L I E) R.A FLY OF THE UN IVERSITY or ILLI NOI5 572.05 FA V 49-52 CENTRAL CIRCULATION BOOKSTACKS The person charging this material is re- sponsible for its renewal or its return to the library from which it was borrowed on or before the Latest Date stamped below. You may be charged a minimum fee of $75.00 for eacli lost boolc. Thaft, inwtilatiMi, and undarllnlns of books oro raotont for dUclpllnory action and may result in dismissal from the University. TO RENEW CALL TELEPHONE CENTER, 333^400 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN EC 1 0 1998 ^6 0 4 An When renewing by phone, write new due date below previous due date. L162 O-1096 ) LEADERSHIP AND CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU ROLAND W. FORCE FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 50 Published by CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM FEBRUARY 19, 1960 THEUBRARYGFM 1960 UK!VCRSITV?3Ff?!INfllS FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY A Continuation of the ANTHROPOLOGICAL SERIES of FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY VOLUME 50 CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM CHICAGO, U.S.A. 1960 Edited by Lillian A. Ross LEADERSHIP AND CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU 'U 3.t-; AN ABAI (CLUBHOUSE) IN IBUKL VILLAGE OF NGERECHELONG MUNICIPALITY LEADERSHIP AND CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU ROLAND W. FORCE Curator, Oceanic Archaeology and Ethnology FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 50 Published by CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM FEBRUARY 19, 1960 PRINTED WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF The Edward E. Ayer Lecture Foundation Fund Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 60-9518 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM PRESS V <56 Preface This study is directed mainly to two groups: (1) Professional anthro- pologists whose interests pertain to problems of cultural dynamics and problems of applied anthropology. (2) Administrative personnel who are faced with the task of dealing directly with non-self-governing peoples who are striving for self-determination, assimilating new concepts of government, and struggling generally to co-ordinate the old with the new. Because published materials on Palau and Palauan culture are in languages other than English or are relatively inaccessible, I have in- cluded considerable detail relating to the people of Palau, their tradi- tional culture configuration, their habitat, and their history of contact and administration. In so doing, I had the hope that the study would be more meaningful to both groups mentioned above than would other- wise have been the case. The field research upon which this study is based was conducted from December 1954 to April 1956 under the auspices of the Tri-Institutional Pacific Program^ (Yale University, Bernice P. Bishop Museum, and the University of Hawaii, participating institutions). TRIPP is supported by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. My research was but a part of the broad program of scientific investigation being con- ducted by TRIPP. The program is directed toward the solution of prob- lems of cultural change, with particular reference to the Malayo-Poly- nesian-speaking peoples of Oceania. This study is the first of several stemming from my field work in Palau. Currently I have in preparation monographs devoted to studies of Palauan social structure and political change. Later I hope to pub- lish material relating to the exchange system and native currency. I wish to acknowledge the many helpful suggestions and the en- couragement ofTered by members of the TRIPP Executive Committee. I owe a very special debt of gratitude to Dr. Alexander Spoehr, Chairman of the TRIPP Executive Committee and Director of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum in Honolulu, for his sustaining guidance and inspiration. Special thanks are also due several Executive Committee members. 1 Designated in abbreviated form as TRIPP. 7 8 PREFACE Professor George P. Murdock of Yale University and Professor Leonard Mason of the University of Hawaii each offered the benefit of his experi- ence in Pacific ethnology. The late President of the University of Hawaii, Paul S. Bachman, kindly extended housing accommodations at the Uni- versity as I was en route to the field. I also want to thank Dr. Norman Meller of the University of Hawaii for his helpful comments concerning political change. Anthropological field work and the reports which result from it are possible only through the assistance and co-operation of many individuals. So it has been with this study and the investigations upon which it is based. My greatest indebtedness is to my wife, Maryanne, who served as research associate in the field and who shared the obligations, the disappointments, and the satisfactions of scientific investigation with me. So many Palauans have earned my gratitude that any short list of names would be incomplete. However, special thanks should be given to Charley Gibbon (Beches, Rechucher era Techeki), who served as guide and interpreter, at times under great duress. Many others provided the information upon which this study is based and — much more im- portant— provided their friendship. For them, I wish to delegate two individuals to accept my general gratitude, one for the women and one for the men. They are respectively Ebil era Aimei (Dilubch) and Ngirayobei (Rechucher). Members of the American administration in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands to whom I am especially obligated are High Com- missioner Delmas H. Nucker, then Deputy High Commissioner; former Staff Anthropologist Allan H. Smith and Mrs. Smith; present Staff Anthropologist John deVoung; former District Administrator of the Palau District Donald Heron and Mrs. Heron; former Assistant District Administrator of the Palau District and now District Administrator Francis B. Mahoney and Mrs. Mahoney; Mr. Harry Uyehara, Mr. John Martin, Dr. William Conover, and Mr. Ian MacKenzie. For their gracious hospitality and the provision of research facilities, thanks are due Staff Entomologist Robert P. Owen and Mrs. Owen. Former Director of Education in the Palau District Daniel Peacock and Mrs. Peacock assisted in many ways. Father Edwin McManus, S.J., of the Catholic mission in Palau was most helpful. He lent personal materials on the Palauan language and made certain mission records available. Mr. Sidney Seid and Mr. Willem Henderickx, then members of the American community in Koror, each provided assistance for which I am grateful. PREFACE 9 A very special word of gratitude must be extended to former Land and Claims Officer Donald Le Goullon and Mrs. Le GouUon for the sincere and warm hospitality they extended and for the assistance they rendered in countless ways. For special assistance and the loan of field equipment I am indebted to Dr. Harold J. Coolidge (also a member of the TRIPP Executive Committee), Executive Director of the Pacific Science Board. I am grateful, too, for the assistance of the late Miss Ernestine Akers, formerly of the Honolulu office of the Pacific Science Board. I wish also to thank Dr. Homer Barnett and Dr. Douglas Osborne, each of whom off"ered many helpful suggestions and comments on Palau prior to my departure for the field. Professor Samuel Elbert provided useful comments on the Palauan language, and Dr. Saul Riesenberg lent personal materials on the Trust Territory and later read the manu- script of this study and contributed important suggestions for improvement. Others who read drafts of the manuscript and provided many useful comments and suggestions were Professors Felix M. Keesing, Bernard J. Siegel, and Alan Beals. To Dr. Paul S. Martin and to Professors Richard T. LaPiere, Claude A. Buss, Bert A. Gerow, Douglas Oliver, Sol Tax, and Alfred G. Smith I owe additional thanks for their thought- ful reading of the manuscript. Grateful acknowledgment is also due Mr. Stanley Field, President of the Board of Trustees of Chicago Natural History Museum, Dr. Cliff'ord C. Gregg, Director of the Museum, and Dr. Paul S. Martin, Chief Curator, Department of Anthropology, who have shown enduring interest in my research. Many other members of the Museum staff deserve my thanks, but especially deserving is Miss Lillian Ross, Editor of Scientific Publications, who supplied numerous helpful suggestions for the improvement of this monograph. April 30, 1958 Roland W. Force Contents PAGE List of Illustrations 13 Introduction 15 Contemporary Leadership in Palau 16 I. Palau and the Palauans: The Land and Its People 18 The Land 18 The People 22 The Relationship of the People to the Land 28 II. The Context of Traditional Leadership in Palau 32 Territorial and Political Alignments 32 Village Organization 34 Age-Grading 40 Kin Groups 43 Hereditary Sanctions of Leadership: Characteristics and Expectations 54 Supernatural Sanctions of Leadership : Spirits and Shamans 56 Age and Respect Sanctions of Leadership: Rjtbaks and Respect ... 58 Patterns of Social Dominance and Power 59 III. The Contact CoNTiNtruM : The Succession of Superordinates .... 66 Early Contacts 66 Domination by Foreign Powers 70 IV. Stimuli for Change 76 The Decline of Traditional Leadership 76 Souls and Salvation 77 Peace and Prosperity 80 Philosophies of Administration 86 \^ The Nature of Emergent Leadership: The Product of Cultural Change 88 Problems and Panaceas 89 Administrators and Assistants 89 Specialists 91 Emergent Political Leadership and Political Change 91 Municipal Government 93 Contemporary Agencies of Political Power 99 Non-Political Emergent Leadership 101 VI. Coexistence and Conflict: Dysfunctional Accompaniments of Cultural Change 108 The Composite Contemporary Scene 108 Coexisting Sanctions of Power 108 11 12 CONTENTS PAGE Coexisting and Rival Agencies of Political Power Ill Coexisting Symbols of Prestige and Status 112 Coexisting Modes of Leader Selection 113 Coexisting Canons of Respect 114 Dysfunctions Resulting from Leadership Change 117 Outlook 122 Vn. The Dynamics of Acculturational Change 123 Cultural Dynamics and Directed Cultural Change 124 The Integrational Processes of Acculturational Change 128 Behavioral Responses in Acculturational Change 129 Alterations in Form and Meaning 132 Supersedure and Functional Equivalents 134 \^in. The Chains of Custom: Partial Adoption and Partial Retention . 137 Retention and Prestige \'alues 1 39 Retention and Dysfunctional Leadership Behavior 142 Retention and Stability: Universals or Fortuitous Cultural Congruences? 144 Stability and Non-Change in Leadership Role Behavior 145 IX. Leadership and Cultural Change in Broader Perspective 154 General Understandings and Other Case Data 154 The Imperative Quality of Directed Change 161 Dominance toward Self-Determination 164 Dominant Culture Resistance to Change 166 Rate of Change: Attitudes, Policies, and Implications for the Future . 167 Appendix I: Methodology 171 The Plan of the Study 171 Study Methods and Techniques 179 Appendix II: Orthography 182 Appendix III: Glossary of Palauan Terms 184 Appendix IV: Documents 187 Palau Congress Charter 187 Palau District Order 3-48 191 Palau District Order 4-48 192 Palau District Order 1-49 194 Bibliography 198 Index 208 List of Illustrations Text Figures PAGE An abai (clubhouse) in Ibukl village of Ngerechelong municipality . . Frontispiece 1. The land; a place of sun and shadow 19 2. Map showing the location of the Palau Islands 20 3. Map of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands facing p. 22 4A. Uchulech, wife of Siabang 24 4B. Siabang, husband of Uchulech 25 5. Map showing municipalities of the Palau Islands 27 6. Exploitation of the sea and soil 29 7. View of Koror village in 1783 (after Keate) 33 8. Map showing major territorial division of aboriginal Palau Islands ... 35 9. Diagram portraying the integration of territorial (political) organization and kinship system in the Palau Islands 38, 39 10. Village age-grade society alignment 41 11. Age-grade society membership progression in Koror village, Delui laoch . . 41 12. Schematic diagram showing overlap in kin group terminology 47 13A. Diraked (Sebelau), a venerated elder 60 13B. Ngirokebai (Mochesar), an old chief 61 14. Old and new housing 63 15. Landing place at Koror village in 1783 (after Keate) 67 16. Abba Thule (Aibedul), high chief of Youldaob in 1783 (after Keate) . . 69 17. Sacred structures 79 18. Schematic diagram of authority in the government of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands 95 19. Local officials in Mengellang village of Ngerechelong municipality ... 96 20. Diagram showing the relationship of local representative government to the 97 Palau District administration 21. Diagram showing levels of authority and power in Palau 99 22. Emergent specialist leaders in medicine 103 23. Emergent specialist leaders in education 105 24A. The congress; a young leader speaks 110 24B. The congress; the old chiefs listen Ill 25 A. A traditional leader, aged Ngirokebou 114 25B. An emergent leader, Rudimch 115 26. Age diflferences and cultural orientations 141 27. Emergent economic leaders 163 13 p Introduction This monograph is a study of leadership and cukural change in the Palau Islands of Micronesia. It focuses on a situation wherein aHen concepts of leadership have been and are being introduced by a super- ordinate culture to a subordinate one. Under the conditions of culture contact in Palau, the study of leadership provides an excellent means for the examination of certain features of culture change, utilizing data from a limited, yet highly significant area of human behavior. The nature, varieties, and characteristics of leadership and the attendant stresses and strains observable under such conditions are quite amenable to description and analysis. In this study the basic concentration is on changes from traditional modes and patterns of leadership to new and emergent ones. The prin- cipal emphasis centers on the interrelationship of leadership and cultural change. Within this area of emphasis are considered the effect of cultural change on traditional leadership behavior and statuses, changing leader- ship roles and sanctions, leadership characteristics, the nature of emergent leadership, and the conflicts and stresses engendered by the conditions of cultural change. Today many Pacific island communities present opportunities for the study of emergent leadership. New leaders are rising to focal positions of power as different modes of political organization and activity emerge through the development of indigenous self-government according to standards derived from the Western world. New leadership roles also are introduced as new concepts of education, public health, and economic development take hold. Because there is in Palau a general receptivity to change from alien cultures, the situation is especially favorable for the investigation of cultural change in general. Of all areas of Palauan culture which might be chosen to demonstrate the processes and effects of cultural change, that of leadership and leadership behavior offers perhaps the richest rewards. It was for this reason that I chose to investigate the changing patterns of leadership, the mechanisms and means of exercising authority, and the agents and agencies of power in Palau, and to contrast the tradi- tional ones with the emergent. 15 16 INTRODUCTION Because this is a case study of leadership and leadership change under conditions of acculturative stress, certain general understandings about the processes of cultural change and the nature of leadership have been used as guides for the selection and interpretation of Palauan field data. The extent to which data from Palau either validate, in- validate, or modify these general understandings is indicated in the con- cluding chapters. In this study the term "leadership" designates role behavior of a domi- nant, influencing, and directing character. It is provided by an individ- ual who stands in a superordinate status-position to one or more indi- viduals who, by virtue of their interaction, comprise a social group whose collective behavior is more or less goal-directed. A leader is taken to be an individual who stands in a superordinate relationship to one or more other individuals. By virtue of authority, either vested in him willingly or maintained by him through coercion, he exercises powers of influence, decision, origination and/or facilitation of action, and policy formulation with respect to the other individual (s) in the relationship. The behavior a leader exhibits is directing, organizing, and con- trolling. For the purposes of this study the stipulation is not made, as it sometimes is, that the influence, direction, and control exerted by a leader over the led must be voluntarily vouchsafed him by the led (Fair- child, 1944, p. 174; Gardner, 1956, p. 493; and Gibb, 1947, p. 272). This distinction is sometimes used to distinguish "democratic" leadership from "dominance," which is assumed to be autocratic (Roucek, 1947, p. 279). CONTEMPORARY LEADERSHIP IN PALAU Today in Palau individuals who provide leadership are more broadly recruited than was true under the traditional system. Leaders are not derived solely from upper strata of the social structure, as was formerly true. The present system allows access to positions of respect and power to more categories of individuals than in aboriginal times. The basic change is from a closed system, in which leadership positions were by and large ascribed, to a relativ^ely open one, in which leadership positions also may be achieved. Leadership roles are much more diffuse and varied today than formerly. In proportion to total population many more persons serve as leaders. Power is broadly distributed, and its exercise is diffused along with new leadership roles. Formerly a relatively compact and definable socio-political elite existed in Palau. What now exists is a series of "elite" INTRODUCTION 17 groups whose membership is determined by criteria which are far more diversified than was the case under the autochthonous system. Social mobility is possible, since today one may attain social prom- inence without having been born to rank. The old criteria for elevated social status still operate, but new criteria also have come into being. Performance based on special skills and recognized competence enables individuals from any stratum of society to achieve leadership status. In sum, then, these are the characteristics of contemporary leadership in Palau: the existence of multiple criteria for determining who shall provide it; a diflfuse quality; widespread participation in leadership behavior by individuals who are recruited from the culture at large without reference to traditional social statuses based on kinship; com- peting sanctions for power; and the existence of a series of elite groups. L Palau and the Palauans: The Land and Its People Most studies of acculturation include background information about the culture under examination. Some of this information is historical and some is of a general context-setting nature. Hardly a better justifica- tion for its inclusion can be cited than by quoting some of the conclusions of a group of eminent students of acculturation in a recent survey. Any comprehensive study of acculturation, the symposium concludes, must incorporate an assessment of "those noncultural and nonsocial phenomena that provide the contact setting and establish certain limits of cultural adaptation." Among the most important of these, we are told, are the ecological context and the demographic characteristics of the respective peoples (Social Science Research Council Summer Seminar on Accultura- tion, 1953, 1954, p. 979). Though the importance of some such descriptive and factual information may not be immediately apparent, it is essential to an accurate understanding of the dynamics of change. At first glance, for example, the inclusion of a brief comment on the climate in Palau would seem to be insignificant in a study of leadership. However, if we observe that under the prevailing high temperature and excessive humidity in Palau a magistrate will nonetheless array himself in Western style necktie and woolen sport-coat and slacks for an elementary school graduation ceremony, then the behavior he exhibits has significance for this study. In this case, the emergent leader is engaging in leadership behavior which he considers appropriate. His interpretation of what a leader should wear on a special occasion ob- viously seems out of keeping in the tropical climate of Palau. THE LAND The Palau Islands^ are situated in the western Carolines (7° 30' N. Lat. and 134° 30' E. Long.; see fig. 2). They are located approximately 435 nautical miles due east of Mindanao in the Philippines, about 470 nautical 1 Also called Arrecifos (sic), Fannog, Isles de Pellew, Le Groupe Pallay, Les Palos, Palaoa, Palao Inseln, Palaos Islands, Palaos Isles, Palau group, Palau-Inseln, Paleu, Pallay, Pallou Islands, Pally, Paloc, Panlog, Pannog, Parao-Jima, Parao-shoto, Parao Syoto, Paulogue, Peeloo Islands, Pelau-Inseln, Pelelew Island, Peleu, Pelew Group, Pelew-Inseln, Pelew Island, Pelew Islands, Pelew Isles, Pellew, Pellewinseln, Pelli, Pellow, Punlac, Punlog, and Walau (Decisions on names in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands and Guam, Part I, 1955, p. 79). Fig. 1. The land; a place of sun and shadow. Upper: Looking down on the for- ested fringe of Ngerechelong municipality from a sun-drenched elevation. Lower: Looking upward from the floor of a lowland coconut grove. The climber is collecting coconut flower juices that make a molasses-like substance used in cooking. 19 20 PALAU AND THE PALAUANS 21 miles due north of Geelvink Bay in Dutch New Guinea, and about 706 nautical miles southwest of Guam in the Mariana Islands. Yap lies 258 nautical miles northeastward. The nearest inhabited islands to the north of Palau are the Ngulu Islands, 168 nautical miles in an east- northeasterly direction. Sonsorol, the nearest inhabited island in the opposite direction, is 180 nautical miles southwest of Palau. The Palau District of the American-administered Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (see fig. 3) is formed by the Palau Islands, the inhal)ited coral islands of Sonsorol, Merir, Pulo Anna, and Tobi, and the uninhabited atoll of Helen Reef. This district comprises the extreme southwestern portion of the Trust Territory. The four inhabited islands southwest of the Palaus (Sonsorol, Merir, Pulo Anna, and Tobi) are linguistically and culturally quite separate from Palau. The Palau archipelago is approximately 125 miles long and about 25 miles wide. Within it are clustered approximately 243 islands, of which only eight are of significant size. The total land area of the Palaus is somewhere in the neighborhood of 185 square miles, most of it con- centrated on the big island of Babeldaob, which is 23 miles long and has a maximum width of eight miles. This island, the largest in Mi- cronesia, contains about 143 square miles of relatively rugged land surface with elevations of more than 700 feet. All of the islands in the chain are forested. The larger islands in the north are volcanic in origin and those to the south are coral limestone. These latter are very heavily wooded and rise up with steeply sloping sides from bases undercut by wave and chemical action (Gressitt, 1954, p. 69). Northernmost Ngei- angl (Kayangel) atoll and the coral island of Ngaur (Angaur) in the ex- treme south are each outside the protective reef system which encloses the intervening islands. The Palaus are topographically and geologically the most complex and diversified of all Micronesian island groups. Included are high volcanic islands, low coral atoll islands, raised coral atoll (phosphate) islands, and both high and low single coral islands. The encircling and detached reefs which cluster about the chain likewise include a diverse representation of reef types. There are fringing reefs, barrier reefs, and shoal reefs. The longest connected reef is about 77 miles in length. Several of these reefs support potential or incipient atolls, but Ngeiangl, in the far north of the chain, is the only bona fide atoll. Ngeruangl atoll, farther north and west, consists of but a single small island and is un- inhabited. Palau has a tropical oceanic climate in which mean annual rainfall is around 150 inches. The rainiest months are those of the summer 22 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU and the driest those of the winter. Mean annual temperature is high (81° F.) and relatively uniform. The mean diurnal range is only 9.6° F. The most humid months are January and July and average relative humidity is 81 per cent (Civil Affairs Handbook, 1944, pp. 4-6). Strong northeast trade winds temper the humidity from October to about May or June. The southwest monsoons occupy the remainder of the yfear. Light and variable winds interspersed with periods of calm are common during this period. Heavy rains are brought by the monsoons in mid- summer. THE PEOPLE The range of racial characteristics found among Palauans is a broad one. Skin color varies from light to dark brown with reddish tendencies. Hair color is invariably dark brown to black with decided reddish pig- ments. Hair form may be frizzly, wavy, or straight. Lip form ranges from slight to moderate eversion. Stature is generally short, and con- siderable muscular development is common. While weight increases with age in some individuals, corpulence is not general. The epicanthic fold so characteristic of other Micronesian groups is not pronounced, though it may be found in some individuals. Certain Palauans so closely correspond to the basic racial types found in other parts of the Pacific that if they were to be transported to these regions they would be indistinguishable from the native populations. Some women, for example, possess the straight hair and high forehead of Javanese and Balinese women. Other individuals display character- istics which attest to Melanesian antecedents. Still others possess the stature, weight, straight hair, and skin color ordinarily thought to char- acterize the Polynesians. It is not illogical that the range of physical characteristics found among Palauans should be extremely broad. The Palau Islands rest on the very threshold of the Pacific. Countless waves of migration must have ebbed and flowed through this aperture to the farther reaches of Oceania. A long history of racial admixture is attested to by Palauan folktales, which provide evidence for contact with Yap, the Philippines, the central Carolines, and Melanesia. Undoubtedly many more such contacts are unreported. A useful and authoritative survey of Micro- nesian somatology and serology, including materials on Palau, has been provided by Hunt (1950). The native population of Palau is 7,783 (census figures, 1956). Slighdy less than half (48 per cent) of the total number of Palauans live on Babeldaob Island. Another block of the population (35 per cent) resides on Koror Island, most of it in the administrative "urban" village of ' ■ ' ' lll ' ' ' ] I I I I I I TRUST TERRITORY of the PACIFIC ISLANDS RN MARIANA, CAROLINE AND MARSHALL ISLANDS 1 f I »o y» - ^^=^ c^ NAUTICAL MILES 0 OlSrniCT AOMIIIISTRATOR X UHINHABITEO MARSHALL ISLANDS (MARSHALL IS. DISTRICT) Population 13,984 TAONOI ATOI.Ll£V BIKAR ATOLL '•> UTiRIK ATOLL X ENIWETOK ATOLL X BIKINI ATOLL TAKA ATOLLj** O O >-RONGE LAP ATOLL AILINGINAE ATOLL ' / /p fS"^ RONyERIK ATOLL AILUK ATOLL ^ .^MEJIT ATOLL * WOTHO ATOLL ^ X JEMO I. ' UJAE ATOLL «v-A O'""^'^''* WOT J£ ATOLL ^^ ATOLL I ICWAJALEIN ATOLL ^ J<5 ERIKUB ATOLL ^ MALOELAP ATOLL LAE ATOLL «MOKILI. » PIMGELAF I. ^t^NAMU ATOLL AUR ATOLL I AILINGLAPALAP ATOLL ^ fjABWOTI *«NOATOLLVl * >-; MAJURO ATOLL • JALUIT ATOLL MILI ATOLL* NAMRIK V ^. .... J ATOLL o jgo^ ^jQLI / / ^ / ■ ■ I ' ■ I ' I — r ' I ' I ' T t to the United Nations, 1956). Broken TRUST TERRITORY of the PACIFIC ISLANDS NORTHERN MARIANA, CAROLINE AND MARSHALL ISLANDS NORTHERN UtRltKA ISUkHDS (SAIPAN DISTRICT) MARSHALL ISLANDS (MARSHALL IS. DISTRICT) Papulallont3,')e4 / / /PALAU ISLANDS /•KAYANGELI. ^•BABELTHUAf /pELEUUI^f'^3„p^ll fAP iSLAhW iVLITHI A lYAP DISTRICT) Pvvl'lo 5.251 »1C«FE«UT1 „f*RAUL£P ATOLL .ATOLL 11 WFATU ATOLL •OLEAI ATOLL „ 1 .lfl«LOI .^ |„LlK.o'OLI«A«»0 ATOLL ^ atoll lo*«)trek atoli "eauripikl^ oSATAWAL WESTERN CAROLINE ISLANDS IPALAU DISTRICT) Popvlatien T.l^'* C TOBl I. sPONAPE r d K APING AMAfiANGI ATOLL UTIR1K ATOLL ■K ATOLL IBIKIHIATOLL TAKA ATOLLX** O ^BONGELAP ATOLL ^"^ 80HGER1IC ATOLL A1LINGINAE ATOLL ■ , AILUK ATOLL p "'WOTHO ATOLL ^1 JEW ATOLL KWAJALEIN ATOLL ^.AJURO IT.T^LL J. ^ WLOELAP A ^ AUfi ATOLL I ^ III I I I 3: ■I I I I I I I I I Fig. 3. Map of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (from tlie Nintli Annual Report to the United Nations, 1956). Broken lines indicate territorial area and districts of jurisdiction. PALAU AND THE PALAUANS 23 Koror. The remaining 17 per cent is divided among the relatively remote islands of Ngeiangl, Pelilyou, and Ngaur. Because of a relatively high birth rate and improved medical care, the population of Palau is rapidly expanding. POPULATION OF PALAU BY MUNICIPALITY! Aiiinicipality Population Koror 2,723 Ngarard 700 Pelilyou 687 Ngerechelong 511 Ngaur 459 Airai 454 Nghesar 432 Aimelik 399 Ngiwal 334 Ngeremlengui 323 Melekeok 295 Ngardmau 206 Ngeiangl 161 Ngatpang 99 Total 7,783 1 Statistics taken from Annual Statistical Report of Palau District (fiscal year 1956). In 1956 the ratio of males to females in the population was very slightly in favor of males: 3,952 to 3,831 (Statistical Report of the Palau District, 1956). The difference is so small as to be negligible. The ratio shifts in favor of one se.x over another from year to year; for example, in 1951 the ratio was slightly in favor of males: 3,295 to 3,283 (Quarterly Report, Civil Administration Unit, Palau District, April-June, 1951, p. 9). In 1952 the ratio was in favor of females: 3,526 to 3,456 (Quarterly Report, Palau District, January-March, 1952, p. 8). POPULATION OF KOROR MUNICIPALITY! (June, 1948-May, 1956) Population Date Population increase or decrease 1948 1,120 1949 1,255 135 1950 1,225 -30 1951 1,282 57 1952 1,970 688 1953 2,050 80 1954 2,231 181 1955 2,209 -22 1956 2,723 514 1 Compiled from Palau District Annual Reports (1948-56). Fig. 4A. Uchulech, wife of Siabang, of Ngabei village in Ngerechelong munici- pality. Her Western garb stands in sharp contrast to the pierced ear lobes and the old style tattooing. 24 Fig. 4B. Siabang, husband of Uchulech, of Ngabei village in Ngerechelong mu- nicipality. His traditional garb, old style wrist tattooing, and wooden betel-nut mortar stand in sharp contrast to the tack hammer, the betel-nut pestle and the modern upper arm tattooms 25 26 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU Government population statistical tabulations for Palau do not include Ijirth or mortality rates. Hence, no ratios are presented here. Population density is by far the greatest on the island of Koror. Because of greater opportunities for employment and other positive values which relate to the administrative and port center, immigration to Koror has i:)een accelerated in the past few years. Features of life in Koror which are attractive to Palauans are electric power, a movie, a hospital, motor vehicles, and the traditional prestige of Koror village. The growth of population in Koror has resulted in overpopulation in one municipality and a corresponding depopulation in others. Out- lying municipalities are being drained of valuable members of their populations. The majority of the emigrants have been in the younger age ranges. Emigration has resulted in shortages of man-power and social participants as well as in tax income in many municipalities. ISLANDS OF THE PALAU ARCHIPELAGO The principal islands of the Palau archipelago are listed below in the order of arrangement from north to south (Decisions on Names in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands and Guam, Part I). In this study I have used my own transcription of native place names as it more closely corresponds to correct phonemic laws of the Palauan language than that employed by the Board on Geographic Names. The one exception to this rule is that according to my transcription "Koror" should be "Choreor." It is, however, left "Koror," because of the current common usage of that form. Board transcriptions appear at times in parentheses throughout this study and are used in the following enumeration of the member islands in the Palaus. Kayangel (8° 04' N., 134° 43' E.): an atoll consisting of four low, sandy motus; only the largest is inhabited. Babelthuap (7° 30' N., 134° 36' E.) : a volcanic island (uplifted coral in southeast); the largest in the chain. Arakabesan (7°21'N., 134° 27' E.): a small volcanic island; inhabited. Koror (7° 20' N., 134° 30' E.) : a volcanic and raised coral island; seat of administra- tive government, urban center. Malakal (7° 20' N., 134° 28' E.): a small, partly volcanic and partly coral limestone island, with a harbor and dock area; inhabited by Chamorro family. Auluptagel (7° 19' N., 134° 29' E.) : an uninhabited coral limestone island. Urukthapel (7° 15' N., 134° 24' E.) : the largest limestone island in Micronesia in terms of coral volume, and the second largest island in Palau; uninhabited. Eil Malk (7° 09' N., 134° 22' E.) : a high coral island, proper name Mecherchar; uninhabited. Peleliu (7°01'N., 134° 15' E.): a raised atoll, the third largest island in Palau; in- habited. Angaur (6° 54' N., 134°09'E.): a raised atoll; inhabited. 