of the knowledgeand beliefs concerning social organization, crops, deities, and thesettings for these agricultural rituals such as the ceremonial house,the village and the garden. These will furnish the backgroundknowledge or 'context' for interpreting the agricultural rituals.In section two, an exhaustive description is presented of allthe agricultural rituals, together with the agricultural practice,seasonal changes in natural phenomena, and the annual cycleof 'seasonal beliefs,' such as the visitation of moro nggele (mysterioushead hunters from overseas) and mitleik e (dreadful witchesfrom the east end of Flores), the coming of balu re' e (season ofdisease and death), and the occurrence of tana watu gaka (MotherEarth crying for the golden treasure kept in the ceremonialhouse).In part one of section three, by amplifying the discussionof section one, the agricultural rituals are interpreted by meansof investigating the contexts that make them relevant. Accordingto the cultural representation of the agricultural rituals thatemerges from this investigation, the crops are the wives given to(male) human beings from Mother Earth and Father Heaven,while the agricultural cycle is the life cycle of the daughters ofthese deities. In the next part of this section, it is shown thatthe seasonal beliefs are a set of images implied by the culturalrepresentation of the agricultural rituals.In parts three and four of section three, the followingproblems are discussed.The people of Tana Lise are not given equal status in thecultural representation of the agricultural rituals. Or, more correctly,through participating in the agricultural rituals, they aredifferentiated into chiefs near to the deities and those far fromthem.Tana Lise is subdivided into a number of semi-autonomoussubdomains (maki) ruled by a chief. The chief, as the personnear to the deities in each maki, exercises various powers, andsome of these chiefs do the same thing at the domain level.Accordingly, the rules of agricultural rituals (i.e. the ruleswhich the people obey when performing the agricultural rituals)or the agricultural rituals themselves as rule-following behavior,work in the same way as the 'power-conferring rules' or the'secondary rules' defined by H. L. A. Hart [HART 1961].Finally, in the conclusion of this study, a brief discussioncenters on the reason why the Lionese people restrict their commentsto the rules of the agricultural rituals and are silent on thecultural representation of the agricultural rituals. As Ivo Streckerpointed out, no anthropological theory has so far answeredthis problem satisfactorily [STRECKER 1988:203].In my view, it is important to recognize that the Lioneseagricultural rituals are rule-following behavior in order to understandthis problem. The rules of these agricultural ritualsare simply accepted by the people holding to an 'internal pointof view' (the viewpoint of 'the group which accepts and uses rulesas guides to conduct' [HART 1961:86]). I suggest as a possiblehypothesis that their silence on the cultural representation of theiragricultural rituals is derived from holding to an internal pointof view, and maintaining silence on the cultural representationof them has the effect of making the rules of these agriculturalrituals function in the same way as the 'representations in quotes'defined by Sperber [SPERBER 1975:99-106].