Grave Business in Enga

Abstract

In Central Enga burial of the dead used to be a means of protecting the living from ghostly malice, however, now burial is becoming an expensive business, and grave styles a new form of status symbol. This paper traces significant aspects of the change from pre-contact burial practices to those of today. Introduced beliefs and new ways of establishing social standing are contributing to the development of elaborate graves. Grave construction has developed as competitive prestige-enhancing events through which followers demonstrate their loyalty and obligation to the deceased. In doing so they are establishing in their midst a permanent reminder to the deceased’s fame in a way that is more enduring than the instability of the competitive bigman system.