134- 20' I34«4Q- 9 I 1 N6EIANGL 2 NGERECHELONG 3 NGARDMAU 4 NGARARD 5 NGEREMLENGUI 6 NGIWAL 7 MELEKEOK 8 AIMELIK 9 N GAT PANG 10 NGHESAR 1 1 AIRAI 12 KOROR 13 PELILYOU 14 NGAUR V g>00 7'40 7»20' ■r-oo- 20 MILES 14P I34»20' 134*40' Fig. 5. Map showing municipalities of the Palau Islands. 27 28 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU At the same time, the increase in the population of Koror has created problems of a different order. Koror, like many other growing com- munities, has a shortage of housing, its schools are crowded, the labor supply exceeds opportunities for employment, and there are relatively high delinquency and crime rates. A basic problem is that of food supply. Koror Island is small, and much of the existing arable land sup- ports native housing and administration facilities. As a consequence of these factors, good land for subsistence-crop planting is at a premium. Many families find it necessary to travel to neighboring islands to farm plots of land to which they have rights. Most families also depend on relatives in outlying communities to send food to them periodically. THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE PEOPLE TO THE LAND Traditionally, and continuing to the present time, the source of subsistence in Palau has been the cultivation of root and other crops, combined with the exploitation of reef and lagoon marine life. Mega- podes, pigeons, and fruit bats were at times also taken for food in pre- contact times. No domesticated animals were kept for food. Chickens ran wild in the bush and not only were not domesticated, but were not eaten (Keate, 1788, p. 300). Surprisingly, at the time of their presumed initial contact with Europeans in 1783, Palauans apparently had no knowledge of the pig or the dog. However difficult it may be to believe that any group of islands so close to the Asiatic mainland and in the paths of numerous eastward migrations would not have had either dogs or pigs introduced until comparatively recent times, it is nevertheless reported that there were "no quadrupeds of any species on these islands, except a very few grey rats in the woods." (Keate, 1788, p. 31.) The primary vegetable food staple was wet-farmed taro, which was grown in swampy, paddy-like enclosures. Cassava and sweet potatoes, which were grown in dry hillside gardens, may have been introduced in historic times, but of this there is no record. Various other food plants also were cultivated or gathered and augmented the basically starchy diet.^ Coconut trees were plentiful in most of the villages, and nuts and flower juices were utilized in the diet. 1 Plants which are either intensively cultivated or are cultivated to some extent today include taro (Colocasia), giant swamp taro (Cyrtosperma), wild taro (Alocasia), yams (Dioscorea), manioc or cassava (Manihot), sweet potato (Ipomoea), corn (^ea), turmeric (Curcuma), squash {Cucurbita), pineapple {Ananas), green onions {Allium), and watermelon {Citrullus). Citrus (Citrus), banana (Musa), papaya (Carica), soursop (Anona), and breadfruit (Artocarpus) trees provide a portion of the native diet, but do not require much attention. A more complete inventory of plant life may be found in Kanehira (1935), Mayo (1954), and Fosberg (1947). .^a Fig. 6. Exploitation of the sea and soil. Upper: Men returning from lagoon fishing. Lower: Women at work in the taro fields. 29 30 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU The protein staple was provided by fish and shellfish. There was a strict division of labor; women cared for the gardens and men secured the fish. Women and children violated the division in that it was their recognized right and duty to scour the lagoon and shore region in search of small shellfish and sea slugs. Men occasionally secured deep-water species of fish or rarely a dugong, but most of their efforts were confined to the reef and the lagoon areas. Palauan implements for exploitation of the sea — nets, traps, spears, and auxiliary gear — were well adapted to the habitat. The supply of fish and shellfish has remained fairly con- stant and, in the main, methods employed in securing marine products have not been altered sufficiently to exhaust these resources. The Palauan diet has been well balanced within the limitations imposed on most island populations, and the result has been favorable from the standpoint of health. Today the population of Palau is growing, but there are indications that the aboriginal population was much larger and was supported by the same resources that now maintain a smaller one. In general, the native fauna and flora of Palau make for an environ- ment which is considerably richer than that usually found on Pacific islands. This relative richness is due to Palau's proximity to Asiatic continental land masses, which have a remarkably similar biota. The forest vegetation of the Palau Islands consists of numerous species of hardwood trees, including hibiscus and breadfruit. Also abun- dant are coconut, betel, sago, and oil palms; bamboo; vines; shrubs; and pandanus trees. The loom has never been a part of Palauan technology, but woven goods formed by hand-plaiting native fibers such as pandanus served many purposes. Hibiscus bast and coconut-husk fibers provided materials for the manufacture of cordage. Very little bark-cloth was made, but the techniques required for its production from breadfruit bark were known and used to a limited extent. A coarse, heavy, brittle, and relatively simple variety of pottery was made by women from native clays. Coiling and paddle-and-anvil tech- niques were used in its manufacture. Pottery vessels were used for cooking and storage. Palauan technological development in pre-contact times was com- parable to that in other island areas of the Pacific. A limited number of tools and implements were used. Principal among these was the tridacna-shell adze. Knives of shell and bamboo also were used in the manufacture of goods and in the preparation of food. Volcanic out- croppings on the large island of Babeldaob and on Koror Island pro- PALAU AND THE PALAUANS 31 vided materials for ground-stone pounders. Points for arrows and blow- gun darts were made of wood or sting-ray spines. Palauan resources are today much as they were in pre-contact times. There have, of course, been some changes, such as the planting of coconut plantations in German times and the depredations of the coconut beetle in more recent years, ^ but in general the reef, the lagoon, and the forests are little changed. All in all, the resources at the disposal of Palauans have allowed a relatively comfortable adaptation to island life. Regardless of the modifying impact of culture contact on their culture, Palauans remain essentially subsistence farmers and gatherers. Imple- ments utilized in the exploitation of the soil and sea and in everyday life have been altered through the years, but the exploitation to subsist has continued. The steel knife has replaced the knife of shell or bamboo; the iron adze blade, the blade of tridacna; the metal fishhook, the hook of turtle shell. Pottery is no longer made. Iron pots are used today, and china containers now have replaced the wooden food bowls of old. But in spite of these alterations, the relationship of the Palauans to their land has always been a close one and it remains so today. 1 The coconut rhinoceros beetle {Oryctes) has destroyed many coconut palms on Babeldaob and all of those on Ngaur, Pelilyou, Koror, and many smaller islands. The destruction of this essential subsistence and economically important tree is being combated by an extensive beetle control project. IL The Context of Traditional Leadership in Palau In this study traditional leadership refers to the kind of leadership which was exercised in aboriginal times, prior to contact with repre- sentatives of relatively technologically advanced cultures. The sanctions for it, its modes of expression, and the values relating to it are all keyed to the aboriginal culture in which it was institutionalized and main- tained. For the most part, traditional leadership in Palau was pro- vided by the individuals whose statuses were ascribed — hereditary chiefs and their close kin. Palauans have a term for ''leader." It is merreder. The senior male chief in the village is the merreder of the village. The eldest male member of the senior lineage in a sib will be spoken of as the merreder of both the lineage and the sib. A ranking chief in a confederation will be called the merreder of the affiliated villages. In extension, the American District Administrator in the Palaus is referred to by Palauans today as the merreder of their district in the Trust Territory. A child will gird himself for battle if a peer taunts him by saying that he, the teaser, is the merreder of their relationship. Once, when making some suggestions with respect to distribution of food in the Palauan household in which I lived, I was good-naturedly but firmly told by the mother of the family that she, not I, was the merreder of the food, and consequently her decision as to its distribution, which was at variance with mine, stood. The various uses to which the term "leader" has been put in Palauan culture indicate widespread recognition that leadership carries with it elevated status and special reponsibilities as well as rights. As with all societies, Palauan society was organized in the pre-contact period in such a way as to provide a framework within which leadership statuses, responsibilities, and rights were contained. Typical of aboriginal Palau was its so-called dual organization. The dichotomized system pervaded the village organization, age-grading, and the kinship system. It was carried to its ultimate in the territorial and political division of the island chain into two parts. TERRITORIAL AND POLITICAL ALIGNMENTS In pre-contact times, because of its military strength, a large village exercised political domination over neighboring smaller villages. A 32 > 33 34 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU powerful village could call on the villages under its immediate hege- mony to assist it in maintaining control of other villages within a larger territory. In this way Palau was split into two major confederations at the time of contact with the Western world. The evidence suggests that this division was a development of the simultaneous rise to power of two villages, each of which became dominant within a rather ex- tensive area. The northern portion of the Palau Islands was called Bab el Daob: tab ("up"); el (untranslatable connective); daob ("ocean"). The southern portion was called Tou el Daob (sometimes elided to Touldaob) : you ("down"); el (connective); daob ("ocean") (see fig. 8). This geographic distinction corresponded roughly to the major political division of the islands. In terms of the affiliation of contiguous territories, the two major areas were referred to as bital eiyanged ma bital eiyanged ("other heaven or sky and other heaven or sky"). Babeldaob consisted of territory north of a diagonal line which bi- sected the island of Babeldaob from Pkul a Chelid (middle peninsula) on the west coast in the present-day municipality of Ngeremlengui to Tap era Ngesang peninsula on the east coast in the municipality of Nghesar. Included in Babeldaob were the sub-territories (now inunici- palities) of Ngeiangl, Ngerechelong, Ngarard, Ngardmau, Melekeok, and Ngiwal. Youldaob consisted of the sub-territories of Ngeremlengui, Nghesar, Airai, Aimelik, Ngatpang, Koror, Pelilyou, and Ngaur. This is the alignment which existed at the time of contact with the outside world and it has been preserved to the present time. Current municipal territorial divisions (see fig. 5) correspond for the most part with pre- contact sub-territorial boundaries. VILLAGE ORGANIZATION Ideally a village was bisected with a road or a stream as the dividing line. This division was termed metiud a belu ("split of the village"). The "right" and "left" sides of a village were referred to as bital belu ma bital belu ("other village and other village") or merely as bitang ma bitang ("other and other"). All land on one's left as he faced the lagoon from the village mid-line was considered the left (katur) side of the village and all land on his right, the right (kedikem) side. Within the village halves there were semi-stable alignments of affilia- ted kin groups (sibs). In this study I have followed the suggestions of Lowie (1920, chapter \T)'^and Murdock (1949b, p. 47) in the use of the term "sib" in preference to "clan" for the designation of a unilateral kin group; or, in Murdock's terminology, a "unilinear consanguineal kin group." 134*20' l34*4Qr kayangel' (ngeiangl) e^oa PELEUU { PELILYOU ) "r> AN6AUR (NGAUR) 7»40' TTff YOU EL DAOB TOO 0 5 10 20 MILES 134*20' 134*40' Fig. 8. Map showing major territorial division of aboriginal Palau Islands. 35 36 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU Village sib alignments in Palau have been termed exogamous moieties, but they were not necessarily exogamous. There was, however, a tend- ency for the two senior-ranking sibs within the village (one from each alignment) to maintain a pattern of mutual inter-marriage for economic and prestige reasons. The moieties were extremely competitive. In actuality today, there may be only more or less correspondence to this normative scheme of village organization. Disruptions have been caused by a great reduction in population size; competition between large, strong sibs for the loyalty of smaller and weaker ones; and the absorption of the land of these weaker groups. The custom of death payments between families, which includes the transfer of land from a sib in one alignment to one in the other, has also been a very potent disruptive factor. Political Leadership: The Village Council The system of ranked sibs in a village was reflected in the arrange- ment of the village political hierarchy. Each village possessed a council of chiefs comprised of the senior-ranking male title-holders from each of the major village sibs. Since these chiefs were leaders of kin groups, political leadership in Palau was inherited. The council of chiefs, com- prised of these kin group leaders, was called the klobak. In linguistic terms the morpheme klobak seems to be a combination of a bound and a free form. The term obak is generic for "older brother." My older brother, for example, is obakuk; your older brother, obakum; his older brother, obakul. A chief or other adult male of senior-age status is called rubak. The prefix which denotes plurality with respect to persons is ar or r. "Man," for example, is chad; "men," archad. Through progressive linguistic change it has evidently become possible to refer to a single male elder by a term which most correctly refers to the plural. Hence, we use the term rubak to refer to one or more persons who are chiefs or elders. The prefix kl often means plurality in the sense that we might say "the roster of." An example of this is seen in the use of the prefix with respect to a series of individuals who have held a title over a long period of time. A senior male title in one village is Aibedul. If we wish to refer to all the men who have held the title collectively, we say klibedul. In this manner, apparently the term klobak refers to the "roster of chiefs [ruba}i\ who comprise the village council;" hence A;/o^aA; = "village council." The r in rubak either is elided out or, what seems to be more correct morphologically, obak is combined with the prefix kl. The dual organization of Palauan society is clearly demonstrated by the over-all arrangement of the village council and the distribution THE CONTEXT OF TRADITIONAL LEADERSHIP 37 of power positions. The council was divided into two sections. One of the sections was headed by the hereditary leader of the senior village sib, the other by a counterpart from the second-ranking sib. Ideally a system of alternating ranks required the chiefs of the first-, third-, fifth-, seventh-, and ninth-ranking sibs to form one section and the chiefs of the second-, fourth-, sixth-, eighth-, and tenth-ranking sibs the other. The first, second, third, and fourth sibs were termed the kloal saos ("four posts") of the village. These sibs were compared to the four corner- posts of a house which support the structure. The topmost four titles in the council likewise supported the village structure. In many villages there were originally only seven major sibs. Other sibs within the village were considered of little importance and were not represented on the council of chiefs. Later the council membership was increased to ten. The inclusion of more chiefs on a council per- mitted a reduction of the individual amounts of money the original seven had to pay when money was being collected. Money was regu- larly collected for a number of reasons — to assist a neighboring village in its purchase of a new clubhouse, to underwrite the expenses of a feast, or to pay fines imposed by stronger villages. The earlier inclusion of but seven members in village councils is evident if the listing of titles in some ten-member village klobak is examined. There are only titles for the first seven positions. The positions which follow have titles which are merely terms meaning "eighth," "ninth," and "tenth." In the two largest villages in Palau (Koror and Melekeok), the village councils were expanded even further to accommodate twenty members. The second group of ten was considered less prestigeful than the first and was called the iiriul klobak ("after council"). The rank-arrangement of council membership may be seen in the seating arrangement inside the abai ("village council house"). Each title had its place, and its holder had rights to that place. The moiety system of the village was reflected in the seating arrangement, which in turn reflected the hierarchical system of sib ranking. Ideally, a ten- member council was seated as follows: Ngelong (front side of abai) Rebai (back side of abai) Rank number of sib : Rank number of sib : 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 38 o< <::> no<] 39 40 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU Even-numbered sibs had seats on the back side of the abai and uneven numbered ones on the front. The alignment shown (p. 37) was identical with the alignment of sibs in village organization. Those sibs in the ngelong owed their allegiance to sib number one. Those in the rebai owed theirs to sib number two. For each male title-holder there was a female counterpart whose claim to her title was determined in the same manner as were those of the males. She was the senior-ranking female within her sib. The group of female chiefs corresponded in number and relative rank to the vdllage council of male chiefs and was called klohak el dil ("council of women"). Appropriate respect was accorded these female chiefs, but their political power was considerably more restricted than that of the male chiefs who made up the main village council. At times, however, their voices were heard, and they were by no means without a say in many policy formulations. On certain occasions women were included in the klobak temporarily, when no male representatives from their sib were available. In a few cases a woman even held a male title and had a permanent place on the klobak. Whether male or female in membership, the council of chiefs in- corporated the competition and rivalry which was characteristic of village organization in general. The faction headed by the number-two-ranking chief was always interested in wresting any power possible from the faction headed by the number-one-ranking chief. In many cases it is possible to trace the ascent of the number two sib on the council to the number one position. In such cases, the traditional alignment of sibs was disturbed and the organizational pattern in villages where this had happened was quite at deviance with the normative pattern. AGE-GRADING Corresponding to the scheme of village division in the Palau of old was an institutionalized division of village age-grade societies. Ideally there were three men's clubhouses in each half of a village. Theoretically each half also had its own taoch ("channel"), which was used by water- craft from that moiety. Large villages had many more channels, but there was one main taoch for each moiety. The division of the age-grade societies into two groups was conceived of analogically. Each group of three clubhouses was called a taoch. Just as the village was divided into bital belu ma bital belu, age-grade societies were divided into bital taoch ma bital taoch ("other channel and other channel") (see fig. 10). Age-grading was universal in Palau. Named age-grade societies ex- isted in all villages and ideally there were six for men and six for women. LAGOON AREA SHORE LINE I TAOCH I BITAL TAOCH (OTHER CHANNEL) BITAL TAOCH (OTHER CHANNEL) Fig. 10. Village age-grade society alignment. This diagram shows the ideal arrangement of age-grade society clubhouses and their relation to the village mid-line and to the channels which connected the village with the lagoon. Actually there was a good bit of variation from this ideal pattern. NGARAIBARS (o kind of fish) NGARAMETAL (shark) •^ ^^ ^^ Village Households NGARATEKANGL (unceasing work ) oldest club youngest club ■• regular progression of personnel ■• routes of younger men when a new club was established and membership recruited Fig. 11. Age-grade society membership progression in Koror village, Delui taoch. 41 42 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU These societies were called cheldebechel. Each of the male societies had a named clubhouse, but women's clubs had no houses. Though their basic functions have changed through time and the number of cheldebechel has greatly diminished, they still exist. Membership in clubs was by in\itation and members could be drawn from any part of the village. Once an individual had become a member of a club in one of the taoch, his mobility was restricted to the three clubs within that taoch. There was one exception — the members of the senior sib were able to move about in clubs from one taoch to the other. Prospective members for clubs were solicited in early infancy. Members of a club would visit the parents of an infant and indicate that they wished the child to affiliate with their society when he had reached the proper age. Age-grade society mobility for males in one taoch of Koror village is shown in figure 1 1 . Even age-grade societies composed of the elder males contained some younger members. Young men might first be taken into an older- age society and later transfer to a younger one which was in need of new members (see fig. 11). The oldest cheldebechel could be disbanded if the members simply declared en masse that they were too old for further duties. The elders would then retire and be replaced by members of the next younger club, who would move to the clubhouse which the elders formerly had occupied. The name of the disbanded society was retired. Since the clubhouse of the next younger club was vacated in this case, the youngest age-grade society moved into it, taking its name with it, and a new club was formed to occupy the youngest society's clubhouse. This new society was given a new club name. Age-Grade Society Leadership In each village the leaders of the age-grade societies were members of the senior-ranking sib. The leader of the eldest male society was the ranking sib leader — in other words, the village chief. Leaders of other age-grade clubs were younger sib-mates of the village chief. In each club the second in command was a member of the second-ranking sib in the village. Ideally there was a representative in each club from each of the sibs represented on the village council, and the relative ranks of these individuals in the leadership hierarchy of the club to which they belonged corresponded to the rank of their respective sib in the village organization. The organizational scheme of leadership in women's clubs was identical. The ever-present "warp thread" of competition, so typical of Palauan culture and so much a part of patterned leadership behavior in the THE CONTEXT OF TRADITIONAL LEADERSHIP 43 village council and within kin group relations, also was woven into the fabric of age-grade society organization. KIN GROUPS Duality also was present within Palauan kin groups. Within a lineage, sib, or super-sib, for example, there were often groups of people who were assumed to be related by virtue of the fact that they were descendants of the members of certain ancient migrations. When there were two groups of people thus related, they were referred to as bital wa ma bital wa ("other leg and other leg")- This term also was applicable to two branches of a kin group when they were differentiated for other reasons. Segments of a kin group could be differentiated historically on the basis of different times of arrival in the locality or because the members of the segments were considered to be descendants of individuals who stood in close connection; for example, sisters by adoption. Two small kin groups which had been fused into a larger one also were called bital wa ma bital wa. Many times I asked questions to check Barnett's statement that the members of a bital wa and bital wa relationship were in fact the children of sisters (Barnett, 1949, p. 22). Nowhere did I find confirmation. All informants denied that this was so. One chief phrased his response this way: ''Ngelekir a tend udos a bital delach ma bital delach — di tal chad'' ("Chil- dren of two sisters are other stomach and other stomach — just one per- son"). Bital wa and bital wa are farther apart. They are like Milong and Olngobang talungalek (lineages and sub-sibs) of Aikelau keblU of Koror village according to this informant. Traditional accounts do not in- dicate that these two kin groups are derived from descendants of sis- ters. Within the framework of the traditional village moiety system the senior sib within one moiety and the senior sib in the other were termed bital blai ma bital blai ("other house and other house"). Sub-sibs or line- ages within sibs sometimes were dual in their alignment. This relation- ship may be seen if we examine Aidid keblil of Koror village. The ordering of the kin groups within the sib is shown below. Aidid keblil (sib) Bital wa ("other leg") Bital wa ("other leg") ^. f Techeboiet Omtilou Kin group Ngerusubluk Aitunglbai ^^"^^^ [ Choteloiech Yecherang 44 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU Under the ideal settlement pattern, bital wa members tended to live in relatively close proximity to each other and there was a certain amount of wa autonomy; for example, there was competition between two wa in the business of food and money exchange. It is said of such groups, ""Diak a boldak a udoiidir'' ("Their money is not together"). If there was a need for the leader of one of the wa to amass some native bead money, the members of his own wa helped him with great zeal. The members of the other wa provided only limited assistance. Another example of the division which traditionally existed at this level is seen in the assumption of the senior title of the keblil by a member of one of the wa. A feast was customarily given at the time. At such a feast the wa to which the individual assuming the title belonged had to undertake the major share of the expenses and could depend very little on the other wa. The findings of this study in the area of kin group terminology do do not entirely agree with those of several recent reports (Barnett, 1949, pp. 21 ff.; Useem, 1949, pp. 65 ff.; and Vidich, 1949, p. 22). The chief difference has to do with the ways in which the Palauan terms for various kin groups have been defined. A factor which may have contributed to the differences in definitions of kin group terms may be the high degree of overlap which exists in Palauan kin group terminology and its usage; for instance, in some reports the term talungalek has been iden- tified as meaning "maternal lineage" while the term keblil has been said to mean "maternal clan." The findings of this study indicate that the indigenous meanings (and hence the applications) of these terms are actually much broader. Moreover, the proper application of the term blai appears never to have been adequately delineated. Because an understanding of kin group leadership is important to this study, a few additional comments on the subject of kin group terminology from the standpoint of meaning and application seem necessary. The basic unit of Palauan societal organization was the household. The term for "house" was blai. Variations of this Malayo-Polynesian term for "house" are found widely distributed in Oceania. The members of a single household were designated as di emol blai ("just one house") or artal ulaol ("people of one floor"). As they are employed by Palauans today, there is considerable over- lap in the meanings of native terms for kin groups. In one utterance an informant will refer to his named, exogamous, totemic, consanguineal kin group as his keblil and in the next will say that the same kin group is his talungalek. He may later refer to the same group as his blai. He will call his household his blai on one occasion and speak of it as his oungalek THE CONTEXT OF TRADITIONAL LEADERSHIP 45 or his talungalek on another. Keblil and kleblil frequently are used inter- changeably. If the native terms are analyzed according to their etymology some clarification emerges. Oungalek, for example, is often used to refer to the nuclear family. The word for "child" is ngalek. The prefix ou carries the meaning at times of "making," "having," or "doing;" for example, one may say Ak oungalek erangi, which means "I make a child of him." Such a statement is made with reference to one's biological child and to an adopted child for whom one has assumed parental responsibilities. The logic of the term's use with respect to the nuclear family is clear. Talungalek is probably derived from tal ("one") and oungalek ("nuclear family"). It is used, however, not only to refer to the nuclear family but also to larger kin groups (from the extended family through the sib), to denote close consanguineal relationship. Moreover, it is not necessarily applied only to one's maternal lineage. The term keblil appears to be a combination of the third person singular possessive form of the word for "house" {blil; blai is the generic term) and the prefix ke, which connotes mutuality. It refers to mutually related houses. The relatedness stems from the kinship of the occupants. The term may be applied to the extended family (or portions thereof), the lineage, the sub-sib, the sib, and on occasion even to the super-sib. My investigation of the present-day use of the terms talungalek and keblil in Palau reveals that they are often interchangeable and that talungalek does not necessarily mean "lineage" and only lineage, as has been previously reported, any more than keblil means "clan" and only clan. Super-sibs whose component groups are recognized as being distantly related but whose relationship is only occasionally demonstrable — and frequently only through recourse to folklore — are referred to as kleblil. The infix / is not easily explainable in terms of any morphological law of the Palauan language which has been demonstrated by linguists, but it may mean, as it does in other contexts, "the full roster of components" — in this case, component keblil. A confusing thing is that the terms keblil and kleblil are used interchangeably in conversation today. When asked why, an informant will say that they mean the same thing. The term blai is used to refer to any of the definable kin groups mentioned above. In figure 12 the lines designated "A" enclose oungalek or talungalek, i.e., nuclear families. The lineage designated by the solid black symbols is also a talungalek, since all the members may be traced to a single com- mon maternal ancestor. Here the term is used to denote a maternal 46 CULTURAL CHANGE LN PALAU lineage. In house 6 the allegiance of the children is divided. This is today, and seems formerly to have been, a fairly common occurrence in Palau. As shown in the figure, the male child followed the lineage of his father and the daughter that of her mother. When the male child became an adult he married and established a new household on land inherited from his father. His children, in turn, followed their paternal lineage and paternal sib affiliation was accordingly emphasized. Houses shown in figure 12 with the same pattern on the roofs stand in keblil relationship to each other. In some cases it is possible to trace the relationship between members of a keblil and, if so, the keblil is, in fact, a lineage. When the relationship is merely assumed and cannot be demonstrated (as with houses 3 and 4) then the requirements for being considered a sib are