Papua: Dead Birds: The “Theater” Of War Among The Dugum Dani

Papua: Dead Birds: The “Theater” Of War Among The Dugum Dani Paul Roscoe, 2011   Thanks in part to the film Dead Birds, the theatrical and largely innocuous battles fought by the Dugum Dani of New Guinea are regarded as a classic instance of restrained or “ritualized” combat. This impression is misplaced. Participants were trying to kill one another, but the waterlogged terrain of the mid–Baliem Valley blunted their ability to do so. If they were to engage on a large scale, Dani armies had...

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