met. Some keblil are very small today, numljering only slightly more than a dozen persons. The relationship of each one to all the others is easily traced and is common knowledge. These keblil are more accurately lineages or merely extended families, rather than sibs. Reduction of keblil size due to a general decrease in population has rendered it possible to trace relationships today which in earlier times would have been impossible to ascertain. Hence, what might have qualified as a sib in yesteryear is today merely a lineage. It is, nonetheless, still called a keblil, which is confusing only if we accept keblil to mean "sib" alone. It is still a kin group, albeit shrunken in size, which lives in houses which are recognized as being mutually related. Since residence in Palau was virilocal (Adam, 1947), a female lived apart from her sib-mates after marriage, ordinarily in a house on land inherited by her husband from his mother's sib. Traditionally land was owned in severalty by the keblil ("sib"). A house bore the same name as the land upon which it stood. By virtue of their position on sib land and the relationship of their occupants, houses were related to a series of other houses which were occupied by kinsmen. Inheritance of land usufruct was not always through the female line. Some individuals inherited land and house from their father's sib. There is a growing tendency today for inheritance to follow the male line. This may be in part a result of acculturation influences. However, there is a long tradition of this kind of inheritance prior to present-day trends. Since one always had membership (or at least membership potential) in both the lineage of his father and the lineage of his mother, and hence membership in their respective sibs, he might elect or be forced by cir- cumstances (age, value and quality of remaining keblil land, inheritance 47 48 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU of a title, numljer of other relations having a claim on the limited amount of land and so forth) to accept active membership in his father's lineage and sib. Paternal and maternal relations competed for the allegiance of an individual. If a man did follow his paternal lineage he then brought his wife to live \vith him on land inherited from his father's kehlil. A Palauan traces his descent through his father as well as his mother. Descent through one's father, i.e., connection to father's sib, is termed ulechel. Descent through one's mother, i.e., connection to mother's sib, is termed ochel. The ochel connection is without question the stronger of the two. A title inherited from one's mother's kin group holds prece- dence over one inherited from one's father's group, though one may elect to accept the latter. If a sib is unable to discover an ochel adult who is acceptable and a title vacancy must be filled, the members will seek an individual who traces his descent to the group through his father. One who holds a title inherited through maternal connection is considered to have a more authentic claim to the title, but the recipients of titles inherited through paternal connection are respected and accorded all due rights and privileges. They are expected to undertake all the duties and obligations of the title irrespective of their basis of title assumption. Lineages may properly be termed maternal, but membership is possible in such lineages through one's paternal line. Various exchange obligations frequently are undertaken by a person because of such mem- bership. Generally obligations are considered more binding and stronger within the ochel category. As we customarily think of them, lineages are not named. However, if we follow the definition that a sib is a named, exogamous, sometimes totemic unilinear consanguineal kin group in which a traditional bond of common descent is assumed but cannot always be demonstrated (Murdock, 19491d, pp. 47 ff.), we expect sibs to be named. In Palau, since a group of affiliated houses was ordinarily arranged in some sort of ranked order about a senior house (perhaps the house of the earliest direct lineal antecedent), they were all subsidiary to the senior house and were referred to as a keblil. The keblil bore the name of the senior house. Such house groups often contained a relatively small number of individuals whose kin relationships to each other were clearly demon- strable. This, then, offers one explanation as to why one finds named lineages in Palau. Palauan society has been characterized as matrilineal by some earlier writers, but there is considerable evidence to challenge this characteriza- tion (Barnett, 1949, pp. 21-34). There is no doubt that there is an THE CONTEXT OF TRADITIONAL LEADERSHIP 49 important bias toward emphasis of the maternal Une, but certain of the requirements of a true matrilineate are absent. A significant absence is that of the special cousin terminology which generally accompanies unilateral organization (Murdock, 1949b, p. 223). Cousin terminology in Palau is Hawaiian in type. Palauan kinship terminology is broadly classificatory — a recognized characteristic of bilateral organization. A special term does exist for mother's brother, and the mother's eldest living brother (or other senior male member of her lineage) does stand in a special relationship to his sister's children. The maternal uncle is called upon for financial assistance and in general is sought as a source of aid of various kinds throughout Ego's life; for example, even if one becomes a pariah within his kin group and suff^ers discrimination by his relations, he may never be turned away completely by his mother's brother. The interesting thing about the mother's brother is that the term which is employed for him referentially {oktemelek) is also applicable to all senior males whose membership in the maternal lineage is based upon the fact that their mothers were members of the lineage. Females who stand in a similar relationship to the lineage, and hence the sib, likewise are called by a common term (ourot) both collectively and individually. This is especially true of high-ranking sib females. Ordinarily we think of sibs as exogamous. If keblil is defined solely as a sib (clan), as it has been in some of the literature on Palau, then the character of Aikelau keblil of Koror village is very peculiar in that marriage between the constituent talungalek which comprise it was (and still is) permitted. The fact is that the so-called talungalek are actually less lineages of Aikelau sib than they are sub-sibs, i.e., named, exogamous, and even, in the old days, totemic in their own right. The term talun- galek, then, applies also to what is here called a sub-sib. The kin group term blai deserves a final word of comment. Blai is the generic term for house; that is, it is not declined to show possession. A keblil (sib) is sometimes spoken of as a blai. As with the members of a single household, persons from the same sib are said to be di emol blai ("just one house"). The blai which is being referred to is the senior blai within the kin group. It is in this house that the leader of the kin group lives. The keblil has the same name as the land and the house of its leader. The term blai refers in extension to the house itself and also to the kin group it represents. Oungalek and talungalek also may be referred to by the term blai. The following table summarizes the overlap in kin group terminology that exists in contemporary Palau and that seems to have existed also in aboriginal times. 50 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU KIN GROUP TERMINOLOGY OVERLAP Nuclear Extended Lineage Sub-Sib Sib Super-Sib Family Family oungalek x talungalek x x x x x keblil x X x x (x)i kleblil x X blai X X X X x x 1 Occasionally. In my view the overlap in Palauan kin group terminology is not simply an instance of the occurrence of a series of indirect references; it is rather a case of multiple referents. Such a situation is highly remi- niscent of Firth's findings with respect to kinship terminology and kin group terminology in Tikopia (Firth, 1958, p. 235). In Tikopia the word for "house" is paito. The term paito is obviously a variation of the Indonesian root term for "house" {balay; Capell, 1943) and must be assumed to stand in cognate relationship to the Palauan terms for houses — blai and bai. According to Firth (op. cit., p. 346) the Tikopians "have a predilection for using a word with a wide variation in meaning in different contexts, a contrast between a general and a specific signi- ficance being particularly common." Beyond signifying the actual dwell- ing place of a number of individuals the term paito refers to the family which lives in the house. It is also the recognized designation for the kinship unit which is composed of a number of separate households which live under several different roofs — in other words, for an extended family. Paito are not necessarily localized residential groups; paito mem- bers may be scattered throughout several villages. This pattern also may be observed in Palau. There are a number of other similarities between Tikopian paito and Palauan blai such as rank differentiation on the basis of past history or wealth, relationship to supernatural beings, inheritance patterns, perpetuation of "house" name, political and re- ligious functions, ritual exchange arrangements, and so on. These sim- ilarities deserve more intensive treatment than is possible in this study, ^ but mention of the basic similarity in the use of the term for "house" ■ and the existence of multiple referents in both Palau and Tikopia seemed essential. Inter-Kin Group Relations In the Palau of old, social distinctions had their base in the system of ranked sibs. As has been mentioned, the first four sibs of a village were considered to be the most important. They were the most in- fluential and the most prestigeful of the village sibs. The entire roster THE CONTEXT OF TRADITIONAL LEADERSHIP 51 of sibs for a village was ranked from highest to lowest. Within individual sibs there was also a recognition that some lineages out-ranked others. The senior-ranking sib was customarily the wealthiest. The emphasis upon the possession of wealth is reflected in the term which was used to refer to relatively low-ranking sibs. These groups comprised a category termed ebul ("poor"). Wealthy sibs were called meteet. Sib wealth and prestige were positively correlated. Through the manipulation of nativ^e currency a lower-ranking sib could increase its wealth and succeed in upward mobility, but ordinarily such mobility was restricted in degree; for example, if the members of an upper-ranking and wealthy keblil became aware of the fact that a lower-ranking keblil possessed a large and valuable piece of Palauan money, they would make plans to secure it. Perhaps they would contrive a situation in which they could levy a fine and take the money. Fre- quently they would instruct one of their female sib members to marry into the sib which possessed the money. They would then bargain for the specific piece in the transactions which required the groom's kin to make money payments to the family of the bride. Such tactics made it very difficult for a low-ranking keblil to amass sufficient wealth to raise itself in the sib hierarchy. Proscriptions with respect to upper-ranking keblil members "marrying- down" were insufficiently strong to satisfy the requirements of caste, but they were relatively effective. If, for example, a woman from a high-ranking sib married a man from a low-ranking sib, the members of the woman's sib would bring negative sanctions to bear; perhaps the insistence would be so strong that the marriage would be broken. The situation of a woman "marrying-down" was particularly undesirable to the wife's sib because of the exchange pattern which dictated a flow of wealth to her sib from the husband's. The exception to this rule has been cited abov^e. If a woman's sib had instructed her to "marry- down" to secure a particular piece of money from a lower-ranking sib, naturally no negative sanctions would be imposed as a consequence of the marriage. The system of kin group ranking in aboriginal Palau was far from uniform at the pan-Palau level, since there were villages of different ranks. If a person of relatively low kin group affiliation from Koror (a very high-ranking village) went to visit in a village which was lower- ranking in the over-all village hierarchy, he was considered to be a relatively high-ranking person with respect to the lower-ranking village. Koror was considered a meteet el belu ("wealthy and high-ranking village"). The Kororites took advantage of their senior status-position and fre- 52 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU quently took what they desired (money, food, sexual privileges, and so on) from the lower-ranking villages. The term arbedcheduches was descriptive of relatively "low-ranking" people; for example, it was used to refer to persons whose connections with a sib were so tenuous as to preclude their assumption of leadership titles. Such persons might be members of a segment of the sib which was considered to have been a late arrival in the migration history of the group. Such segments were termed digimes oil ("wet legs"). The term was demonstrative of the fact that the segment had arrived so recently (although it might have been generations previously) that the legs of its members were still wet from wading ashore. To employ this term to refer to an individual was considered thoroughly insulting. Distinctions of this nature constantly were brought into play in re- lations between kin groups. Any means which could be used to bolster a kin group's prestige and status was relied upon. The stratification which existed in pre-contact Palauan society should not be termed a class system. Palauans do not and evidently did not conceive of broad segments of society which might be termed classes. Stratification was pertinent to specific village kin group structures which in turn fitted into a pan-Palau structure of villages in which there was also stratification based on relative ranks. Relative wealth, numerical size, and traditional prestige were attri- butes relied upon in the determination of kin group rank. Within rather narrow limits upward mobility was possible. A senior-ranking sib was supposed to be the wealthiest sib in the village. This was not always true in fact and the alterations in village hierarchies from time to time reflect the fact that some sibs declined in wealth, prestige, and power while others advanced. Possession of wealth was one means which en- abled a sib to maintain its social prestige. It could, for example, afford costly feasts which advanced its prestige in comparison to other sibs which could not afford such expenditures. In large part the fortunes of a sib were a function of the relative number of females it possessed and the extent to which these females entered into lucrative marital relations with males from sibs of wealth. To the extent that infelicitous marital agreements were negotiated with respect to female sib members and to the extent that the sib's own males were required to make payments of money to other sibs (because they claimed wives from them) in excess of the income derived from the marriages of their sisters, an unfavorable balance of trade came about which spelled disaster for the sib treasury. A sib in this state of financial imbalance was prey to the village nearest-lower-ranking siljs which aspired to higher positions. \ THE CONTEXT OF TRADITIONAL LEADERSHIP 53 The exchange system was a primary integrating force in Palauan culture. The successful manipulation of wealth resulted in limited up- ward mobility for individuals as well as for kin groups. It is true that a man might never entirely escape his hereditary ascribed status (though he might be fortunate enough to be adopted by a high-ranking family and ultimately benefit), but at the same time he might become a re- spected individual as a result of his success in accumulating wealth. The Palauan language distinguishes between the person of high-ranking social status {meteet) and the wealthy person {merau). High-ranking kin groups were ordinarily wealthy, but the distinction between mere wealth and wealth plus social position was never over- looked. The common denominator involved in the exchange system and the general manipulation for wealth and social advantage is "com- petition." This is the sine qua non of Palauan culture. Competition between kin groups for positions of prestige was (and is) a primary focus of Palauan culture. The custom of kauchocharo ("mutual enemies") was a potent feature of inter-kin group relations. The second-ranking kin group in a village did its best to outdo the senior-ranking one in all activities. The allegiance of the subsidiary sibs within each of the two village divisions was relied upon in this competition. Kin Group Leadership Leadership in kin groups was not limited to men. As has been mentioned, the dual nature of Palauan culture provided a system of ranking with respect to women which was identical with that for men. Every lineage had both a male and a female leader. Each was con- sidered a merreder of the lineage. Ideally these individuals were most closely related to female antecedents within the lineage. Relative age was a crucial factor in the determination of which of two identically related individuals was to hold the ranking position in the lineage; for example, of two siblings who were related identically to a woman who stood in the closest maternal connection to lineage antecedents, the elder was considered senior. The eldest male and female children of such a woman would head the lineage following the deaths of the woman and the holder of the ranking male title. Persons holding the highest-ranking positions in the highest-ranking lineage of a sib were considered to be the leaders of the sib. Likewise, the leaders of the senior sib in the village were considered the paramount male and female chiefs of the village. An exceptionally aberrant feature of only a few villages in Palau is that the wives of male title-holders held the female titles from their husbands' sibs. Such persons were actually not even members of the sib from which their titles were derived. 54 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU The male head of a household was considered the leader of the house- hold, but his wife shared leadership honors with him. As has been ex- plained earlier, even today each house in Palau is named after the land on which it stands. A man and his wife who occupy a given house are designated as leaders of the household by the use of special prefixes to the house-name, which, together with the house-name, provide a house-title for the man and his wife. When addressing a person in public it is proper to use these house-titles in preference to his or her name. A sib title, however, takes precedence. An example of a house-title is as follows: A house in one of the villages in Ngerechelong munici- pality on Babeldaob is called Tobei. The prefix for male household heads is Ngira-; that for female household heads, Dira-. The house-titles for the man and his wife who occupy the house called Tobei are consequently Ngirayobei and Dirayobei respectively. HEREDITARY SANCTIONS OF LEADERSHIP: CHARACTERISTICS AND EXPECTATIONS The relative eminence of traditional Palauan leaders was determined by their membership and position in kin groups whose wealth, numerical size, and traditional prestige were generally recognized. However, in- dividual status, prestige, and power frequently depended upon personal characteristics. If these were at variance with the cultural expectations as to the characteristics of leadership, then hereditary rights to eminence were contradicted and the consequence was a negative response to the individual on the part of persons under his leadership. Obviously such responses effectively reduced the leader's powers of control. At times responses were carried to such extremes that a chief was deposed and exiled. His life might even be taken. The possession of the headship of a large and prestigeful sib elevated a person to social eminence and leadership status. Membership in such a kin group was highly desirable and to possess the hereditary right to the assumption of titled rank in the group was even more desirable. There were, however, certain basic expectations which governed tradi- tional leadership behavior. Along with the assumption of a chiefly title came the corollary assumption of a relatively well-defined role, with its expectations in terms of duties and behavioral characteristics; for instance, a chief was expected to be knowledgeable. He was expected to know custom, so as to be able to settle disputes over customary social usages. A certain maturity was expected of a person before he was assumed to have had time to assimilate the knowledge which he should have as chief. The assumption of an important title by a relatively THE CONTEXT OF TRADITIONAL LEADERSHIP 55 young person who was considered ill-prepared for chiefly roles was deplored by Palauans, but if hereditary right had been established there w^as little recourse but to accept the heir to the title, regardless of his inexperience, ineptitude, or lack of knowledge. It was possible in aborig- inal days, however, for the village council of chiefs to veto the right of certain heirs presumptive to the senior title and select another person from the ranking sib whose hereditary claim was less strong. This was not a frequent occurrence, but when it did happen it was called omotk oiyang ("jumping over")- Most important in a listing of the characteristics of traditional leader- ship is that a chief was expected to behave like a chief. He was not to speak unnecessarily. He seldom spoke in council meetings, but when he did, usually through an intermediary, his words held authority. Physical labor was not consistent with chiefly behavior in the traditional sense. Traditionally, a chief was supposed to spend a good bit of his time seated. He was not supposed to engage in physical labor such as climbing for betel-nuts or lifting or carrying, and a symbol of this tradi- tion was a dugong vertebra bracelet which was worn only by chiefs. Its cumbersome presence prevented many activities which are necessary to vigorous work. Early writers on Palau noted the wearing of these bracelets by elite males and made reference in their writings to the Palauan "order of the bone" (Keate, 1788). This symbol of status served as a constant reminder of differential social statuses. However, even though a chief was not supposed to engage in demeaning labor, he was expected to possess the skills necessary for the accomplishment of work. He might even demonstrate them on occasion, but he was not expected to prolong the demonstration. A chief was supposed to be generous. However, he also was supposed to be wealthy, which means that he was expected to be a capable manipu- lator of native currency. In the pre-contact period a Palauan chief could greatly expand his prestige by proposing or leading a successful war party against an enemy village. If conquered, the enemy village sometimes became a satellite of the victorious village and was joined with it in alliance in future wars. Furthermore, tribute could be demanded of a defeated village. In this fashion political confederations were established and the prestige of leadership in the victorious village was heightened. Personal political power was determined in part by a chief's village affiliation and in part by the relative status of the village in a confederation of villages. Upward mobility in terms of personal prestige was possible under the system of inter- villasce warfare. 56 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU It was a chief's duty to lead in commonplace situations as well as in more spectacular events such as war expeditions against enemy v^illages. An example of this is seen in the custom whereby the chiefs in the council house were all required to wait until the senior chief gav'c the signal to eat. When he did so, but not before, the others might begin. Rights which were granted hereditary chiefs were numerous. At feasts chiefs were awarded larger and more choice portions of the feast fare. They also possessed the right to receive certain first fruits and special foods; for example, in one village, if turtles were captured they had to be brought to the chief. If he wished to keep the entire catch for distribution to his own kin group, he might do so. He might also take only a small share and allow the captors to keep the remainder. It should be noted that while the right to usurp all of a particular catch or crop was his, a good chief recognized the aspect of his role which demanded that he be generous and conscious of his people's welfare and he was accordingly careful not to misuse his rights. We are speaking here of ideals. In actual practice there was a good bit of varia- tion in chiefly behavior. In folklore accounts of their lives, some chiefs are noted for their avarice. Others more closely approximate the norma- tive conception of what a chief should be like. SUPERNATURAL SANCTIONS OF LEADERSHIP: SPIRITS AND SHAMANS Supernatural sanctions for leadership developed from the congeries of beliefs relating to nature deities (chelid) and ancestral spirits {bladek). There was an aura about hereditary chieftainship that hearkened back to primordial Palau, when chiefs were half god and half man {chelid el chad); when sea slugs spawned humans; when giants lived; and when spirits flitted through the air unseen. Palauan folk tales are rich re- positories of ideas about the supernatural and its complement of rare and mysterious qualities. It is to be expected that any claim which could be laid to this rich source of power would be exercised. A chief who demonstrated his ability to secure support from any one of a number of deities within the Palauan pantheon was accorded respect. A chief either secured his support from the gods through a shaman or took on shamanlike qualities himself. The fact that he was a chief was, in itself, awesome because of the connection between chiefs and the chelid. Totemism was a strong feature of Palauan kinship belief, and many houses had totemic shrines either in the house or on the stone platform before it. Deities were importuned in prayer; they dominated the folk THE CONTEXT OF TRADITIONAL LEADERSHIP 57 tales; and they were feared. Deities inhabited the sea, the bush, the lakes, the streams, certain stones, some plants, and various animals. A great deal of malevolence on the part of these beings was involved. Some appeared to sleeping men as fearful amorphous black blobs. Some could show their powers by moving bouquets at funerals. Others could prevent a good catch on the reef. Some, too, could cause sickness or even death. Supernatural beings were not without their agents. Representatives of gods were communicated with by supernatural whistles. Only the representative could understand the true meanings of the whistles and he interpreted for less gifted humans. There were in most pre-contact villages shamans who provided this link with the supernatural world. Since shamans were considered to be possessed at times with the spirit of the supernatural deity they represented, they were referred to by the name of the deity they embodied. Such individuals were treated with great respect, and they possessed considerable power in the village, in some cases completely dominating the senior chief and his council. Some shamans became chiefs, though they had no hereditary claim to the title. They simply usurped chiefly office and were not resisted. Descendants of such persons who today hold titles formerly held by the shamans are in some remote villages still able to coerce behavior on the parts of their peers because of the supernatural connection sustained by their ancestor in the dim past. A shaman was the recipient of the will of a god. A person could not become a shaman without being chosen as a repository or vehicle of supernatural power by the god. It was, therefore, possible for anyone to become a shaman. Not a few opportunists, noting the obvious values in l^eing a shaman, may have feigned possession in order to secure per- sonal advantage. Shamans received tribute, were exempt from onerous tasks, and were granted money payments for healing services. According to elder informants, possession states were achieved rapidly by plying the shaman with successiv^e betel-nut quids for twenty or thirty minutes. Apparently the effect was conducive to hallucinations and behavior which was bizarre enough to be termed supernatural. Shamans definitely shared in the distribution of power in aboriginal Palau. They also served as channels for the claiming of supernatural power by chiefs. A chief would seek the blessing of a shaman before embarking on a war party or would call on him to intercede in the granting of some special power. Supernaturally sanctioned leadership behavior had the great advantage that it was irresistible — unchallenge- able. Coupled with hereditary sanctions, supernatural ones provided a particularly effective power potential for traditional leaders. 58 CULTURAL CHANGE LN PALAU AGE AND RESPECT SANCTIONS OF LEADERSHIP: RUBAKS AND RESPECT Individual social status, as has been seen, was primarily determined by a person's hereditary position in a ranked kin group. However, a factor to be considered in all social relations was that of age. Advanced age was accorded universal respect in Palau. All men and women were called by special terms when they attained elderly status. All social relationships took age differences into account and customarily the elder person in any relationship had rank on his side. Age-status considerations are evident in the use of kinship terms even today. Ego has one set of terms for persons older than himself and another for persons younger. For each relationship category at the sibling level, for example, one has special terms for designating those senior in years to him and those junior. Age distinctions even pervade the play groups of children. It was possible for a young man to inherit a high-ranking title because there was no elder person available to receive it, but in this case he was assumed to have rubak ("elder") status. Nevertheless, his relative youth was recognized by all parties. In spite of this recognition, if the title held by the young man was a high one, the patterned age-respect system was to some extent inverted in his relations with relatively low-prestige elders who possessed no titles. Elder women, like their male contemporaries, were also accorded great respect. These elder women were called by the term mechas, the counterpart of the male term rubak. A series of honorific usages was employed in the exercise of age- respect. W'hen a high-ranking person met a lower-ranking one on a roadway, or when an elder person met a younger, the junior of the relationship engaged in patterned behavior which exhibited honor and respect. Similar deferential behavior was expected of age-inferiors at public gatherings. A person of lower status was required to assume certain postural positions when seated in the company of chiefs or elders. His back was never to be presented to his superiors in rank and/or age. Special care had to be exercised in moving among individuals of high rank, since their persons were not to be violated. The head of such a person was not to be touched, nor was his bag in which his possessions were kept and which he carried with him at all times. In passing back and forth in a building or a gathering place, a lower-ranking person was required to bend forward at the waist, walk softly, and avert his eyes. Folk tales assert that the reason the beams of Palauan houses are placed so that a person walking the length of the house will have to stoop THE CONTEXT OF TRADITIONAL LEADERSHIP 59 forward in order to pass under them, is that one will thus be reminded of his obligation to show respect. Their term for conventionalized respect behavior is osus. To show respect in this fashion is called mengesus. Since title-holders were for the most part persons of advanced years, the respect accorded hereditary leaders coincided to a great degree with that accorded elders in general. PATTERNS OF SOCIAL DOMINANCE AND POWER Traditionally the "haves" dominated the "have nots" in Palau. The older dominated the younger. The more remotely arrived dominated the more recently arrived. And the larger villages had their way with the smaller ones, which could not defend themselves effectively. Dominance was reflected in certain characteristic behaviors. If, for example, a lower-ranking woman was suspected of usurping the affections of the husband of a high-ranking woman, the latter could with impunity exercise rights of abuse over her less fortunate sister. She was allowed the right to maim and publicly castigate her. In everyday social interaction a lower-ranking person deferred to a higher-ranking one. If a lower-ranking man met a higher-ranking one on a village pathway, he stepped aside, removed his comb from his hair and replaced it in another position, and even averted his eyes. Special postural responses were made to high-ranking individuals. Low-ranking individuals were often obligated to pay fines to the chiefs for minor infractions of social codes. A village chief was often awarded the prize catch from a fishing expedition or given the greater share for his own use. Tribute was exacted of certain villages by others which were more powerful and wealthy. The various restrictions placed upon one's behavior as a result of his membership in a rank-conscious society made for rigid control of the individual. Expected behavior was demanded and secured. Deviants were effectively punished. Power resided in the hands of hereditary chiefs whose social position and political position were correlated. Social prestige and political authority coincided to a great degree. Because social dominance depended to such a great degree upon the possession of power, the principal sources and sanctions of traditional power have been noted. Among these I have mentioned the possession of wealth as a sanction of power, and the ways in which the successful manipulation of native currency established and maintained eminence within the confines of the village and sib hierarchy. Within the inter- village hierarchy of socio-political dominance it was much the same. Fig. 13A. Diraked (Sebelau), a venerated elder of Ngril village in Ngerechelong municipality. 60 I Fig. 1 3B. Ngirokebai (Mochesar), an old chief of Mengellang village of Ngereche- long municipality. 61 62 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU Dominant villages were powerful ones and a principal sanction of their power was wealth. Political power in aboriginal Palau was well institutionalized. As has been shown, its locus was in the hereditary chiefs. However, because of the hierarchical ranking system already described, there was a good bit of variation in the amount of power an individual chief possessed. The higher a chief's rank, the more power he might be expected to wield. Personal factors entered into the matter, however. Any given title which has been held by various men at different periods in Palauan history has had some holders who are considered to have been very powerful and others who were relatively impotent. The council of chiefs (klobak) had something to do with whether or not a senior village chief was powerful, since it had power of veto over the senior sib's nomination of heir to the title. If, under the leadership of a competing chief of the number two sib, the council refused to accept a particularly strong-willed member of the senior sib who stood in line to receive the village headship and in his stead accepted another heir who was less disposed to exert his own will, then the power of the new chief would probably have been restricted throughout his tenure. On the other hand, as was once the case in Koror village, if an in- dividual were actively importuned to accept the position of supreme village leadership and declined, but after frequent urging finally accepted, he was in a position to demand considerable power. The klobak could effectively restrict the power of the village chief in ways other than in his selection. In council meetings most topics were discussed at great length. Rhetoric and debate are the forte of most Palauans, so much so, in fact, that oral expression is not far from being a Palauan cultural focus. In council discussions it was possible for power to be shared. When an agreement as to policy finally had been reached, the subject under discussion had been so thoroughly treated that each member who wished to contribute had been able to do so. In this manner coercion by the ranking hereditary chief was mitigated, and amelioration of supreme power on his part was brought about. The opportunity for free expression in discussion and even outright disagreement with one's superior-ranked council-mates made it possible for strong and persuasive persons, irrespective of their individual socio- political rank, to wield power over their fellows. Of course, there were limits to just how far a person of relatively low klobak position might go within the bounds of council decorum, but today, as was true in the past, Palauan custom allows a means for disagreeing politely. One first Fig. 14. Old and new housing; Ngerechelong municipality. Upper: Old style house in village of Ngarabao. Lower: Newer frame construction house in Ngabei village. 63 64 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU indicates thai he agrees with the poHcy proposed by his senior fellow. After this testimonial he then proceeds to disagree categorically with the main points. While doing so, however, he stresses that he is in essen- tial agreement and that his objections are but minor ones. Consensus was usually achiev-ed in most matters taken up by the councils. A personality characteristic of Palauans is that they do not enjoy being held individually responsible and they actively avoid that possibility. There is a marked tendency for individuals to seek verifi- cation from others — to show reluctance in taking a stand on an issue of even minor importance. The term melingmes covers this generalized timorousness and reluctance to be committed. There is little doubt that this tendency pervaded the klobak. The Power Fyr.amid The formal power pyramid in Palau had as its base the individual households within a lineage; next were lineages, followed by sub-sibs where they existed, then sibs. The super-sibs {kleblil) were not very powerful politically, though, as with other levels of the social structure, there was a system of ranking, and power depended on relative rank within a finite system. This arrangement held, whether the system was one composed of households within a lineage, lineages within a sib, or sibs within a super-sib (see fig. 9). Beyond kin group power entities there were village hierarchies and confederations. Power ultimately devolved from the two competing supreme confederations which separated Palau into two coexisting groups of rival villages within which there were still smaller confederations and rivalries. The ability to vanquish by force assured compliance with demands made by a village on other villages. Sheer force of numbers and strategy in warfare contributed to the assumption of military eminence and its consequences in inter-village relations. By forming alliances with other villages and assuming a dominant role in the alliance, a village might develop considerable power. Traditional leadership in Palau was recruited from a relatively narrow range of the population. The sanctions for leadership tended to concen- trate on the same individuals. Hereditary chiefs had on their side the sanctions of heredity, age, and the supernatural. Power was restricted to a relatively small percentage of the population, and the members of this group held their positions of power for the most part through ascription (shamans being an exception) and formed what, for all prac- tical purposes, was a gerontocracy. Agents of social control were effective THE CONTEXT OF TRADITIONAL LEADERSHIP 65 and, therefore, power could be enforced. Except for infrequent and sporadic contacts with other island cultures in the western Pacific when a canoe was cast ashore, Palauan culture remained isolated and sufficient within itself and unmindful of the existence of the world beyond the reef within which it was contained. Palauan society of yesteryear may be summarized briefly as having been dual, highly stratified, and extremely competitive. Its political organization was coincident with its social order, and its adaptation to its island environment allowed it to sustain a subsistence economy. It was this society which came finally into contact with the Western world. IIL The Contact Continuum: The Succession of Superordinates EARLY CONTACTS Early accounts of contact between representatives of the Western world and Palauan culture are few. The discovery of the Palau Islands is credited to Ruy Lopez de Villalobos, a Spanish explorer. On his way westward through Micronesia in 1543 he sighted Palau but did not stop there. J. Gaetan, his pilot, comments only that the "island" which they sighted was "about 25 leagues in circuit, and inhabited" (Burney, 1803, p. 231). The "island" was named De los Arrecifes because of the extensive surrounding reef system. Rediscovery of Palau in 1710 is credited to Francisco Padilla, a Spaniard. The first account we have of the natives of the Palaus is found in Keate's narrative of the shipwreck of the East India Company's packet, the Antelope, on a reef in south-central Palau in the year 1783 (Keate, 1788). The Antelope, under the command of Captain Henry Wilson, went aground and was lost, but the crew as well as much of the gear and stores aboard were saved. Contacts with the Palauans were cordial from the first. During a stay of several months, with the aid of the Palauans, the castaways built a small craft and finally put to sea and returned in it to China whence they had begun their voyage. While they were engaged in the task of building their escape vessel the members of the Antelope^s crew had opportunity for contact chiefly with Palauans from the island of Koror. The shipwreck of the Antelope provided the first real contact between Palauans and the Western world for which there is any written record. Palauan folklore includes accounts of contacts with unidentified whites at some undetermined time in history, but there is every reason to believe that these persons were not the members of Captain Wilson's crew. For one thing, the whites mentioned in folklore are supposed to have come to Palau from the northwest and not the southwest. The vernacular for "white man" is chad era ngebard, literally "man of the west." They are supposed to have stayed in Palau and to have become chiefs. Palauan accounts identify them as Portuguese, but there is no evidence to support 66 i^ M 67 68 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU this claim. The possibility that these early arrivals were Arab traders should not be ruled out. Wilson's stay resulted in acquainting the natives with many new cultural elements, among which were firearms. \Vilson presented some of these weapons to the natives when he departed, ^\^hile there, his crew' accompanied Koror village warriors on a sortie against the enemy village of Melekeok on Babeldaob Island. When Wilson's party left Palau, one member of the crew stayed on in the islands and a member of the chief's family accompanied Wilson to England where he died a short time later of smallpox (Anon., 1832). Before he left, Wilson pro- claimed British sovereignty over the Palaus. The contact between Palauans and Wilson and his party was a friendly one in which mutual hospitality and respect were prominent. Keate included in his account some ethnographic data on Palau — the first of their kind to have been published. Among other things, he discussed property, political organization, structures, weapons and im- plements, marriage and funeral customs, and the general mode of native life. He also provided a brief vocabulary of the Palauan language, with English equivalents. Since he was not a trained ethnologist, Keate's account is far from expert. Furthermore, the account covers a very limited period of residence in the islands, during which intercourse with the Palauans was restricted, since the crew stayed on a small, uninhabited island. Nonetheless, the account supplies us with our first documentation of Palauan culture and village chiefs. After the departure of Wilson's party from the Palaus intermittent contacts occurred in the following few years. In the next available account, Delano, who visited the Palaus in 1791 and again in 1793 as a member of a British mission sent to establish friendly relations, tells of increasing contact and trade with the natives of Palau by traders operating out of China (Delano, 1817). The British ships Endeavour and Panther brought gifts of livestock, ammunition, and tools to the Palauans during the two visits described by Delano. The ships were under the command of Commodore John McClure, who liked the islands so well that he decided to stay in Palau and set up a kingdom of his own. He relinquished his command and stayed on with an entourage of servants brought from Indonesia and with \-arious plants and livestock he had brought with him. He, like Wilson, raised the British flag. Within a few months, however, he gave over the project and left Palau, but during his stay he provided a good deal of contact with the native populace. THE CONTACT CONTINUUM 69 Delano's account is much less extensive than that of Keate. He does comment, however, on native warfare, chieftainship, social customs of various kinds, Palauan character, songs and chants, technology, and religion. There is a record of a visit to Palau in 1797 by the missionary ship Duff, under command of Captain James Wilson (J. Wilson, 1799). The ship, on its way to Canton from Polynesia, sailed to the east coast of Babeldaob Island from the central Carolines. Here the ship anchored. Fig. 16. Abba Thule (Aibedul), high chief of Youldaob in 1783 (after Keate). I 70 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU but no one went ashore. Several hundred natives came to the ship in their canoes, but contact was extremely brief. The following day the Duff resumed her course. Other early accounts of contact between Palauan culture and the culture of the Western world are provided by Cheyne (1852) and Holden (1836). The latter tells of another shipwreck in the Palaus and the nature of the reception of the survivors by the natives in 1832. Dumont D'Urville visited Palau briefly in 1839 on his voyage through Oceania to the South Pole, but contact with natives was very limited (Dumont D'Urville, 1843). The most intensive early contacts were with representativ^es of British and American culture. Throughout the nineteenth century, trading became accelerated throughout Micronesia. During the first thirty years of the century, Spanish trepang traders frequented Palauan waters. Spanish efforts to encourage trade diminished during the middle and late century, and traders of other nations dominated the scene as Tetens, Cheyne, and O'Keefe carried out extensive mercantile enterprises in the Palaus. There was not as much whaling in the western Carolines as there was in the eastern islands; hence contacts were mostly with traders. DOMINATION BY FOREIGN POWERS Political control by external powers in Palau dates from late 1885, when the pope confirmed Spain's claim to sovereignty and specified that she was to maintain order, carry forward economic development, guaran- tee trading rights to Great Britain and Germany, protect traders, and establish coaling stations. Of course Spain was also to bring the faith to the "heathen." Over the 73-year period from this confirmation to the present time Palau has been governed by four major world powers in the following order: Spain, 1886-1899; Germany, 1899-1914; Japan, 1914-1944; United States, 1944-. Spain Spanish control was beyond doubt the least potent of the four in effecting cultural change. Spain had as her aim the salvation of souls rather than the development of trade. The Spanish had made abortive attempts to missionize various parts of Micronesia as early as the eight- eenth century, but it was not until near the end of the nineteenth that they met with success in Palau. In spite of growing interest in sovereignty by Germany and England, who were interested in trade, Spain maintained tacit control of the western Carolines from the early days of Spanish exploration onward. In 1886, Pope Leo XIII commissioned Capuchin THE CONTACT CONTINUUM 71 monks to carry the gospel to the islands and in 1891 a mission was estab- lished in Palau.^ On some Micronesian islands Spain concentrated on the establish- ment of garrisons and the building of forts to house them. She did not do this in Palau. Missionary endeavor was her principal preoccupation and there is every indication that in Palau this was not productive of great social change. The priests did their best to dissuade natives from the aboriginal religious beliefs and practices, and they opened schools. The indications are that over the years the fathers did supplant much of the native religious lore, but just how much of the supplanting took place in Spanish times is difficult to determine, since Spanish fathers also staffed the mission in Palau through the Japanese occupation. During the German period, the mission was staffed with German priests. Germany In 1899, with the end of the Spanish-American War, Germany realized her aspirations toward acquiring an island empire when she purchased the Caroline Islands along with the Marianas (excluding Guam) from Spain. Within but a few years German control resulted in changes which far sur- passed those made by the Spanish. For Palau the changes were significant ones. The over-all German program of pacification put an end to tradi- tional inter-village warfare. External political control was maintained through a resident governor who exercised powers which allowed him to fine violators of administration regulations. Fines were paid in native currency. Because of the focal character of money in the social system, its control was especially valuable to the administration. The changes wrought by the German administration were varied; for example, institutionalized concubinage- in men's clubhouses was abol- ished. Also, natives were conscripted for service in the constabulary force which was garrisoned and trained on Yap. During the course of their service many of the conscripts traveled to other parts of Micronesia and 1 One of the first priests to arrive in the Palaus was Friar Antonio de Valencia, CO. He came to the islands in April, 1891, and remained there until 1892. In a very long report which he wrote to a superior while he was in Palau, de Valencia recorded a number of observations on Palauans and their culture. In 1940 another Spanish priest, who was then a member of the Catholic mission stafT, discovered the letter and made his own annotations. The present mission staff is American and the Jesuit priest in charge is sympathetic to scientific inquiry. He kindly allowed me to copy and translate the de Valencia report. It reveals much interesting insight into Palauan culture of the period in which it was written as well as the attitude and policy of the mission toward native institutions and behavior. - This cultural complex was one in which members of female age-grade societies stayed in men's clubhouses as "hostesses" for a period of several months. At the end of this time, club members paid the village council of the girls' village and the fathers of the girls for their services. 72 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU to New Guinea. This mobility allowed opportunities for exposure to cul- tures other than German and a consequent expansion of the range of stimuli for change. German rule was indirect and relied on traditional native authority. Supreme authority was external to Palauan society, but administrative governors dealt through hereditary chiefs when they wished to enforce their edicts. German control was quite effective and the first major altera- tions of autochthonous culture were set under way. The German administration encouraged practical projects such as the planting of coconut plantations and the building of roads. It carried out programs of map-making and made surveys of economic potential. The administration was primarily concerned with the development of trade and it achieved its goal in what has been described as a "moderate, en- lightened, and efficient" manner (Civil Affairs Handbook, 1944, p. 25). Japan Japanese rule in Palau began with the assumption of military control of the Caroline Islands by Japan in 1914. The Japanese Naval Military Government controlled the area for the next four years. At that time a civil administration was set up to replace the navy. A year earlier, Great Britain, France, and Russia had recognized Japanese claims to former German possessions in Micronesia. With this recognition, Japan became the mandatory power for the islands under the mandate system of the League of Nations. She was awarded a Class C mandate over the territory. In 1935 Japan withdrew from the League of Nations, but kept the mandate as a part of the Japanese Empire. After 1938 the islands became a closed military area. In late 1944, with the L^nited States Marine and Army assaults on Pelilyou and Ngaur in the southern Palaus, Japanese control came to an end and the United States assumed responsibility for the administration of the islands. The emphases of the various governing powers in Palau have been quite different. The Spanish were interested in religious proselytization and the Germans in economic exploitation, trade, and commercial devel- opment; the Japanese wanted colonial expansion room, economic advan- tage, and military bases. The most far-reaching alterations in Palauan culture came about under the Japanese regime. Political leadership and authority at the indigenous level were emasculated to a point where they virtually did not exist. Hereditary chiefs became leaders in name only. The body of senior chiefs from each of the districts in Palau became known as the waisei ("yes") congress because of its inability to do more than simply agree with whatever policy was suggested by the Japanese administration. THE CONTACT CONTINUUM 73 Because of restrictions which were imposed by the administration with respect to travel in the mandate by aUens, contact with nations other than Japan was extremely limited. The restrictions increased through the years immediately preceding World War II. The Japanese arranged a series of very effective "culture tours" of Japan for native leaders. These individuals returned to their homeland thoroughly impressed with the technological accomplishments of their dominators and every effort was made to emulate them; for example, after one such tour by one of the senior chiefs in Palau, he decreed that henceforth all men must wear their hair short, in keeping with the Japa- nese custom. Styles of dress, cooking techniques, architectural design, and even vil- lage organization felt the impact of Japanese culture. A village chief from Babeldaob Island returned from his visit to Japan and set forth a plan for rearranging all of the dwellings in the village in orderly rows along a main roadway. The roadway is still referred to as the Ginza. Japanese colonial policy submerged the native population both cul- turally and numerically. In 1921 the government of the mandated terri- tory was shifted from its headquarters under naval administration in Truk to Koror in Palau. From this date to 1942, when the exigencies of war resulted in increased military control, the islands were under civilian rule by the South Seas Government {Nanyo-Cho). The net effects of this 20-year span of administration were increased direct rule and extensive colonial and economic expansion. During this period more and more Japanese colonists immigrated to Palau until there were far more Jap- anese than there were Palauans. The establishment of small Japanese cities, plantations, and other eco- nomic establishments resulted in widespread displacement of natives. Their land was expropriated in one way or another, and the traditional system of land inheritance was disturbed so extensively that in some local- ities, particularly Koror, it has never entirely recovered. The Japanese language was mandatory in the public schools, where attendance was compulsory and teachers were primarily Japanese. As a result, most Palauans of middle age speak and read Japanese today. Some members of the native society went to Japan to study agriculture or educa- tion. Others simply went there to work. Within the islands themselves, in addition to free public schools, spe- cial schools were set up to train Palauans in mechanics and other voca- tional skills. New occupations resulted when Japanese entrepreneurs hired native labor to work on pineapple plantations and in tuna-packing plants. Without question, the stimuli for change were much more numer- 74 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU ous and more intense as well as of longer duration during the Japanese period than in either the German or Spanish administrations. The Japa- nese effectively discredited many aboriginal customs and practices and substituted others more congenial to their own ends. The United States The guiding philosophy of the American administration of Micronesia is a fourth major variant in the contact history of Palau. On Novem- ber 6, 1946, with the strong conviction that Micronesia constituted a major strategic area and with a consciousness of the bloody cost of win- ning the islands from Japan, the United States announced its readiness to place the islands under United Nations trusteeship. The agreement to undertake the administration of the former Japanese-mandated islands of the Carolines, Marshalls, and Marianas (exclusive of Guam) as a trusteeship for the United Nations became effective six months later. During the first five years following the cessation of hostilities in the Pacific, the newly formed Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands was ad- ministered first by military government teams and later by civil adminis- tration units of the United States Navy. In 1951 the administration of the territory was taken over by the Department of the Interior, and ad- ministrative responsibility has been maintained by this division of the federal government since that time. The chief value of the area contained within the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands is a strategic one. It provides a great "buffer zone" which is controlled by the United States. While the region has not been fortified by the United States as it was during Japanese times, control of the area does not permit the establishment of military installations by any other nation. Neither the resources of the islands nor their populations are exploited. Economic enterprises by non-Micronesians are rigidly proscribed and Westerners are not allowed to settle there. The testing of atomic weapons is carried out in a corner of the Marshall Islands and portions of the Marianas are under Navy control, but basically, beyond strategic importance, Micronesia is more a liability to the United States than it is an asset. Trusteeship has guaranteed to residents of the Trust Territory human rights which are almost identical with those enjoyed by the citizens of the United States. Native welfare is the prime concern of trusteeship, and programs of development along medical, economic, educational, social, and political lines are paramount in the governing philosophy of the cur- rent administration. Islanders are encouraged to help themselves, with guidance and supervision provided by a relatively small American admin- THE CONTACT CONTINUUM 75 istrative staff with limited budgetary resources. Self-sufficiency and self- direction are actively promoted in the various aspects of local culture. As a portion of the Trust Territory, Palau is, of course, subject to the pre- vailing philosophy of the administration. The Palauans share with the peoples of the rest of the Trust Territory in programs of technical assistance which are undertaken by the adminis- tration. Such assistance is offered in the fields of public health, economic development and conservation, assessment and proper utilization of avail- able natural resources, and planning for general social and political devel- opment. The guiding philosophy of the American administration differs markedly from the philosophies of its predecessors, since, beyond recog- nizing the strategic importance of the islands and the surrounding waters, no personal advantage or political, economic, or other variety of self-aggrandizement is a motivating factor. IV. Stimuli for Change Palauan power structure today is a blend of the old and the new. It is actually more two structures than one. The aboriginal or traditional structure has been retained to some extent, particularly in the more re- mote areas, and has even experienced some revitalization since the end of World War II. This has been a result of the policies of the American administration, which has respected traditional cultural emphases. At the same time, current policies of directed cultural change in the area of self-government have created a new political elite with its own power structure. The two coexisting power structures are in competition with each other. THE DECLINE OF TRADITIONAL LEADERSHIP Some of the avenues of access to positions of traditional leadership are still open in Palau. In some cases traditional leadership has been vitiated and is only nominal; in others it is functional and relatively effective. Through the years of foreign domination there has been a consistent tendency for the power of traditional leaders to be superseded or rescinded. To some extent hereditary chiefs have become supernumeraries, but they have continued to function as leaders, subject to the restrictions which have been imposed upon them. The principal factors which have governed this decline of traditional Palauan leadership may be subsumed under several headings: religion, economics, and political organization. In each of these aspects of native culture the imposition of extra-cultural controls by alien governing ad- ministrations stimulated the decline of traditional leadership. In the following list, subsidiary factors are grouped under the aspect of culture which they affected and a discussion of each follows. Factors 2 and 3 under no. HI are discussed in chapter V. The outline is arranged, with minor exceptions, in general order of occurrence from Spanish times through the present American adminis- tration. All of the factors listed resulted in the usurpation of some chiefly powers and/or the reduction, emasculation, or outright prohibition of others. 76 STIMULI FOR CHANGE 77 I. Religion: 1. Missionary activity. II. Economics: 1. Prohibition of channels whereby a chief could enhance and secure his prestige through the acquisition of wealth. (a) Prohibition of the levying of fines. (b) Prohibition of institutionalized concubinage. 2. Prohibition of channels whereby a chief could enhance and secure his prestige through the expenditure of wealth. (a) Prohibition of feasts. (b) Prohibition of collective house- or canoe-buying ceremonies. 3. Creation of new channels whereby a per.son of non-chiefly rank could achieve economic success and concomitant prestige as a result. 4. Alienation of land. III. Political Organization: 1 . Proscription of inter-village warfare. 2. Establishment of a group of administrative officials with actual political power, and the development of a body of native administration employees. 3. Active introduction of concepts of representative government. SOULS AND SALVATION The Catholic mission begun by the Spanish priests and lay brothers of the Capuchin Order in 1891 has been maintained to the present time. Today it claims a greater membership than either the Protestant Lutheran mission or the Se\^enth-Day Adventist mission. Through the years it has provided numerous stimuli for change. The early Spanish missionaries concentrated on discouraging native religious beliefs and practices and thereby eradicated supernatural sanctions for power and leadership. Protestant missionaries later followed the same course. Through derision and edict the early missionaries obliterated the major features of indigenous religion in Palau. A quotation from an account by an early Spanish missionary demonstrates one technique which was em- ployed in altering aboriginal beliefs and practices (de Valencia, 1891, p. 21). Any sickness is attributed to the chelid [gods] . If they [the natives] have a pain in the side or stomach, or if a leg or an arm should swell, they believe a chelid has entered their bodies and is tormenting them. When any one of these things happens they make a little house and beg the chelid to move to the house and leave the patient in peace. I once spoke to a woman who had a pain in her back and who was making a little house for the chelid who was tormenting her. "Hurry up," I said, "and finish the house, but if you do not make it beautiful, the chelid won't want to live in it." At another house, they had made another of these little houses for a chelid who was tormenting a small child. "But woman," I said in a joking manner, "how is it you think the chelid will leave your son, if you have made such a poor house? Surely when it rains, he is going to get wet in that house." With saying these things, I make their superstitions ridicu- lous. 78 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU The missionaries also were able to alter indigenous custom by decree. A case in point is their insistence that certain forms of sculpture be dis- continued. Usually the forms objected to were architectural elements of community structures such as men's clubhouses and canoe sheds. Objec- tionable elements were ones whose sexual symbols left little to the imagi- nation. An ethnographer who was describing a clubhouse in Koror village commented (Matsumura, 1918, pp. 149-150): On either gable ... a nude figure of a young woman with her legs wide apart is carved. The upper half of the figure is gone, as the result, it is said, of the order of a missionary stationed in Palau while it was a Spanish possession, to destroy the carving as injurious to morals. The German missionaries, the first of whom came to the Catholic mis- sion in 1906, continued the practices begun by their Spanish predecessors. The mission school was expanded during the German period and was operated later by Spanish priests during the Japanese occupation. The Protestant Lutheran mission was established by German mission- aries around 1930. The philosophy of the mission was a stern one and many strictures were imposed by a mission staff oriented essentially toward fundamentalism. One of the effects of the boys' school begun by this mission was that the work roles of males were altered. Boys were taught agriculture and culinary arts such as baking. They were schooled in the care of livestock as well. Traditionally, boys had little or nothing to do with cooking, animal husbandry, or the cultivation of plants. In addition to practical training, the students of the mission school learned basic elementary school skills. Bible study emphasized that only Christian beliefs held validity. Hence, aboriginal beliefs were shunned. The Seventh-Day Adventist mission was begun in Japanese times and has the shortest history of any of the three missions in Palau. It has, how- ever, succeeded in proselyting a number of the members of the other mission congregations in a relatively short span of years. The proscrip- tions imposed by the Adventist missionaries are more stringent than those of the other missions. Wherever possible, missionaries attempted to convert chiefs and their relatives, for in this way several victories could be won at once. As a member of the respected elite, a chief was likely to be emulated by his followers; thereby salvation was expanded. By convincing him that his deities were inferior to a Christian God, some of his power resources were cut off. Traditional sacerdotal functionaries were replaced by the mis- sionaries. Palauan leaders who became converts were obliged to play new roles as followers in a congregation. Fig. 17. Sacred structures. Upper: The Lutheran mission church in Ngabei village of Ngerechelong municipality. Lower : The last god-house (ulengang) remaining in Palau. It is in Ngeiangl municipality. 79 I 80 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU PEACE AND PROSPERITY The German policy of pacification and economic development had far-reaching consequences in changing Palauan culture and in promoting the decline of traditional leadership. In aboriginal Palau there were insti- tutionalized means whereby a chief could secure personal wealth — a prime requisite for leadership under the autochthonous system. When these channels were cut off, indigenous leadership suffered a blow from which it is still reeling. Because the exchange system in which personal wealth figured was so well integrated into Palauan culture and because adminis- trative dicta were so imperfectly enforced in some areas, the impact was debilitating rather than cleanly decisive and final. As a result, it seems highly probable that the features of Palauan culture which relate to per- sonal afl3uence and which are supportive of traditional leadership will continue in existence for some time; but it also seems probable that through the passing of generations they will diminish in strength. Warfare Legislative fiat put an end to inter-village warfare in the early years of the German administration. Warfare was simply interdicted. Punitive fines in native currency were imposed on chiefs who conducted military expeditions to enemy villages. Sometimes habitual offenders were con- scripted into the native military garrison which was established by the administration on the island of Yap. When a leader could no longer claim distinction as a result of his mili- tary prowess, his prestige and power declined. Furthermore, when it became no longer possible for a chief to increase his personal wealth or the general wealth of his village through the exacting of tribute from con- quered villages, his position as a leader was weakened through the weaken- ing of one of the principal "props" supportive of leadership status, namely, the possession of wealth. This elimination of sources of income went beyond tribute-taking at the village level and extended to the custom of fining at the level of the individual. Fines One of the principal means by which a chief was able to secure per- sonal wealth was by sharing in the income derived through fining individ- uals who violated some aspect of native social custom. Fines were levied for offenses such as violating periods of relative quiet in the village on the occasion of the death of a high-ranking person. Depending upon the social rank of the deceased and the village involved, the period of time during which relative quiet was maintained varied from several days to STIMULI FOR CHANGE 81 several months. During the stipulated period, boisterous behavior of any kind — shouting, or even loud talking, chopping wood, or any other noisy task — was forbidden. Those individuals held in violation of the restriction were required to pay a fine to the village council. In similar fashion any person who failed to demonstrate the proper respect for chiefly rank and elder status ran the risk of being fined. Most younger persons made the necessary behavioral concessions to their elders, but if they were lax they were fined. Needless to say, the system of fining was sometimes abused by chiefs who coveted a piece of native money known to be in the possession of a particular individual. Close watch would be kept over him. The slightest inappropriate behavior on his part brought from the chiefs loud cries of righteous indignation and a fine. The obvious injustices which the system of fining allowed were among the reasons why the German administration took steps to discourage it. Whatever the reasons behind the administration's policy, the effect was detrimental to leadership status under the traditional system. Institutionalized Concubinage Another source of income for chiefs was the payment by members of men's clubs in other villages for the services of "hostesses" supplied by families from the chiefs' village. The custom of blolobl ("institutionalized concubinage") was abolished on moral grounds by edict of the German administration. Previously the Spanish fathers had made every attempt to discourage the practice. The German administration's order effec- tively accomplished what the priests had begun. The abolition of the custom of blolobl effectively eliminated still another means by which a Palauan leader increased his personal wealth and enhanced his personal prestige. Feasts At the same time the channels by which leaders gained prestige through the accumulation of wealth were being choked off, strictures were placed on the means by which a leader could elevate himself prestigewise through ostentatious expenditures of wealth. The practice of validating one's social prestige through displays of personal wealth in the form of lavish feasts is far from being an exclusively Oceanic phenomenon, but it is typical of many Pacific cultures. Palauan custom allowed ample oppor- tunity for such demonstrations of a leader's wealth. The term for "feast" in the Palauan language is mur, and on any num- ber of occasions a chief might sponsor a mur to commemorate some signifi- cant event. He might do so — in fact was expected to do so — at the time he assumed his title. He might also collaborate with several other chiefs 82 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU in sponsoring a feast to honor visitors from other villages or to celebrate the building of a new community house or other village enterprise. One of the most outstanding things a Palauan leader could do was to honor his wife with a feast. Such a feast was called murengel a bechil ("feast of his wife"). Few chiefs could afford even one such feast in their lifetimes. The restrictions upon mur were instituted by the Germans, but feasts were not effectively stopped until Japanese times. New Sources of Income The German administration created new channels whereby a person not of chiefly rank could achieve economic success, and, as a result, per- sonal wealth and the associated positive prestige values. The effects of this creation were not felt in some instances for years, but the seeds had been sewn and the impetus provided. Germany was interested in the economic development of her island empire. The tropical Pacific offered lucrative markets for the trade goods manufactured in her factories at home. Moreover, she saw the possibility of an extremely profitable foreign trade as a result of the exploitation of island products, principally copra. On the one hand natives had to have money to buy goods, and on the other, marketable products had to be produced by native labor. The Gestalt was perfect — pay native labor for products which could be fed into the hopper of world trade, and at the same time create a market composed of island peoples who have funds for the purchasing of trade goods as a result of their labor. In each case the profits went to Germany. The system was foolproof and it undoubtedly would have been further developed had it not been for World War I and the assumption of political control in Micronesia by the Japanese. The German administration made it possible for Palauans (along with other Micronesians) to earn money through the production of copra. In many cases coconut plantations were developed on village land. A person also was able to plant coconut trees on sib land whose usufruct he had inherited. The leader of a sib conceivably might have usurped most of the sib land for his own benefit, but two factors militated against this possibility. One was that a chief ordinarily was supposed to bear the welfare of his people in mind. To deny his followers access to the new channels for income would have run counter to normative traditional leadership behavior. Moreover, even if a chief had managed to claim for his own use all or most of the sib land under his control, he was not, as a chief, able to perform the necessary labor to initiate or maintain a large coconut plantation. It is important to remember, too, that his STIMULI FOR CHANGE 83 "subjects" were his sib-mates, all of whom, by virtue of their kinship with him, he was obliged to assist. When plantations were established on village land, any member of the village could share in the making of copra and the resultant profits. One result of the German administration's encouragement of copra pro- duction was a disruption of the traditional patterns which controlled the securing of personal wealth. The Germans did not enjoy the same measure of success with the pro- duction of copra in Palau that they achieved in the Marshall Islands, where the government-sponsored Jaluit Company held a virtual monop- oly on trading. Undoubtedly this was a result of German policy, which was designed to keep operating costs low in Palau by granting concessions to private trading companies. Most of the copra produced in Palau was sold in Hong Kong through such companies (Mayo, 1954, p. 4). Had the German development of a copra industry in Palau been comparable to that in the Marshalls the detrimental effects on Palauan traditional lead- ership doubtless would have been far greater. Money Another factor in the decline of traditional leadership was, of course, the introduction of a medium of exchange which was in competition with native currency. German marks were considered as coin of the realm, and this currency made it possible for individuals to secure material goods of foreign origin. The use of both Japanese and American currency has followed under their respective administrations. Recognition of the existence of native currency and its use in native institutions has been maintained by all foreign administrations in Palau. This recognition has been far from tacit and each administration has assumed a different attitude toward it; for example, the German administration capitalized on the indigenous system of fining, and fined Palauan leaders in native currency for various violations of administrative orders. The money was then used to purchase land for government use and to reward co-operative leaders by payments of native currency. The Japanese administration actively attempted to discourage native customs relating to money exchanges by curtailing or restricting certain institutionalized exchange patterns; for example, customs surrounding money exchanges made at the birth of a child (sengk, from the German Geschenk: "gift"), house-buying {oheraol), prenatal divining ceremonies {bul dil), and others — all were affected by Japanese strictures. If a custom was not simply outlawed, it was curtailed by the setting of limits on the amount 84 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU of alien currency which might be exchanged on a given occasion; for ex- ample, death payments {chelebechil) to a wife's family at the time of either her husband's death or her own were restricted to 100 yen for commoners and 200 yen for elites. No limits were set on amounts which could be contributed at house- or canoe-buying ceremonies (oheraol), but the num- ber of such ceremonies a man might initiate was limited. The restrictions imposed by the Japanese were never wholly successful, and with the advent of the American administration there was a renewed interest in money exchange ceremonies. Both native currency and American currency are used in exchange transactions today. Palau District Order Number 2-48, dated May 6, 1948, issued by the American Naval Administration, pertains to legal tender. In part it reads: "The use of any monies or currency other than legal tender in payment, in offer of payment, in barter, or in ex- change, except as provided below, is prohibited. . . . Existing customs ... of the indigenous social order will not be affected by this order." Traditionally, quality goods were possessed almost exclusively by members of the Palauan socio-political elite — high-ranking chiefs and their families. In post-contact times a person of relatively humble social status has been able to earn money and acquire sufficient buying power to enable him to secure items previously possessed exclusively by his social superiors, and this has tended to broaden the social range of prestige values and reduce the prestige of traditional leaders. Native bead currency is still valued, but so is the dollar. Colonization and Alienation of Land The Japanese colonial submersion of Palauan culture contributed extensively to the decline of traditional leadership. Because of the nature and duration of the contact situation, the effects were greater in many instances than those previously provided by the Spanish and German administrations. Japanese policy advanced under the South Seas Government {Nanyo- Cho) was clearly directed toward exploitation. Of paramount importance to the administration was the development of natural resources so that the expanding economy and population in Japan might be supplied with needed raw materials. In order to stimulate and expedite this development, the Japanese government made a concerted effort to en- courage colonization by establishing a system of liberal subsidies. Espe- cially desired as colonists were individuals with agricultural experience. Transportation and shipping costs to the islands were reduced as much as 50 per cent in order to encourage colonists to come to the South Seas. STIMULI FOR CHANGE 85 The Japanese conducted several land surveys in Palau and either purchased or simply confiscated suitable agricultural land. When col- onists arrived each received from the government five hectares (about twelve acres) of arable land. In addition, certain areas were set aside as potential agricultural land. These areas usually were overgrown with vegetation and had to be cleared before they could be used for agricultural purposes. A subsidy system allowed a colonist 50 yen for each hectare of land he cleared, and he could secure an additional subsidy — from 10 to 30 yen — for each hectare of this land which he planted. Colonists also received free housing until they had time to build a house on their new land. Agricultural extension service, education for children, medical care, police protection, and other services were pro- vided free of charge. Colonists formed co-operative associations {kumiai) to keep shipping and marketing costs minimal. Commercial crops which colonists concentrated on growing were coconuts, pineapples, cassava, cocoa, lemon grass, balsa wood, ramie, and rice. Other commercial ventures included tuna-packing, phosphate- and bauxite-mining, and service enterprises which were essential to the maintenance of a large colonial population. Koror village became a small city with the urban characteristics of cities in Japan. By 1938 there were more than 16,000 Japanese nationals living in Palau, and the number increased during the war years with accelerated Japanese military activity in Micronesia. The native population of Palau was submerged. It became a min- ority in its own homeland. The major share of the agricultural produce grown in Palau by colonists was exported to Japan. For the most part, profits went to Japanese farmers and entrepreneurs. Some Palauans also were engaged in lucrative business pursuits, but mostly Palauans provided labor for Japanese enterprises. Cash wages paid for labor enabled many Palauans to purchase goods which had never before been available to them. As has been mentioned above, this expansion of personal wealth in the form of material possessions and the general opportunity to amass personal monetary wealth con- tributed greatly to a decline in the prestige of traditional Palauan leaders. The great colonial development in Palau was dependent upon the alienation of native lands. The resultant detrimental effects upon Palauan leadership and leader prestige were extremely severe. A chief might, for example, sell a portion of his sib's land to the Japanese govern- ment or to a colonist. His control of the land eff"ectively stopped at the time of the sale. The transaction was accomplished with Japanese 86 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU currency, which held values for the Palauan elite which were far different from those relating to the native currency. Moreover, the proceeds from such sales soon were expended in the purchase of goods from Japanese storekeepers, and the Palauan chief was left bereft of both land and money. Relative poverty was associated with low-ranking social position in aboriginal Palau; hence, chiefs who suffered a diminution in wealth suffered a comparable decline in prestige and power. PHILOSOPHIES OF ADMINISTRATION Each of the superordinate cultures which have been in contact with Palauan culture possessed different philosophies of administration. These differences were governed primarily by the individual goals sought by each administration. The cultural changes brought about were for the most part in direct ratio to the number of agents of contact and the amount of displacement of native political power by the various administrations. The Spanish administration exerted little or no control over native political institutions. The business of salvation did not require the complete destruction of the power of hereditary chiefs. Neither were there many agents of contact under Spanish rule. Consequently there were fewer new elements of culture which were available for borrowing than under the other administrations. German agents of contact interfered with Palauan culture far more intensively than did the Spanish. In turn, the Japanese interference with Palauan culture was even greater. Exclusive of the American administration, there appears to have been a regular continuum of amount of cultural change that occurred in Palau during the respective administrations which correlates positively with the amount of active cultural interference and the numerical size of the contact group. "Active interference" here refers to systematic suppression or elimination of old elements of aboriginal culture as well as the presentation or substitution of new elements of superordinate culture. In some instances, such as with the Spanish missionaries, something new was offered for what was being suppressed. It was considered a superior equivalent by the donors. But sometimes expediency was the motive involved rather than superior equivalence; for example, during the Japanese period the power of the hereditary chiefs was suppressed and in its stead was substituted a system of power whose locus was in the agents of control. Alternatives to interdictions in the form of newly presented or sub- stituted elements from the superordinate culture were not always offered. Cases in point are the German proscriptions on inter-village warfare and institutionalized concubinage. STIMULI FOR CHANGE 87 The only organized opposition to cultural change in Palau has been the nativistic Modekngei religion (Useem, 1947b, p. 6). The movement had its inception and heyday during the Japanese rule. The Japanese administration saw the Modekngei as a threat and endeavored to suppress it. Leaders were jailed and meeting places were razed. There is no indication that the organization was ever very effective in resisting changes instituted by the Japanese. In general, the history of contact in Palau has been one in which Palauans have been tractable rather than intractable — co-operative, re- ceptive and submissive rather than contra-acculturative or resistant to change in any organized or militant sense. The various foreign administrations which have governed Palau have possessed quite different philosophies of administration. The general cultural changes and the specific effects upon Palauan leadership which have resulted from the policies and practices of each foreign administration are quite disparate. At the same time, each has contributed to the tran- sition of Palauan culture from its pre-contact configuration to its present conglomerate one and to the consistent decline of power among tra- ditional leaders. In the area of political organization each adminis- tration, of course, has assumed ultimate political authority. Through the years each administration also has placed an increasing emphasis upon political change. V. The Nature of Emergent Leadership: The Product of Cultural Change As it is defined in this study, emergent leadership is the variety of leadership which possesses sanctions, modes of expression, and related values which are non-traditional and are inspired by a technologically advanced culture or cultures as a result of culture contact. The nature of emergent leadership is frequently at v^ariance with that of traditional leadership, but it may correspond in some ways. In fact, emergent lead- ership will probably always be tempered by patterns of traditional leader- ship. To the extent that it is, it will lack correspondence to leadership patterning in the culture from which the stimuli for emergent leader- ship patterns are derived. Patterns of traditional Palauan leadership have suffered considerable alteration under the impact of culture contact. Old power resources hav^e been cut off. Sanctions which once bulwarked indigenous leaders have been weakened or have disappeared entirely, and new leaders have arisen under the aegis of alien administrations and new power sources and sanctions have developed which either have replaced the old or exist simultaneously in competition with them. The effects of the policies and practices of the various alien ad- ministrations with respect to indigenous patterns of Palauan leadership have been extremely far-reaching. A number of significant strictures on traditional leadership which have occurred under the several foreign administrations have been noted earlier in this study. Two other im- portant features of administrative policy should be mentioned. One of these transcends the various periods of administrative responsil:)ility. It is the existence in each administration (excepting the Spanish) of a group of resident alien administrative officials who possessed ultimate political power and who relied upon a group of native administrative assistants in the exercise of this power. These two groups — the corps of alien administrators and the group of native aides — with each successive administration, from German times onward, have claimed a greater share of the authority of traditional Palauan leaders. THE NATURE OF EMERGENT LEADERSHIP 89 The other poUcy feature which is yet to be discussed, i.e., the active introduction of concepts of representative government, is particularly important for several reasons. For one thing, it represents the latest, and in many ways the most intensive, intervention with native Palauan political structure and leadership which has yet occurred. For another, it is representative of the policies of governing powers which administer non-self-governing territories today not only in Oceania but in many other so-called underdeveloped areas of the world. For this reason, the significance of this feature of administrative policy reaches far beyond the bounds of Palauan culture. PROBLEMS AND PANACEAS The representatives of foreign administrations have provided models for cultural change and have also actively introduced stimuli for change in Palau. In each administration the models and stimuli provided have been .different, both in kind and degree. At the same time, in all the administrations there have been certain basic similarities that have re- sulted from the fact that there are some universal problems which must be solved by any administrator. There are also some universal means of solving these problems, regardless of the administrative context. Be- cause this is so, some remarks of general significance follow. Examples from the history of administration in Palau are included to demonstrate the universals and to point up the implications for the development of emergent leadership within a specific context. ADMINISTRATORS AND ASSISTANTS The Administrator The administrator who is confronted with the multifarious problems of governing a native population must face two basic facts. One is that he is expected, as a representative of his government, to exercise ultimate authority. The other is that he must answer to his superiors in his own country, rather than to the native population. His task is to accomplish the ends dictated by his government. Native ends must be subsumed. In order to expedite his country's programs he must come to grips with the problem of the means he should employ to do so most expeditiously. The burden of adaptation must be borne by the native population, not by the administering power. The administrator's choice is limited to two main approaches, and his choice will probably be dictated by the nation he represents. Ad- ministrative rule may be dichotomized into either direct or indirect 90 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU I types. To the extent that rule is direct, the poUcies of the administration probably will be relatively more peremptory or authoritarian and the traumata experienced by the subordinate culture, especially in terms of its political organization, will probably be greater than if indirect rule were employed. Indirect rule allows — even requires — the main- | tenance of the indigenous political structure to some extent, since it must be depended upon to carry out administration policies. The Assistants Whether an administrator embarks upon a program of direct or indirect rule he will, of necessity, have to rely upon a staff composed of members of the native population. Among other persons, he will require guides, translators, advisors, and other assistants to aid in the burden of administrative paper work and detail. To the extent that the administer- ing nation undertakes a program of responsible administration which is devoted in some degree to native welfare, the administrator will find it necessary to rely on native assistance in the provision of a constabulary ■ force, a court system, medical care, education, and so on. ~ The individuals who comprise this force of intermediaries will assume roles which are external to the traditional culture. By virtue of their ■ association with a dominant foreign power they may share in the prestige and power which often are accorded representatives of the administering authority. The extent that they do will, of course, depend upon the degree to which the subordinate society has conceded positive prestige and power to the foreign administration. In Palau the corps of nativ^e employees of the present American administration enjoys enhanced status as a result of positive values which are directed toward Americans in general. As a rule, the status of each individual employee is a function of the position he holds in the hierarchy of native employees; for example, a district judge or advisor to the administration usually enjoys greater prestige in the eyes of his cultural peers than a clerk-typist in the department of public works. Exceptions to the rule exist, depending upon the extent to which an employee's status-position allows him to wield influence with the administration and the attitudes of his cultural peers toward this influence. Government employees often enjoy heightened prestige as a result of their association with the alien administrative staff, and under some conditions they may even hold considerable power as a result of their positions. Many times individuals may use this power to secure personal advantage. Sometimes it is not even required that they actively seek to exercise power. The very fact that they are known to be in a position to exercise it may be sufllicient to assure them personal gain. If a native THE NATURE OF EMERGENT LEADERSHIP 91 assistant to the American Land and Claims officer, by simply not bringing a particular point to the attention of his superior in a given claim, is at base responsible for the awarding of the claim because of his silence, the claimant may be disposed to reward him privately. Likewise, the assistant may influence a decision on the part of the administration official he assists by positive action of one kind or another. Favor is often curried with native employees of the foreign admin- istration because their influence potential is widely recognized. There are three basic variables which relate to the amount of power a given employee may possess: (1) the nature of the position held by the employee; (2) the nature of the specific situations arising in the subordinate culture which relate to the position held by the employee; and (3) the specific personality configuration and motivation of the employee. SPECIALISTS Native government employees are not the only ones who share in new distributions of power and prestige within a culture under foreign administration. Also included are the categories of individuals whose statuses derive from the enactment of some administration policy such as the encouragement of programs of education, medical care, public safety, or indigenous fiscal responsibility. The school teacher, the medical practitioner or the nurse, the policeman, or the tax collector are not, strictly speaking, employees of the administration. However, their posi- tions exist, along with the individual statuses connected with them, as a direct result of general administrative policies. To the extent that the prestige and power of traditional leadership are transferred to or simply eclipsed by the new status-positions, the policies of the administering authority are responsible. Competition between the holders of traditional power and prestige and the holders of emergent power and prestige, and the conflicts which inevitably result, are typical of acculturating groups throughout today's world. The specific nature of this competition and conflict in Palau is discussed in chapter VI. EMERGENT POLITICAL LEADERSHIP AND POLITICAL CHANGE As has been noted earlier, traditional political leadership in Palau suffered a steadily increasing enervation at the hands of foreign ad- ministrators. Even greater changes are now occurring in indigenous political organization and leadership as a result of the program of self- government being advanced by the American administration. 92 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU Trusteeship and Directed Political Change The great world-wide surge of dependent peoples toward independ- ence, which has occurred particularly since the end of World War II, has the sanctions of the United Nations Charter behind it. The portion of the charter which deals with trusteeship reads as follows: DECLARATION REGARDING NON-SELF-GOVERNING TERRITORIES Article 73. Members of the United Nations which have or assume responsibilities for the administration of territories whose peoples have not yet attained a full measure of self-government recognize the principle that the interests of the inhabitants of these territories are paramount, and accept as a sacred trust the obligation to promote to the utmost, within the system of international peace and security established by the present Charter, the well-being of the inhabitants of these territories, and, to this end : a. to ensure, with due respect for the culture of the peoples concerned, their politi- cal, economic, social, and educational advancement, their just treatment, and their protection against abuses; b. to develop self-government, to take due account of the political aspirations of the peoples, and to assist them in the progressive development of their free political institutions, according to the particular circumstances of each terri- tory and its peoples and their varying stages of advancement; .... As a part of the former Japanese-mandated territory in Micronesia, the Palau Islands fall under one of the categories of territories to which the trusteeship system applies. Article 77. 1. The trusteeship system shall apply to such territories in the follow- ing categories as may be placed thereunder by means of trusteeship agreements : b. territories which may be detached from enemy states as a result of the Second World War. . . . American Administrative Rule The cultures of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands have not responded collectively or individually to internal pressures for nationalism and independence similar to those that have reached a fever pitch in parts of Africa, southeast Asia, and Indonesia following World War II. Pres- sures which might have promoted vigorous militant movements toward independence simply have not been present in Micronesia. Because of the differences between the Japanese administration and the United States Military Government and Civil Administration Units of the United States Navy (which assumed administrative responsibility immediately following cessation of hostilities and continued in operation for several years thereafter), native populations were favorably disposed THE NATURE OF EMERGENT LEADERSHIP 93 toward the new agents of political control. Micronesians were con- vinced that they had been liberated from Japanese domination. A factor which contributed to their favorable attitude was the readily appreciated improvement in their welfare which was brought about by what seemed to them an unprecedented "give away" program. The days following World War II in the Pacific were ones in which the United States Navy administered to the needs of war-torn island populations with great facility. The Navy was well conditioned to patterns of expendibility which were associated with material goods in island assault phases of combat. It had at its disposal vast stores of military equipment and supplies, including food, clothing, and medicines. A medical team would be established on an atoll to eradicate yaws. A demolished native village would be re-established, using quonset huts and other "surplus" materials. A hungry population, whose sub- sistence economy had been upset by the chaos of modern warfare, would be supplied with military rations until it could repair its taro patches and re-establish its means of securing sustenance. In these, and in countless other ways, the Navy Military Government administration improved the welfare of Micronesian cultures. Such a context was far from one which would have produced militant nationalism. More- over, natives soon became aware of the fact that the American admin- istration had no plans for exploiting the islands either in terms of re- sources or man power. Benevolence on the part of an administration does not always lead to docile acceptance of its policies (Kennedy, 1944). However, the widespread unrest and political agitation for freedom which plagued many administrations during the postwar years did not develop in Mi- cronesia under the United States Navy administration. The islanders' previous experiences with less benevolent administrations and the rel- atively short duration of the Navy administration, as well as its stated policies, which were favorable from the standpoint of the dependent populations in Micronesia, contributed to relatively smooth relations. As early as 1947 the Navy administration began a program designed to carry out its obligations to encourage self-government in non-self- governing territories in accordance with the principles set forth in the sections of the United Nations Charter which relate to trusteeship. A first step was the establishment of municipal government. MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT In 1948 political entities termed municipalities were established throughout the Trust Territory. These entities were designed to corres- 94 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU pond as nearly as possible to indigenous political units. The relationship of municipal government to the Trust Territory is shown in figure 18. The basic unit of government in Palau, as with the Trust Territory in general, is the municipality. It is the only indigenous governmental agency invested with local political authority. The relationship of local representative government to the Palau District administration is illus- trated (fig. 20). Both the territorial and the population size of the fourteen municipalities of Palau are variable. The concept of a magistrate for each municipality accompanied the introduction of the municipality system. As the term is employed in the Trust Territory, a magistrate is an elected senior municipal official who provides liaison between his municipality and the district adminis- tration. The magistrate is the chief executive of the municipality. He is assisted by a clerk and a municipal council which he appoints. Fre- quently he also relies upon advisors who are not council members but who are respected and knowledgeable residents of the municipality. The magistrate is elected by popular vote for a term of one year, i He must be at least twenty-six years of age and a resident of the munici- pality he represents. His salary is paid from local tax revenues. The magistrate is charged with a number of responsibilities and duties. According to a guide for magistrates, prepared by the Native Aff"airs Office of the Palau District in July of 1955, they must assume these responsibilities and duties: 1 . Collect taxes and inform the court of all cases of delinquent taxes. 2. Pay the wages of municipal employees such as teachers and clerks. 3. Supervise the municipal budget. 4. Maintain public facilities and property (roads, piers, buildings, etc.). 5. Supervise the school. 6. Serve as a member of congress. 7. Maintain all municipal records and report to the administration all vital sta- tistics (births, deaths, divorces, changes of residence, etc.). 8. Appoint a municipal council. 9. See that the laws of the municipality and the Trust Territory are abided by and seek the advice of the municipal council and other advisors concerning questions of law and law enforcement. 10. Forward each month to the district administration a financial statement of municipal expenditures. 1 1 . Maintain regulations pertaining to sanitation and public health. 1 2. Oversee local elections and prepare rosters of voters. 13. Care for Trust Territory property. 14. Establish tax rates in consultation with the municipal council. 15. Issue business, vehicle, and other licenses. 16. Maintain the cemetery. h- q: o p j- q: < zz H ° * (/) , < z o -* 5 < o Z liJ < o or E ** 1— < a a: o [Z o cc 1- b (/) < oc Q o oc t- v> o 1- ^ z o liJ > 7 (0 rr z III o > 1- o < o o z UJ < UJ (r 2 o < o UJ oc q: o >- oc 0) o iij (O (/^ > (O Q UJ < oc o < z UJ o ir o < q: q: o o (O _j o o z cr 3 o o Q 95 Fig. 19. Local officials in Mengellang village of Ngerechelong municipality. Upper: Ngiraibiochel, the magistrate, at his desk. Lower: Former magistrate, Sal- bador, explains the organization of municipal government to the municipal council. 96 < z 2 < 97 98 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU Numerous stimuli for cultural change have been provided by the institution of the magistrate system. Power and authority have been vested in an office which previously did not exist. The duties and responsibilities a magistrate is obligated to fulfill require the exercise of this power and authority. The administration conceives of the magis- trate as a leader of his municipality in the sense that his duties and re- sponsibilities are those connected with new features of native culture such as taxation, sanitation, education, and law enforcement. Chiefs, on the other hand, are supposed to serve as leaders in their municipalities in matters involving traditional features of Palauan cul- ture. In theory their duties and responsibilities are geared to traditional patterns, but in fact their roles are very loosely defined. The functional operation of self-government as it has been introduced by the American administration does not depend upon the exercise of authority and power by hereditary chiefs. It does depend on the exercise of authority and power by magistrates. Lev^els of authority and power in Palau are shown graphically (fig. 21). Municipal Ch.^rters The introduction of concepts of local representative government and the attendant recruitment of native leadership to implement this intro- duction has proceeded at a faster rate in Palau than in any other part of the Trust Territory. Because of the recognition on the part of the Trust Territory administration that the people of the Palau District were more nearly ready for self-government than those of other districts, a program designed to grant greater municipal autonomy was initiated in 1956. This action was partially conditioned also by the insistence of the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations, which urged more immediate progress toward self-government in the Trust Territory. Following the report to the Council by the United Nations \^isiting Mission, which toured the Trust Territory in February and March of 1956, the Council reaffirmed its interest in the granting of municipal charters (United Nations Review, 1956, p. 51). As a result of the admin- istration's recognition of readiness and the Trusteeship Council's en- couragement, a charter for Trust Territory municipalities was developed and brought into operation. The charter clarifies the relative positions of municipal officials and councils, both with respect to each other and with respect to the district government. The charter is sufficiently general to allow native leaders the opportunity to exercise their own initiative in the development of local government and thereby it enables municipalities to achieve even greater autonomy. Under the impetus of developing municipal THE NATURE OF EMERGENT LEADERSHIP 99 government, more and more new leaders are finding strengthened sanc- tions for political power, while traditional leaders are increasingly less able to rely on the power sanctions that were effective in former times. DISTRICT JUDGES UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION TRUSTEESHIP COUNCIL UNITED STATES GOVT ( CONGRESS) DERftRTMENT OF INTERIOR TRUST TERRITORY HEADQUARTERS PALAU DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION IMJMCIPAL GOVERNMENT MUNICIPAL JUDGES PALAU COUNCIL PARAMOUNT HEREDITARY CHIEFS PALAU CONGWSS HEREDITARY MUNICIPALITY CHIEFS MUNICIPAL COUNCILS Fig. 21. Diagram showing levels of authority and power in Palau. Solid lines indicate the formal channels of authority and power; dotted lines indicate the informal channels. CONTEMPORARY AGENCIES OF POLITICAL POWER The newly introduced agencies of political power are three in number. At the local level the recognized formal agency of power is the municipal council, the members of which are appointed by the magistrate. In most cases, some hereditary chiefs are included in the council. Council membership changes to some extent as newly elected magistrates make new appointments. The municipal council serves the magistrate as an advisory body. Ordinarily, meetings are held monthly. I 100 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU At the pan-Palau level there are two formal agencies of political power. One is the Palau Council (Tebechelel Olhil) and the other is the Palau Congress (Olbil era Kelulau). The Palau Council The Palau Council is an advisory body composed of approximately twenty individuals, some of whom are also members of the congress. The members of the council are appointed by the President of the Congress and the District Administrator. Council members are prestigeful persons whose opinions and advice are generally respected. I The principal functions of the Palau Council are to assist the President of the Congress in his duties and to serve as an advisory liaison between the administration and the people of Palau. Council meetings are held monthly or more often when necessary. Though it possesses no powers of legislation, the council does facilitate legislation by formulating resolu tions for consideration by the congress. I The Congress The Palau Congress was inaugurated on July 4, 1947. It was estab- lished under the authority of the Military Government of the United States and was to act in an advisory capacity to the District Adminis- trator. On July 18, 1947, the United States Congress ratified the Trustee- ship Agreement between the United States and the United Nations Security Council to promote the development of the inhabitants of the Trust Territory toward self-government. The first regular session of the Palau Congress was held during the same month. The congress is a unicameral legislative body, which was granted a charter by the High Commissioner of the Trust Territory in January, 1955. The charter, which granted legislative power, was the first of its kind to be issued within the Trust Territory (see Appendix IV). In addition to elected congressmen, the congress is composed of magistrates, senior hereditary chiefs from each municipality, and the two high chiefs of Palau. Magistrates and chiefs are non-voting members, but they participate in discussions and are members of special congres- sional committees which formulate resolutions, prepare budgets, and supervise activities. Congressmen are elected from each municipality in the ratio of one congressman for up to 199 population, two congressmen for 200 to 499 population, three congressmen for 500 population and above. To be elected congressman a person must be twenty-six years of age \ and be a legal resident of the municipality he is to represent. Rules for the election of congressmen are contained in Appendix IV in Article I THE NATURE OF EMERGENT LEADERSHIP 101 of District Order 1-49 and in the congress charter which supersedes the order. The term of office is two years. Each year the congress elects its presiding officer, or president, from its membership. The duties of the President of the Congress are set forth in Appendix IV in Article II of District Order 1-49. The body meets in regular session twice annually for a period of one week per session. The congress is empowered to formulate and transmit to the High Commissioner resolutions which it has passed by a two-thirds majority. Resolutions are formulated under the guidance of the District Administrator and his staff. Unless the High Commissioner disapproves a resolution within 180 days of its transmittal, it becomes law. New leadership positions in political affairs — some of them law- making— are being filled by individuals who conform to the requirements of the program of directed change which is being advanced by the present administration. In general, traditional leaders fill few elective offices. There is, however, a tendency for members of high-ranking families to assume some positions of political leadership under the new system. In 1956, for example, two municipalities elected hereditary chiefs to office as magistrates. Individuals who possess high hereditary statuses sometimes also serve as congressmen or are members of the Palau Council or municipal councils. NON-POLITICAL EMERGENT LEADERSHIP New leaders also are dev'eloping in areas of Palauan culture which are not related to political affairs. The major areas involved are those of religion, economic endeavor, and professional activities. Religious Leaders The mission congregations in Palau are variable in size and in some cases militantly chauvinistic in their convictions and behavior. Each of the three missions has encouraged capable individuals to undertake responsibility in carrying on mission activities; for example, the Catholic mission to some extent relies upon lay catechists to assist the priests in carrying the gospel to outlying municipalities. Especially promising young people are sent to parochial schools outside Palau, and thus a small corps of trained persons is being developed. Several Palauan girls recently have completed advanced training in the LInited States and have returned to Palau as nuns. They teach in a new mission- operated elementary school. There are now hopes among the mission staff that one or two of their more promising male high school graduates will enter the priesthood. 102 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU The Lutheran and Se\'enth-Day Adventist missions also depend upon native members of their congregations to provide leadership. Each has sent young people to school outside Palau and has integrated them into its mission staff upon the completion of their studies. Because the missions compete with each other for members, skilled Palauans are pressed into service as teachers and lay ministers. In these capacities they emerge as new leaders. Economic Leaders The traditional Palauan values which were placed on money and the elaborate exchange system are to a high degree congruent with the emphases of free enterprise current in the Western world. For this reason it is not surprising that the models provided by foreign admin- istrations (particularly the Japanese) have been emulated by Palauans. Many Palauans today aspire to own a store. Outlying municipalities have few stores, but in Koror village so many "stores" were being opened in private homes that in 1955, in order to control excessive retail market- ing, the administration required a storekeeper to maintain a certain minimum inventory. Some incipient stores closed as a result of the fact that entrepreneurs had insufficient capital to maintain a minimum inventory. A few Palauans in Koror village have developed very successful businesses and enjoy considerable income as a result. Businesses include wholesale and retail stores, restaurants, barber and beauty shops, bakeries, sawmills, cabinet and handicraft shops, and small fishing enterprises. Numerous surplus Navy jeeps supply the vehicles for a number of one- man taxi companies which compete for fares along the streets in the administrative center. Successful businessmen whose wealth is common knowledge enjoy high prestige. Many are looked to for leadership in areas other than economic enterprise; for example, the most successful storekeepers in several villages have been elected magistrates in their municipalities. A number have been re-elected to office for several successive terms in spite of their publicly stated wish to refrain from accepting responsi- bilities of public office. The old values concerning the positive correlation between the possession of wealth and relatively high prestige and social status hav^e contributed to the esteem in which many successful business- men are held. Professional Leaders Teachers, judges, nurses, medical practitioners, and dental technicians supply some of the new leadership in Palau. They have become models Fig. 22. l.irurgent specialist leaders in medicine. Upper: Maria Kawai, a nurse at Koror hospital. Lower: Tomomi of Mengellang village has her tonsils inspected by a visiting male nurse. 103 104 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU I to emulate. In many cases they have traveled to other islands to pursue their training and have later returned home to share in the general positive prestige values which are associated with the life of the Western world. The roles professionally employed Palauans play are ones which demand that they lead. A teacher must exercise authority in his class- room. He scolds, cajoles, even threatens, in order to secure attention and to communicate his thoughts to his audience. His followers are | primarily his pupils, but he has leadership roles outside the classroom as well. Teachers are frequently members of municipal councils. Some become interested in politics and become leaders in a more formal sense by representing their communities as congressmen or magistrates. j The formal role of the medically trained individual requires the exercise of some authority. A venerable hereditary chief who is ill must accept the directions of the young, medically trained person who treats him. As with new political leaders, the sanctions for the authority of medical personnel are non-traditional. Legal and judicial personnel in Palau may also be considered leaders in the professional sense. The four district judges and the public defender are appointed by the administration. A clerk of the court is employed to y, assist the judges and to keep court and other records. One district judge is a full-time employee; the other three (each of whom is a titled chief in the Koror village klobak) are part-time employees, who sit only during specific cases on a rotating basis. Municipal judges are appointed in each municipality. They rule on local disputes. Their decisions are subject to review by the district judges and, of course, by the adminis- tration. Rulings by district judges are, in turn, subject to review by the Amer- ican Chief Justice or the Associate Justice of the Trust Territory. Ultimate authority is, once again, claimed by the superordinate power; but, despite this fact, native judges have considerable autonomy. Their decisions may be appealed, but most of them are not. Native judicial authority is generally accepted by Palauans. In terms of the relative amount of authority which may be exercised, judicial authority is much less cir- cumscribed than either legislative or executive authority. Executive authority is the most circumscribed of the three. Fig. 23. Emergent specialist leaders in education. Upper: Tarkong teaches a history class in the Koror elementary school. Lower: Oikang, Principal of the Ngere- chelong elementary school, helps the magistrate select handicraft to be sold at the annual fair in Koror. 105 106 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU Other Contemporary Leaders There are other individuals who occupy statuses which enable them to exercise authority. Among these are members of the constabulary force and government employees whose job description rates them above other employees in the same department of the administration. The constabulary is headed by a sheriff who is the senior-ranking member of the force, which includes sergeants, corporals, and other recognized grades. Authority varies with rank. Government employees are hired under a program patterned after the United States Civil Service. Each employee has a rating, and naturally some are higher than others; for example, a native foreman in the public works garage will have a higher rating than a mechanic. With his higher rating there are accompanying sanctions which not only allow, but demand, that he exercise authority over those under him. Individual case histories reveal the dysfunctions which resulted when individuals of relatively low family-status were elevated to supervisory positions over employees who were members of relatively high-ranking families. The leadership of social groups tends to be drawn from families which would have supplied it in pre-contact times. The age-grade societies which have been described earlier usually are headed by persons of high family-status. Other social groups are relatively limited in num- ber. A "leadership" club for young people was established as a part of the South Pacific Commission's S-12 community center project in Palau, but it was short-lived. About the same time, a 20-30 Club was begun with serious political purposes in mind. Through the past several years, however, the organization has developed into more of a social club than one dedicated to purposive action. It meets in Koror munici- pality and even though its membership is made up primarily of pro- fessional individuals and other young government employees who may be called emergent leaders, the club does not function as a potent power entity. Emergent leaders in Palau are, on the whole, relatively young persons who possess certain skills. Most often they are literate, bilingual, and trained or experienced in some specialty. The statuses they occupy demand role behavior which is different in kind from the role behavior formerly demanded of traditional leaders. Even with this difference in kind, the exercise of authority and power necessary to emergent leadership role behavior is at times in direct conflict with the exercise of authority and power by traditional leaders. The policies of the American administration are responsible; for example, the logical sep- 1 THE NATURE OF EMERGENT LEADERSHIP 107 aration of chiefly responsibility from the administrative responsibility of the magistrate does not always work out in practice. There is duplica- tion of authority systems. Because sanctions are strongest on the side of emergent leadership, the scales balance in its favor and traditional leadership is relegated to an increasingly circumscribed sphere of influence in deciding policy and in the exercise of authority in general. The imbalance in the dual system of authority and power which exists today gives every indication of continuing in favor of emergent leaders. VL Coexistence and Conflict: Dysfunctional Accompaniments of Cultural Change THE COMPOSITE CONTEMPORARY SCENE The cultural milieu which exists in contemporary Palau has resulted from almost a century of relatively intensive contact between Palauans and the representatives of foreign administrations. The product of this history of contact is a mosaic of elements which have blended over an underlying aboriginal foundation. Portions of the foundation are eroding away while other parts are fusing with the overlay. Leadership in contemporary Palauan society fits this analogy very well. Traditional leadership stems from the aboriginal foundation while emergent leadership has its source in the overlay provided by culture contact and cultural change. The coexistence of two groups of leaders has resulted in duplication of authority in some cases and widespread uncertainty among leaders and followers alike as to the proper locus of power and source of authority. COEXISTING SANCTIONS OF POWER Conflicting and mutually exclusive power sanctions furnish one of the most significant of present-day problems for Palauan leadership. The institution of the magistrate system, the initiation of municipal councils, and the establishment of the pan-Palau agencies of power have resulted in a duplication of political authority. The klobak, though weakened through years of foreign domination, still enjoy considerable prestige. Their power in former times rested on supernatural sanctions as well as those of kinship. Moreover, prior to German times, when some of their major functions were abolished, the men's age-grade societies provided an organ of social control which was employed both in threat and in deed to enforce the councils' dicta. Age-grade societies still exist, but they no longer function as eff"ective agencies of social control. By and large, supernatural sanctions have disintegrated while those relating to kinship have been retained to some extent. Without the sanctions formerly integrated into Palauan society and with the existence of externally imposed sanctions favorable to the new 108 COEXISTENCE AND CONFLICT 109 agencies of political control, the klobak are diminishing in power. This is especially true in the parts of Palau which have been in more intimate contact with the foreign administrations. It is noteworthy, however, that in the more remote areas — in part due to a laissez faire philosophy on the part of the present administration with respect to the activities of the klobak — they have retained, and even strengthened, much of their old power. Consequently, conflict between traditional agencies of power and more recent administration-sponsored ones is more acute in such areas. We need not, however, look for examples demonstrative of acute conflict of this nature only in the more remote parts of Palau. In Koror village, where contact has been most intensive and continues to be so, one also finds dysfunctional effects of coexisting power sanctions. The following example is a case in point. The Palauan constabulary force is recruited in Palau and is the only body which is designated to enforce the laws of the Trust Territory in the Palau District. In addition to the statutes included in the Legal Code of the Trust Territory, there are district orders and municipal ordinances which are in need of enforcement. At times law enforcement is impeded because of traditional sanctions which relate to behavior toward persons of high social status. These sanctions tend to override newly introduced sanctions for the exercise of authority; for example, in 1955, with the old mechanisms of social control inoperative and after a particularly flagrant outburst of juvenile crime, Palauan leaders in Koror municipality instituted a curfew. All youths under eighteen years of age were required to be off the streets by 10 P.M. The curfew was only partially successful, because some violators received deferential treatment as a result of their high family- statuses. Under traditional Palauan custom persons of low family-status were unauthorized to restrain or otherwise interfere with the behavior of persons of high family-status. Because indigenous sanctions which relate to kinship and social position are still strong, the policeman who is of low-ranking family-status and serves as an agent of the American admin- istration is rendered powerless in some cases. To the policeman, who is a participant in the scheme of social organization extant in Palau, the risk of reprimand from an American administrative official is the lesser evil when compared with negative sanctions which might be brought to bear by members of high families if he were to exercise his authority in a case involving his social superior. 110 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU Fig. 24.\. The congress; a young leader speaks. The policeman is realistic. In most cases the administration will never learn of his lenience or laxity of performance in line of duty. But even if the incident comes to light, chances are that the situation will be less difficult for him to cope with than would have been the case had he exercised his constabulary powers of authority without reserve. The American who supervises him will soon be gone from Palau and will be replaced by another who will have little awareness of the system and prob- ably no specific knowledge of the incident, whereas the policeman's future in Palau is one in which he must deal for the remainder of his life with other members of a culture whose sanctions he has either recognized or ignored. From this example w^e may conclude that when traditional sanctions relating to the exercise of authority by agents of power are sufficiently strong and are at the same time in conflict with the sanctions which govern the behavior of agents of power under the emergent system, then the exercise of authority by these agents will not be wholly effective and may be productive of dysfunctions. There also seems to be a positive correlation between the nature and relative strength of sanctions sup- portive of agents and agencies of power and the relative amount of power which may be exercised by them. In the example just cited, the supporting sanctions of authority under the emergent system ob- COEXISTENCE AND CONFLICT 111 Fig. 24B. The congress; the old chiefs listen. viously were insufficiently strong to allow the exercise of optimum authority by the policeman. The traditional sanctions were stronger and they tended to negate the new sanctions of power. One of the problems faced by emergent leaders is that they are unable to assess the strength of the sanctions which support their be- havior. This inability results in insecurity on the part of the agent of power. In general, behavior which is supported by sanctions whose strength can not be assessed readily is vacillating, inconclusive, and, therefore, ineffective. COEXISTING AND RIVAL AGENCIES OF POLITICAL POWER Traditionally the Palauan political elite was composed of hereditary chiefs whose claim to leadership was based on kinship. Well-delineated kin group hierarchies and individual age were the foundations of social rank. Social prestige and political power were positively correlated. Because kinship was formerly so intricately associated with political leader- ship, social organization and political organization were inextricably interrelated. Today new criteria for leadership are juxtaposed with the old. Emergent leaders who transcend the kinship system in the assump- tion of positions of political power constitute a threat to the klobak. As 112 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU a result, there is friction between the traditional concepts of social and political power and new ideas of local government through elected representatives. Considerable functional distress has occurred in Palau as a result of departures from tradition which enable youthful persons and in- dividuals of relatively low-status kin affiliation to assume positions of authority and power. Such individuals have not had occasion either through benefit of inheritance or through a lifetime of shrewd manipula- tion of native currency to amass the bulwark of personal wealth which in former times was a prime qualification for leadership. While there is a strong tendency for individuals who possess memljer- ship in prestigeful kin groups and who are elected to public office to operate with considerably greater efficacy than those with less prestigeful affiliations, social prestige is no longer necessarily positively correlated with the possession of political power. Since the old system of leadership along hereditary lines exists contemporaneously with the new system and is supported by sanctions of its own, conflicts are inevitable. ■ If we were to generalize from the evidence of this study as to the effects of duplicating systems of authority on the behavior of the leaders involved, we might phrase our generalizations in this way: If traditional sanctions of authority are sufficiently strong, and are, at the same time, in conflict with newly introduced sanctions of authority, then leadership behavior will be fraught with frustration for both traditional and emergent leaders. The existence of competing and overlapping systems of authority will produce anxiety on the part of leaders from both categories of leader- ship. They will be inconsistent in their behavioral responses — at times deferring to the old sanctions, and at others respecting the new. The am- bivalence resulting from the awareness of two sets of sanctions will make for inconsistent behavioral responses or, possibly, will even inhibit any action at all. To followers, the erratic behavior of a leader will not be understood clearly and a consequence may well be a general loss of confidence in his leadership. Anxiety and ambivalence, along with inaction among followers, are logical developments of similar responses on the part of leaders. Obviously, the total eff'ect of overlap in systems of authority which possess competing sanctions is far from conducive to felicity in leader-follower relations. It is equally inconducive to the effective accomplishment of group goals. COEXISTING SYMBOLS OF PRESTIGE AND STATUS The conflict between emergent and traditional leaders involves per- sonal prestige as well as the exercise of power. Symbols of status are COEXISTENCE AND CONFLICT 113 relative to the culture from which they stem. In Palau, where a cultural blend exists, symbols of high status and prestige which are derived from different cultures exist side by side. Symbols connected with traditional elite status, such as possession of valuable pieces of native money in quantity, the wearing of bone bracelets, modes of verbal expression, and the following of certain ceremonial customs, have been noted earlier in this study. Symbols of status which derive from non-Palauan sources are sought by many emergent leaders. Among these symbols are material ones: Western dress, wrist watches, jeeps, Japanese-style houses, and Western household furnishings such as curtains and household appliances. Certain skills or abilities such as being literate or bilingual are also valued symbols of personal status. The possession of wealth in foreign currency has come to be associated with high status. Because the native currency is still used and because the exchange system in which it functions is still operative, traditional values relating to its possession have remained potent. One of the most difficult situations which face traditional leaders in Palau today is that for various reasons many are not able to maintain the bulwark of personal wealth which is considered appropriate to their social station. Some are deficient in this respect because the size of the kin group upon which they depend for financial aid has shrunk to a size which will not allow adequate contributions. Moreover, as has been noted earlier, many channels whereby a chief could formerly in- crease his personal treasury, such as by imposing fines or receiving payments for concubines, have long since been cut off by administrative edict. Furthermore, most chiefs do not serve in capacities which allow them access to American currency, which is used today in conjunction with native bead money. Younger people of working age are able to earn money by their own efforts. Most chiefs claim that the labor that is required to earn money (copra-making or trochus-shell-gathering) is too arduous for them. What is more important, however, is that such behavior does not become chiefly rank according to traditional con- ! ceptions. i i COEXISTING MODES OF LEADER SELECTION I Leaders in present-day Palau are selected in different ways. Tradi- i tional leaders still are determined according to customary hereditary rules of title assumption. Some emergent political leaders, such as magistrates and congressmen, are elected. Others, such as council mem- 114 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU Fig. 25A. A traditional leader, aged Ngirokcbon, head chief of Nghesar munici- pality, fashions a new ax handle with an adze. bers, are appointed by magistrates, the President of the Congress, or members of the administration. Certain emergent leaders achieve leader- ship status by virtue of specialized training, and still others are leaders as a result of their success in business. COEXISTING CANONS OF RESPECT Traditional Palauan respect attitudes have been described earlier in this study. An individual of rubak ("elder male") status was, and COEXISTENCE AND CONFLICT 115 Fig. 25B. An emergent leader, Rudimch, educated and highly acculturated magis- trate of Koror municipality and store owner, speaks to the congress. Still is, respected, partly because of his advanced age and partly because with advanced age it is likely that he will possess a chiefly title. The traditional respect connotations which this term carries are seen in its application in mission usage. God is referred to in vernacular versions of Biblical scripture as Rubak el Dios (the term for "God" is a Spanish loan-word). Also, the male members of the administration are vocatively termed riibak by Palauan employees under their supervision. In each of the examples of the application of the term, the transfer of attitude toward authority and respect is apparent. Respect behavior appropriate to the attitude has accompanied the expanded use of the term rubak. 116 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU Respect behavior has been expanded to include non-indigenous ad- ministrators and some members of the emergent elite as well. However, the behavioral manifestations of respect for either Americans or emergent leaders do not have as great intensity as those directed toward a vener- ated chief. At the same time, emergent leaders command a new variety of respect which is correlated with new values. For example, the successful business- man or the skilled nurse will be respected for specialized competence. The new canon of respect which directs verbal and behavioral ex- pressions of deference toward emergent leaders operates negatively where traditional leaders are concerned. Since most traditional leaders do not fulfill the requirements for receiving respect under the new canon, their total "respect quotient" is diminished. Whether the leader in Palau is a chief or an emergent leader, if he is to lead effectively he must command the respect of those he leads. Respect may be akin to fear or awe, or it may be conditioned by widespread recognition of special competence. It may be ascribed to a leader or be earned by him. Even when respect is ascribed, personal factors enter in. While respect accorded a leader may be unwarranted — based on legend more than fact — more often the personal respect upon which rests the power of those who exercise leadership through a power structure is earned (LaPiere, 1954, p. 178). Charismatic Leaders and Respect Max Weber is credited with the introduction of the term "charisma" (Greek: "a special gift or extraordinary power, genius, or outstanding merit") into the literature of social science (Weber, 1922, pp. 140-148 and 753-778). The concept of charismatic leadership is particularly relevant to a discussion of respect, since such leaders are viewed by their followers with awe and veneration. These reactions are very closely akin to respect. Shamans are true charismatic leaders since they are considered to be persons who possess special gifts of intuition and super- natural inspiration (Roucek, 1947, p. 527). Traditional Palauan leaders, whether or not they qualified as true shamans, nevertheless were favored in some cases with attitudes of respect which indicated that their followers conceived of them in charismatic terms. A chief who was invincible in war, whose judgments were consistently correct, whose general demeanor brought forth expressions of awe, and whose status was semi-sacred as a result of the relation his title bore to ancestors who were revered as deities, would qualify as a charismatic leader. Emergent leaders are not charismatic. Nor are traditional leaders generally conceived of today in charismatic terms. The loss of attitudes I I COEXISTEiNCE AND CONFLICT 117 relating to charisma which formerly resulted in heightened respect for traditional leaders is a contributing factor in the declining respect which is afforded them. DYSFUNCTIONS RESULTING FROM LEADERSHIP CHANGE Form and Meaning It has been said that "most culture elements are transferred in terms of objective form stripped of the meaning which is an integral part of them in their original context" (Linton, 1940, p. 486). What needs to be added is that elements (or complexes) denuded of meaning undergo interpretations which result in the association of new meanings far different from the original ones. The meanings that become attached also may be so imperfectly understood that forinal applications are non- purposive. Because of imperfectly understood or misinterpreted meanings which relate to their behavior, models for emergent leaders may contribute to the transfer of forms of behavior which will have a constellation of meanings quite at variance with those within the donor culture. The following incident is an example of the way in which models for emergent leaders may contribute to the transfer of forms of behavior whose associ- ated meanings are distorted as a result of a lack of understanding on the part of the leaders. American counsel was provided for the defense during the recent prosecution of two Palauan youths who were ultimately convicted on charges which netted prison sentences of fifteen years for each defendant. After sentence had been pronounced, the defense reminded the court and the defendants that under the law, eligibility for parole would accrue in only five years. Palauan spectators found the defense attorney's behavior incomprehensible, since the crime had been so serious that con- temporary traditional leaders were agreed that the youths should be put to death. The defendants had pleaded guilty and their guilt was clearly estab- lished. Moreover, the crime had been committed against the person of an American citizen. In the light of the seriousness of the crime and the past histories of the defendants, the original sentences seemed light to most Palauans. The behavior of the American defense attorney in bringing up the issue of parole in only five years was productive of further enigma. The meanings attached to the behavior in terms of individual rights under the law were not clearly understood. The Palauan public defender (an emergent leader) assisted in the preparation of the defense. Members of the administration were con- 118 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU cerned over the possibility that the behavior of the American defense attorney (the model) had been imperfectly understood. Through emula- || tion of the model, it was thought, the emergent leader's behavior might impede, rather than facilitate, the transfer of proper meanings associated with formal behavior on the part of the American defense attorney. Without the transfer of the meanings associated with the behavior in American culture, the purposes served by such behavior might well be quite different. Palauan legislative procedure furnishes an example of the misunder- standing of a newly introduced element and the consequent random, non-purposive, and dysfunctional formal behavior which has resulted. V^oting is a newly introduced cultural clement which forms a part of role behavior of emergent leadership in self-government. Votes are taken in congress by the raising of hands and also by secret written ballots. According to rules of procedure, hereditary chiefs may par- ticipate in all discussions and may vote on all issues upon which votes are taken excepting resolutions. What frequently happens, because dis- tinctions between resolutions and other issues upon which votes are taken are not clearly understood, is that chiefs sometimes vote on resolu- tions as well as other issues. On occasion their votes are counted. Another case in point involves the procedural rule which prescribes that voting terminates the discussion of a given issue. Often a post-vote discussion in the congress leads to a new vote. Sometimes the second vote contradicts the first. The dysfunctions in terms of procedural efficiency are obvious. We may conclude, then, that when the meanings of a newly introduced element are not clearly understood, they may be given interpretations which may result in formal applications which are dysfunctional. _ Leader Insecurity T One of the chief dysfunctions which has been brought about by the changes in patterns of Palauan leadership is that of leader insecurity. Both traditional and emergent leaders are insecure. Historically, tradi- tional leadership has sustained such a series of setbacks that it anticipates new strictures even now, despite the American administration's tendency to encourage retention of "intrinsically valuable features of political structure and organization" (Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, 1955, p. 9). Because of their personal stake in the old ways, traditional leaders try to stabilize their position by maintaining the status quo. One technique they employ in doing so is prorogation. During the tenth meeting of the Palauan Congress, in October, 1955, one of the two high chiefs was asked COEXISTENCE AND CONFLICT 119 his opinion on an issue which dealt with the customary reef rights main- tained by separate villages. A movement was afoot to "nationalize" the reef system of the Palaus for the purpose of increasing the amount of trochus shell which could be gathered in an annual two weeks' season dur- ing which gathering is permitted. After voicing his objections to the plan, the chief suggested that the whole issue be tabled until the next meeting of the congress. The issue was tabled. On another occasion, when pressed for an opinion which had to do with a change in custom which conceivably could have challenged chiefly authority, his response was that he wished to think about the matter for a while. He concluded that the thinking would take about five years and that the question should be posed again at that time. The matter was dropped. Traditional leaders are not sure that their leadership will be followed even when they attempt to lead. The result is often a reluctance to pro- vide leadership or a tendency to provide only weak leadership. Timorous- ness is conditioned by the anticipation of follower opposition, which, be- cause he has no means of combating it, may cause loss of respect for a leader and consequent lessening of his over-all power. The end result of timorous leadership behavior which does not cause opposition is much the same as behavior which causes immediate opposition. The process simply takes a little longer. Emergent leaders are insecure because they operate in a system where- in there is no precedent for leadership such as they provide. The behavioral roles they play are hardly charted, much less institutionalized. They are not always sure of the extent to which their leader behavior will be sup- ported by sanctions under the new system. They do not wish to rouse the ire of the chiefs, yet they try to meet the expectations of the administra- tion and of their followers as well. Often the result is leader behavior which walks a tight rope and is fraught with insecurity, indecisiveness, and vacillation. A case in point may be cited from one Babeldaob municipality in which public opinion was distinctly opposed to the use of the reef and lagoon immediately adjacent to the municipality by fishermen from other municipalities. As the regulations of the district stood, outsiders were without rights in the adjacent waters, yet the municipality chief had, on his own authority and without consultation with the magistrate, granted permission to outsiders to hunt tridacna shells in the area. The situation was further complicated by the fact that the outsiders had used dynamite to take quantities of fish as well as shell. The use of explosives for such purposes is against government regulations. The magistrate in this case had to appease the incensed populace, com- ply with administration directives, and avoid offending the senior chief. 120 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU He did not wish to countermand the decision of the chief and yet he was forced to do something. The result was a very emotion-charged discussion in a municipal meeting in which the chief was present. The magistrate tried to maintain a middle-of-the-road position and the net result was an inconclusive debate which decided nothing. The fishermen were gone, the law had been broken, the populace was still disturbed, the chief felt challenged and resentful, the magistrate's behavior was fence-straddling, and no policy was established for the future. The role behavior required of a magistrate tends to overlap that of hereditary chiefs. Insecurity and dysfunction result. On the other hand, role behavior of the teacher has no true traditional counterpart. There- fore, insecurity and dysfunction are less likely to result. In general, new leadership roles which have no traditional counterpart are productive of less leader insecurity and contribute less to dysfunction than do new leader- ship roles which have traditional counterparts. Furthermore, emergent leaders to whom traditional leadership roles also accrue evince less inse- curity and more effective leadership in general than new leaders who do not qualify as traditional leaders. A chief who is elected magistrate will be supported by whatever sanc- tions are operative, whether they are traditional ones or those connected with the donor culture. Even though he may not be able to assess their relative strength, he knows that he embodies the total of sanctioned power, whatever its source or strength. His leadership role may be pro- ductive of some insecurity because of imperfect understandings of new leader role behavior and its sanctions, but he can always fall back on tradi- tional behavior and sanctions and in doing so he will not be in competition with another individual who possesses some leadership responsibilities in his municipality. Follower Insecurity Leaders are not alone in their insecurity. The residents of a munici- pality frequently are unsure of whose leadership they should follow even in such relatively mundane issues as community work. One of my in- formants (a second-ranking municipality chief) described a situation ofl conflict between the magistrate and the first-ranking chief during a road- repairing project several years ago. Since he did not get along well with! the senior chief and was competing with him for power, the informant hadi sided with the magistrate. The road work had begun under the direction] of the magistrate; then the senior chief directed the workers to another] task. While the magistrate complained to the senior chief that he had' been deprived of his labor force, the informant directed the people of the village to return to the road building. As the result of the uncoordinated COEXISTENCE AND CONFLICT 121 dual authority system, the people were unhappy over being suddenly shifted from one job to another and they lost interest in accomplishing either task. The question a Palauan frequently is forced to ask himself is, "To whose leadership shall I respond?" The magistrate tells him that he must pay his taxes. In order to do so he must produce copra. At the same time the chief insists that he spend his time on some community work project. If he follows the direction of the chief, he will not have time to produce copra and will not be able to pay his taxes. If he follows the leadership of the magistrate, he will pay his taxes but will fall prey to the wrath of the chief. Usually some compromise is worked out, but what most frequently happens is that both projects lag: taxes are not paid promptly and community work is not accomplished with facility. Communication One of the greatest contributing factors to dysfunction in contempo- rary Palau is poor communication. Small boats are the only means of transportation between the administrative center and the outlying munici- palities, and the boats are not always in operation due to mechanical failure. Bad weather and rough water often interrupt schedules, even when all boats are in operation. District orders and information directed to the populace at large are channeled through the magistrate, and he is then responsible for dissemi- nating the official information to residents of his municipality. Much in- formation is passed on to members of the community in municipal council meetings. Sometimes chiefs and other council members carry back the information to their respective villages following a council meeting. But information is often inaccurate when it has been relayed in oral transmis- sions. By the time it reaches the third or fourth individual it may have suffered considerable alteration. To avoid difficulties of this kind most municipalities have erected bulle- tin boards upon which notices and administration communications are posted. Because so few older Palauans are literate, even printed matter in the vernacular is meaningless to most chiefs. The very legitimate plea which so often emanates from the chiefs is that the young men, who can read, should pass information along to them. Because they resent being excluded and ignored, their behavior is sometimes aggressive. A senior municipality chief made the following accusing remark at one municipal council meeting: "You young men must help the chiefs because many of us do not know what responsibilities we have. We have a bulletin board in the village. It is the young men's responsibility to read the notices 122 CULTURAL CHANGE L\ PALAU and tell the chiefs what they say, but they don't. What shall we do, impose fines?" Another area in w'hich communication constitutes a problem for lead- ership is in the translation of government orders and instructions and in the phrasing of resolutions formulated by the congress so that English and Palauan meanings will correspond. Concepts such as "fiscal year," "in- terest," "two-thirds majority," and the like are often difficult to express in the native language. Likewise, certain Palauan concepts such as melingmes ("institutionalized reluctance and self-derogation") are equally difficult to express in English. OUTLOOK The conflict between traditional and emergent leaders and its dys- functional accompaniments are certain to continue. Two mutually exclu- siv^e systems of authority exist side by side. Each has its own sanctions. Relatively youthful individuals whose family status would deny them leadership under the old system will continue to achieve positions of polit- ical and social eminence by virtue of special skills which are recognized by their contemporaries. Such skills as the ability to understand and use English, the ability to read and write the native language, and the al:)ility to express themselves well orally, will commend these individuals. Such persons will continue to adapt to new cultural stimuli introduced by repre- sentatives of the administration. In terms of the burden of traditional cultural values, they have considerably fewer deterrents to overcome than is the case with their elders. At the same time, kinship sanctions are sufficiently strong so that the hereditary leaders will continue to maintain and in some cases to buttress the political power and general prestige which tradition awards them. Though theirs is a losing cause in a time of great change in which ultimate executive authority resides in an administration which has actively in- troduced antithetical ideas of leadership and political representation, and in which traditional organs of social control have suffered disintegra- tion, the indications are that the political power of the chiefs will continue for some time. VIL The Dynamics of Acculturational Change As mentioned at the outset, the emphasis in this study is on the inter- connection between leadership and cultural change. In keeping with this emphasis, space has been devoted to characterizations of both traditional and emergent leadership in Palau. The conditions of culture contact and the stimuli for cultural change which have had implications for Palauan leadership change also have been dealt with. Finally, some of the effects of cultural change in the area of leadership which have been less than felicitous have been spelled out and an attempt has been made to outline the principal differences which serve to set apart traditional and emergent leadership. We can measure change only by comparing what is with what was. When differences in kind and degree are ascertained in such a comparison, we may assume that the conditions of cultural change were largely effec- tive in bringing them about. The alternative explanation of changes which have occurred following culture contact would be that they are ones which would have developed through time anyway, regardless of culture contact — in other words, as a result of independent evolution. As far as the Palauan data on leadership are concerned, this explanation is hardly defensible. Where differences occur which we can identify as having resulted following stimulation by a donor culture, we may con- clude that they are directly attributable to acculturational change. A number of case studies which bear on acculturational change and leader- ship have appeared in recent years. ^ This report also is such a case study. A case study has its greatest significance when its findings are examined in the light of theory. Its data may substantiate and reinforce features of existing theory or may contradict them and point up needs for reformula- tions or additions. In this study the documentation of leadership has served as a means for viewing one aspect of more general cultural change in Palau. In the preceding chapters I have noted some of the more out- standing effects of change, but I have reserved my comments on the dynamics of acculturational change and the relation of the data of the study to theory for the final chapters. 1 To name but a few: Apter, 1955; Erasmus, 1952; Fallers, 1956; Gulick, 1955; Keesing and Keesing, 1956; Mead, 1956; Oliver, 1955; Useem, 1952. 123 124 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU CULTURAL DYNAMICS AND DIRECTED CULTURAL CHANGE The field of cultural dynamics is a broadly defined one. Cultural anthropologists are interested in endogenous cultural change, i.e., changes which are brought about within a culture entirely independent of contact with another culture, and exogenous change,^ i.e., changes resulting directly from the coming together of representatives of two or more cul- tures. It is this latter variety of change with which students of accultu- ration are concerned, and it is this variety of change with which this study is concerned. The dynamics of exogenous or acculturational change centers about the behavioral processes involved in the borrowing or transferring of elements or complexes of elements from one culture to another. Ordinarily cul- tural borrowing is a reciprocal rather than a unidirectional process. Whether reciprocal or unilateral, however, the basic processes involved may be narrowed down to those of exposure to, reaction to (selection or rejection), and finally, integration of borrowed features. The above terms are ones I have settled upon as being most meaning- ful and least confusing following an extensive review of what students of cultural change have concluded with respect to acculturational change. Some comment should be made concerning these terms and those set forth by Redfield, Linton, and Herskovits in the now classical outline for the study of acculturation (Herskovits, 1938, pp. 135-136). In the outline the final results of culture contacts are listed as A, Acceptance; B, Adapta- tion (corresponding to what I have termed "blending"); and C, Reaction. In the outline "reaction" means organized resistance to change such as contra-acculturative movements. It refers to an effect, not a process. My use of the term "reaction" is as a process, similar to the way in which the term is conceived in the disciplines of physiology or psychology, e.g., ac- tivity (behavior) aroused by a stimulus or stimuli; in other words, a response. The outline, in speaking of "results [or effects] of culture con- tacts" takes a total view. My own purview is much more restricted and is oriented to the dynamics rather than the statics of change. The results or effects of change are relatively static considerations. I have followed the lead of Malinowski (1945, p. 64) in using "reaction" to refer to a cul- ture's response to contact. 1 1 am indebted to the late Robert Redfield for the suggestion of the terms "exogenous" and "endogenous" as convenient ones to distinguish between the two basic varieties of cultural change. They seem to be much more convenient than the rather clumsy "externally motivated change" and "internally motivated change." Endogenous cultural change refers to what has often been termed "independent evolu- tion" or "spontaneously derived" or "intra-cultural change." Exogenous change refers to what has been termed acculturational change — which designation is also employed in this study. THE DYNAMICS OF ACCULTURATIONAL CHANGE 125 In the sense in which the term "integration" is used in this study it means the over-all process of fitting the new and the old together. Sub- sidiary processes are involved within this more general process. Murdock {in Shapiro, 1956, p. 247) also uses the term "integration" as his fourth major process of cultural change. To him it has to do with advanced social selection and progressive adaptation. This is a more restricted meaning than the term has for me. I tend to lump Murdock's "social acceptance" and "selective elimination" under integration, also. Under conditions of directed cultural change it is relatively less fruitful to consider the first two levels of process noted above {exposure and reac- tion) than it would be if change were occurring under less stringent condi- tions, where free choice of the recipient culture's representatives entered in. In this study the definition of directed cultural change offered by Linton (1940, p. 502) is accepted: "Directed culture change will be taken to refer to those situations in which one of the groups in contact interferes activ^ely and purposefully with the culture of the other." Interference may consist of the provision of stimuli for the acceptance of new cultural elements or it may simply be the inhibition of pre-existing culture patterns. More than likely it incorporates both the introduction of new elements and the simultaneous interdiction of old ones. Under directed change, even though the recipient culture may be ex- posed to a great range of cultural elements, certain ones are actively intro- duced and a subordinate recipient culture is forced to accept them; free choice is ruled out and rejection is not permitted. To the extent that the acceptance of certain other elements from the donor culture would impede the transfer of elements which the donor culture wishes to have adopted, and an awareness of these elements as impeding ones exists on the part of the donor culture, they will be denied the recipient culture. The process of exposure, then, under directed change, is not one in which complete free choice is allowed. The process of reaction largely is obviated in the cases where elements are actively introduced and acceptance is enforced. Such elements may not be rejected overtly as they might be under less stringent conditions of culture contact. This generalization does not deny that under stringent conditions there may be considerable dysphoria at the level of both the individual and the collectivity. In the extreme, rebellious nativism may occur or, con- versely, the apathetic "cultural death" which typified several nineteenth century Pacific Island cultures may occur. If the individual wishes to commit suicide or risk his life or other less dire but still serious conse- quences such as imprisonment, in rebellion, he may certainly react. What is being claimed, however, is simply that under enforced cultural change 126 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU negative reactions to introduced elements (rejection), except for extreme behavior such as the varieties just mentioned, are customarily not per- mitted and the individual is compelled to conform to the wishes of the dominant culture's representatives. In other words, his overt reaction will, unless quite extreme, be toward acceptance. Under conditions of directed change the dynamics of cultural change is relatively "cut and dried" until we reach the process of integration. It is in this process that observation of the dynamics of change becomes interesting and fruitful. It is in the process of integration that new inter- pretations are developed with respect to the forms and meanings of ele- ments. It is in this process that we may observe the behavior of individuals from the subordinate culture who adapt newly presented elements and complexes to a new cultural context. Here we may observ^e the remolding of elements to fit new cultural niches. Here square pegs are whittled down to fit into round holes and round holes are shored up to fit square pegs. The retention of old cultural elements which conflict with newly intro- duced elements in form or meaning causes new and old elements alike to undergo modification. This is the level of process where we may observe not only what happens to a given element, but how and why. We may observe not only the overt fact of adoption, but — what is more important — the rationale behind adoption. This is the level of dynamics where "lip-service" acceptance of an element is "seen through." Modifications and distortions at the level of integration may result in innovations and creative transformations so extensive as to alter an element beyond rec- ognition.^ Bit by bit the process of integration creates an enormous and compli- cated cultural montage — a montage which is given a general design or character by the donor culture but which is comprised of combinations and recombinations, substitutions and partial substitutions, replacements and blends — all produced within the latitude allowed by the donor cul- ture and with constant ameliorating influences derived from the recipient culture. In its contact relations with representatives of Western world cul- ture, Palauan culture has been consistently subordinate. Elements of superordinate culture which concerned leadership have been actively introduced and unrestricted free choice has not been possible. By and large, Palauans have not been able to reject or select as they wished. 1 Beals (1953, p. 636), in his review of acculturation study, comments that there are numerous reports of spontaneous reformulations which result in the modification of elements from either of the cultures in contact or produce entirely new structures. Barnett (1953, p. 10) speaks of such circumstances as the "hybridization of traits [elements] and complexes." THE DYNAMICS OF ACCULTURATIONAL CHANGE 127 While it can only be a matter for conjecture, it nonetheless seems rea- sonable to suppose that in the matter of alteration of patterns of leadership, members of subordinate status under the indigenous Palauan system of leadership might be relatively receptive to changes which might allow them access to new leadership positions and enhanced prestige. The problem of assessing such perceptions seems tenuous at best, but if we begin with the assumption that the "have-nots" (of whatever genre) would look favorably upon the opportunity to become the "haves," the above supposition does not seem unreasonable. Where Palauans have been able to exercise their wills to some extent with respect to rejection and acceptance is in the process of integration. For this reason, the most significant treatment of cultural dynamics in Palauan cultural change exists at this level. The materials of this and the following chapters, therefore, relate to this aspect of cultural dynamics. Particular attention is directed to the nature of the cultural iTiontage which exists in Palau and the means by which it has come into being. The modifications in and interpretations placed on introduced elements and the retention of elements of indigenous culture which have dictated the direction these modifications and interpretations have taken are partic- ularly stressed. General understandings concerning the theoretical aspects of cultural dynamics are employed as a screen upon which cultural ex- cerpts from the Palauan data are projected. The purpose is to discover the extent to which the data correspond to the general understandings, particularly in the area of directed acculturational change. Students of cultural change agree that we know all too little of the actual processes of cultural change, particularly in acculturative contexts (Barnett, 1940, pp. 21-22; Beals, 1953, p. 628; Gillin, 1948, p. 533; Hers- kovits, 1945, p. 170; 1950, p. 461; and Keesing, 1953a, p. 102). The data on leadership from Palau provide an opportunity to examine the processes of one variety of acculturative change, namely, that brought about as a result of conscious direction by a dominant donor culture. The history of directed change in Palau is one of behavior under stress. The areas of culture interfered with in the direction of leadership change are basic ones. To tamper with these is to cause the entire cultural struc- ture to wobble precariously. In response, the Palauans have attempted to stabilize the imbalance caused by external interference. They have employed traditional understandings and interpretations to aid them in their adaptation to alien concepts and thus far have been successful in maintaining a measure of cultural equilibrium which, even with its ob- vious dysfunctions, has avoided total cultural collapse and disintegra- tion. 128 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU THE INTEGRATIONAL PROCESSES OF ACCULTURATIONAL CHANGE Many of the terms anthropologists employ to describe the processes of accuhurational change are virtually synonymous. The use of terms whose meanings overlap is a barrier to understanding rather than an aid. Because of the existence of so many overlapping terms in the literature dealing with cultural change, I have in this study attempted to simplify general understandings about these processes as much as possible. Follow- ing is a brief summary of my conclusions and some supportive documen- tation from Palau. First of all, in a contact situation a given element of culture will be either accepted or rejected. If it is rejected, this constitutes one f)asic proc- ess. Terms which apply to this process are "stability," "retention," "re- sistance to change," and "non-change." If the element is accepted, further processes will be involved. At the simplest and most abstracted level of generalization there seem to be three major processes: 1. Super sedure: The new element will be adopted to replace an old element which will be put aside. In the literature on acculturational change this process is variously called "substitution," "replacement," and "displacement." The term "loss" is employed with reference to the super- seded element and often the term "innovation" is applied to the adoption of the new element. 2. Independent Comaintenance: The new element will be adopted, but it will not supersede any previously existing element; rather, the new ele- ment will be maintained independently as a new increment to the adopting culture without a corresponding decrement. 3. Blending: The new element will be adopted either partially or wholly and then be combined or merged with whole or partial old ele- ments. Elements of culture are conceived of as minimal units. When partial adoption is mentioned, however, what is meant is that the char- acteristics of the element such as form, meaning, use, or function may be par-Bj tially adopted and partially rejected. Terms such as "recombination," "reinterpretation," "reorganization," "reconstellation," "reintegration," "adjustment," "modification," "adaptation," "synthesis," "syncretism," and "transformation" are used interchangeably to describe this process. Moreover, terms such as "partial substitution" (replacement or displace- ment) and "partial retention" (resistance to change, stability, or non- change) also are employed. The three processes, viz., supersedure, independent comaintenance, and blend- ing may be considered together as constituting subsidiary processes within THE DYNAMICS OF ACCULTURATIONAL CHANGE 129 the more general process of integration. As has been mentioned, it is this basic process that is of crucial importance in this study. BEHAVIORAL RESPONSES IN ACCULTURATIONAL CHANGE There appear to be actually only four specific behavioral responses which occur under conditions of acculturational change and which con- tribute to the process of integration: (1) There are old ways of doing old things; this represents stability or non-change and perhaps even resistance to change. (2) There are new ways of doing new things; this represents innovation or acceptance of borrowed elements. (3) There are new ways of doing old things; this represents innovation, retention, replacement or substitution of the old way, and recombination of cultural elements. (4) There are old ways of doing new things; this represents retention, innovation, replacement or substitution of the old thing and recombina- tion of cultural elements. Within the rather broad confines of these four behavioral responses are contained all of the so-called integrational "proc- esses" of acculturational change. The four basic behavioral responses under conditions of acculturation at the level of integration are the basic themes about which vastly more complicated behavioral responses cluster. It is just as incredible for a cul- ture to be totally resistant to change as it is for one to be totally receptive. It is far more reasonable to accept the idea that most emphasis will center around behavioral responses 3 and 4 and that all four responses could probably be discovered in almost any culture contact milieu. They certainly may be in Palau, where leadership change and non-change are concerned. A few examples will demonstrate this fact. Old Ways of Doing Something Old Behavioral response contributing to the integrational process of independent co- maintenance. — Aboriginal burial patterns in Palau were similar for leaders and non-leaders. The place of burial was in the stone platform in front of one's house on ancestral land. Most house-yard platforms (cheldukl) in Palau typically are studded with large rectangles of volcanic stone which mark graves. More recent graves and the graves of the illustrious or notorious are remembered, but most of the stones mark the resting place of someone now anonymous. Traditionally, hereditary leaders were given funerals and burials which befitted their elevated social position. Marking stones were larger for chiefs than for non-chiefs and their burial places were remembered. Even today, when one is tracing the chiefly line for the principal title in Koror 130 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU village, he finds that the names of some former chiefs who held the title twenty reigns ago have been forgotten. Their burial places have not, however, and if the chief was lost in battle, as several were, the name of the land where he died will be recalled. His personal name will have been long forgotten, but his resting place or place of death will be remembered. The old pattern of house-yard burial in Palau was proscribed during Japanese times, and cemeteries were established. The pattern of ceme- tery interment has been maintained by the American administration. In November of 1956, however, there was a departure. The long-ailing and elderly senior chief of Koror village, one of the two high chiefs of Palau, passed away. He was buried in the traditional manner on his sib land, not in the community cemetery — an old way of doing something old. The retention of this feature of traditional behavior connected with leader- ship had the sanction of the Palau District administration. Values relat- ing to the old traditions concerning the burial of leaders were sufficiently strong to be respected. New Ways of Doing Something New Behavioral response contributing to the integrational process of independent co- maintenance. — Numerous examples demonstrative of this kind of behavior may be drawn from present-day Palau. A number have been remarked upon earlier in this study, and no purpose would be served in their reitera- tion at this point. Behavioral responses of this kind are perhaps the most easily perceived of the four main varieties. If earlier examples need to be extended we might note several more, but without going into detail. Voting for elected representatives is a new way of doing something new. So is the performance of an appendectomy or the provision of dentures by specialist leaders. The economic leader pays for imported goods for his store with a check written in English on a Guam bank where his capi- tal, in American currency, is deposited by mail. The list of new ways of doing new things is as long as one wishes to make it. New Ways of Doing Something Old Behavioral response contributing to the integrational processes of super sedure and blending. — In olden days when a person assumed a chiefly title he provided a ceremonial feast commemorative of the occasion. The custom of pro- viding such a feast was called "^debechel." Feasts were expensive, and the one connected with the custom of debechel was especially so. The person assuming the title commissioned sev^eral men to make a large effigy of a dugong (mesekiu) oi mich nuts and cooked palm flower juices (ilaut). The preparers of the effigy were paid for their labors, of course. The price was a high one because sufficient nuts to construct an effigy from seven to THE DYNAMICS OF ACCULTURATIONAL CHANGE 131 ten feet long had to be acquired slowly. The collection and drying might take as long as a year. On the occasion of the feast the effigy was cere- monially divided among the other village chiefs. The custom of debechel is infrequently followed today, but when it is, certain alterations in the old means of carrying out the feast are obvious. New ways of doing something old are employed. In such a ceremony, observed in 1956, the effigy was made of Japanese-manufactured sea bis- cuits, sugar, and water. It was contained in a plywood frame. The proper cutting points for dividing the effigy were made and then a vestige of still an earlier time when an actual dugong was the piece de resistance made its appearance. A delegated junior chief approached the effigy and adroitly stabbed it in the neck with a long knife. Besides demonstrating a new way of doing something old, this example points up the persistence in an old complex of an old formal element of culture no longer functional but symbolic only in the context of more recently developed elements. Old W' ays of Doing Something New Behavioral response contributing to the integrational processes of super sedure and blending. — This variety of behavioral response is easily perceived because of its general frequency. The old or traditional understandings are the familiar ones, and behavior is based on these understandings. The con- gressman who rises to speak to some point in an argument on the floor of congress is doing something new. The way in which he does it is the old way. After a lengthy assurance of his essential agreement with what his opponent in the argument has just said, he will finally get around to dis- agreeing categorically with the basic points. Propriety has been exercised. Offensive and opprobrious behavior has been avoided. This mode of argument is the old way and its application to a new thing (legislative debate) is but one example of the blending of cultural elements. In this example the behaver was an emergent leader. Such a blending also may be seen when traditional leaders resort to traditional behavior and levy fines in situations involving violations of newly introduced regulations relating to public health. In one case where this was done, the new "thing" was an inspection of houses and house-yard areas to see that privies were screened, that water containers were covered, that pig- pens were properly cared for, etc. The behavers were the municipality chiefs who toured the various villages seeking out violations, levying fines of twenty-five or fifty cents, and haranguing offenders. The "thing" (sani- tation code) was new; the way in which it was done (enforced) was old. Similarly, chiefs may be called upon to assist the magistrate who is having difficulty collecting taxes. Such a plea was made by a magistrate 132 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU in Ngerechelong in 1956. He requested the chiefs to exert their authority by compelling their village members to pay their annual taxes. The fact that the request was made, of course, points up the fact that the magis- trate recognized his own inefTectiveness and hoped to capitalize on ideas about hereditary leaders which were still retained by the populace at large. ALTERATIONS IN FORM AND MEANING Ideologies are complex in nature. A new tool, whose superiority may be perceived immediately, is much simpler and more easily assimilated. Such concepts as "freedom" and "democracy" are difficult for a people to understand — specifically when the frame of reference with respect to them is limited. To date, though progress is being made, and in spite of a long tradition of receptivity to external cultural influences by superordinates, concepts which are basic to self-sufficiency and self-determination according to patterns derived from the Western world are imperfectly understood by Palauans. The only channels which will promote understanding and ulti- mate integration of complex and unfamiliar ideologies are those of educa- tion. These channels are being utilized by the present administration under the obligation of trusteeship, but the rate of change is replete with impediments and necessarily slow. In the meantime, Palauans are faced with the problems of integrating newly introduced elements into their everyday life. To cope with these problems they often either consciously or unconsciously alter the new elements. Alterations in the form or meaning of an element of culture which is undergoing integration may come about as a consequence of conscious improvement (Linton, 1940, p. 476). It seems equally reasonable that such alterations also may result from unconscious modification arising out of different interpretations in a new cultural milieu. Herskovits (1958, pp. 267-268) cites an example which is a case in point when he mentions the inability of some African workmen to follow a taut line in excavating a ditch. As he saw it, the interpretation of trench excavation which the workers placed on it was diflferent from that in the culture from which the taut line and the straight trench were derived. The Africans simply un- consciously modified the new element along lines congenial to their own cultural backgrounds, where, if trenches were dug, they were not straight. As has been noted, the imposition of elements of culture under directed change effectively limits the freedom which may be exercised by the recip- ient culture in cultural borrowing. It may also inhibit modifications in either form or meaning or both. But if self-sufficiency is a goal of the donor culture, representatives of the recipient culture may be left delib- THE DYNAMICS OF ACCULTURATIONAL CHANGE 133 erately to their own devices. If a donor culture is sufficiently general in its definition of an introduced element, there is every likelihood that the modifications related to the element will be relatively greater than if defi- nition had been specific. In other words, under conditions of directed cultural change, only to the extent that the dominant culture allows them to be made will there occur modifications in the form or meaning, whether they be conscious improvements or largely unconscious ones. A case in point may be drawn from present-day Palau if we take magis- terial authority as an example of a non-material element of what we may term the magistrate complex. The concept of the magistrate has been introduced in relatively general terms. As it is defined in the Trust Ter- ritory of the Pacific Islands, a magistrate is a top-ranking municipal offi- cial having summary jurisdiction. Attempts by the administration to delineate the magistrate's responsibilities, duties, and spheres of authority have come as subsequent introductions. The "improving" modifications in magisterial authority have been directed toward expansion. The magistrate not only exercises authority in prescribed areas (education, sanitation, taxation, and enforcement of written laws), but, in some cases, his authority has been extended ("im- proved") to cover certain traditional areas which theoretically the admin- istration has left to hereditary chiefs. Evidence of this fact is noted in almost every session of the Palauan Congress, when magistrates band to- gether with congressmen (who also are supposed to be concerned primarily with non-traditional features of culture) to attempt to abolish such tradi- tional customs as expensive divorce and death payments. A magistrate also has, through "improving" modifications in the ele- ments of the introduced magistrate complex, come to serve in capacities not customarily considered within the duties of a senior municipal official in the United States. He will, for example, sometimes be a presiding offi- cial at a divorce settlement. Here, his behavioral role is comparable to that of a traditional leader. This modification is in keeping with one of the qualifying remarks which accompanied the definition of emergent leader- ship used in this study, namely, that emergent leadership will probably always be tempered by patterns of traditional leadership. In the example cited above, the "improvement" has been toward behavior which corre- sponds to that of traditional leaders, and modifications in form and mean- ing have undoubtedly been both conscious and unconscious. Modifications have been based on congenial and traditional conceptions of leadership. Following is a case of unconscious attachment of meaning to a new culture element as a result of traditional associations in Palauan culture. We may term the element "a channel for securing monetary wealth in the 134 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU form of alien currency." Entrepreneurship has been congruent with cul- tural emphases of the most influential foreign administrations in Palau and, hence, more or less under their auspices. For many years Palauans have used foreign currency which has been recognized as legal tender by the various administrations. Today American dollars are used. Present- day economic leaders are individuals who have successfully accumulated considerable wealth in foreign currency through some business enterprise such as operating a retail store. Unconscious attachment of meaning to the possession of quantities of alien currency is based on traditional eval- uations of social position and correlated wealth in native currency. The ethnographer encounters a good deal of confusion among inform- ants with whom he is discussing contemporary Palauan social status. As noted earlier, traditionally the possession of native currency was a positive correlate of high social status. A person of high social status was termed meteet. A wealthy person was merau. Because virtually no persons not of high social (family) status possessed wealth, the terms meteet and merau applied to the same category of persons. In recent years, with the oppor- tunity for persons not of high-status family connection to secure personal wealth, the high positive correlation between wealth and social position no longer holds true. What happens in practice and what indicates the unconscious transfer of indigenous meanings to a new element of culture is that economic leaders are now often referred to as meteet. If the point is pursued, an informant will indicate that actually this is not so, but he will be uncertain. SUPERSEDURE AND FUNCTIONAL EQUIVALENTS The functional equivalence of culture elements has been stressed by Barnett (1940, pp. 22-23; 1953, pp. 378-381) and Linton (1940, p. 505) in particular. The following excerpt from the Palauan data validates the idea that old elements of culture ordinarily will not be given up until all of their functions have been transferred to a new element (or to several new elements), except under conditions of directed and enforced change (Linton, op. cit., pp. 481 and 506). The Legal Code of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands is today the basis for ensuring the rights of Palauans. Violators of the code are brought to trial and punitive actions are taken. Each of the foreign ad- ministrations in Palau has pro\'ided some such externally imposed legal code. Consequently, many features of custom law have been superseded in the process. In 1956 a vacuum in the present code was detected, following the eruption of some bad feeling in Koror village. The incident was what, THE DYNAMICS OF ACCULTURATIONAL CHANGE 135 for lack of a better term, may be called "defamation of character" — not of personal character, however. For such an incident, coverage would have been provided in the Legal Code. The character defamed was that of Koror village and there was no provision in the code for such a situation. What happened was this: A youth from a neighboring and inferior- ranked village had, in a state of intoxication, blatantly castigated and maligned the village of Koror and, therefore, its people. Not many after- noons later a delegation from the Koror klobak met with the Koror magis- trate to petition punitive action. When the group was informed that there was no basis for prosecution under the Legal Code they left in disappoint- ment. Several days later a long-dormant function of an element of tradi- tional leadership was resurrected by the chiefs. The blasphemer was fined. Subsequently his father paid a small piece of native bead money to the Koror klobak. In this case an old function was brought into play, even under condi- tions of directed change, because no functional equivalent was available to meet a need. Because of the basic tractability of Palauan leaders and their enurement to supersedure under directed cultural change, if a new functional equivalent had been available no doubt it would have been employed. As it was, a situation materialized which served to reinforce an old function in the face of a great plethora of new functions relating to law and law enforcement. In Palau there have been a number of instances of directed change which have inhibited elements of traditional culture without supplying new elements as functional equivalents. We are told that in "situations in which an unreplaced culture element or complex is discarded as a result of outside pressure . . . the results . . . are frequently disastrous." (Linton, loc. cit.) We may agree that results may well be disastrous, but it should be added that where results are not actually disastrous, they are often dysfunctional. An example of dysfunction that results from inhibiting culture ele- ments without supplying new culture elements as functional equivalents is found in the inhibition of elements of indigenous culture related to leader selection. As explained in chapter II, there was formerly a series of age-grade societies in all Palauan villages. Members of men's clubs functioned primarily as soldiers, laborers, and "policemen." When war- fare and institutionalized concubinage were interdicted in German times, the basic factors which provided integration for the clubs were destroyed. In subsequent years most clubs were disbanded. In Japanese times clubs were organized for young people after the fashion of Japanese age-grade societies. Under this system the young men's clubs {seinen dan) were 136 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU supposed to serve several purposes. One was that they were to supply labor on a co-operative basis {kinro hoshi). Another was that they were to pro\ide recreational outlets in the form of organized sports programs. The age-grade society system exists today in a vastly modified form. The villages within each municipality have been combined into one pool from which membership is drawn for one club in each of three age levels (young, middle, and old). With older age-grades, the system of leader- ship prevalent in pre-contact times is adhered to with few exceptions. Those individuals who serve as leaders are selected, for the most part, according to the old system. The leader of the eldest club is the village chief. The leadership for the other two age-grade groups may be sup- plied by his sib as in aboriginal times. As an indirect result of acculturational change, however, leadership in some young men's clubs is elective today. This form of leader selection is an application of new modes of leader selection which are considered "democratic" and which are utilized in selecting political leaders. Be- cause the newly introduced mode of leader selection is not functionally equivalent to the traditional mode, what frequently happens with elected age-grade leaders is that even though they may be nominal leaders of their clubs, they must secure sanction for their decisions from the "rightful" leaders — the men who would have been the leaders according to tradi- tional practices. There is obviously a good deal of dysfunction as a result. This is a case of the inhibition of an element of culture, namely, the mode of leadership selection, and the substitution of a new element (leader selec- tion by vote) which does not functionally substitute for the old element. If enforcement of the cultural changes relating to club leader selection had been more effectively carried out, there would have been less tendency for the old element relating to leader selection to be retained. We must conclude from this example that the extent to which directed change is effectively enforced will determine the degree of retention of old culture elements which may result in dysfunctions. In the example cited, the opportunity for adaptation under relatively non-stringent enforcement of change partially accounts for the absence of "disastrous" results and the presence of merely dysfunctional ones. VIIL The Chains of Custom: Partial Adoption and Partial Retention Cultural change is far from an all-or-none phenomenon with respect to the new elements which are introduced and the old elements which are abandoned to make room for the new ones. There seems to be a great tolerance for duplication of culture elements. By no means does the sub- stitution of a new culture element always result in the complete elimination of the old one. In any acculturating group there are many cases of partial as well as complete replacement of culture elements. Among emergent leaders in Palau there have been introduced a num- ber of culture elements that have to do with leader status. These elements have not at all completely effaced the old culture elements which pertain to the same thing. The old and the new elements exist side by side. For instance, in terms of contemporary leadership in representative government, elected congressmen are, in theory, of comparable status. Each represents a similar number of persons from a given municipality. Each is empowered to vote in congress, to serve on committees, to take part in discussions, and to represent his municipality in general. What happens, however, is that some congressmen have higher statuses than others by virtue of the existence of old elements of Palauan culture which pertain to individual status. A younger congressman will defer to an older one. This is the result of patterned age-respect. A female repre- sentative will defer to a male representative. This is a function of the traditional, relatively retiring role played by women in meetings com- prised mostly of men. A representativ^e of a relatively low social (family) status under the traditional kinship system will defer to another repre- sentative who is of high social status under the old system, thereby exem- plifying the persistence of old ideas of hereditary social position. Thus, the introduction of new elements of American culture which accord enhanced status in relatively equal measure to all congressmen has only partially replaced the old elements of Palauan culture which bear on leadership status and status in general. Leadership behavior in present-day Palau is rife with examples of par- tial acceptance and partial resistance, of change and non-change merging 137 138 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU together to form a new cultural blend. Functional harmony does not always follow in such a synthesis. Consider, for example, the paradox of the young emergent specialist leader who goes away to medical school to learn new and scientific ways of combating illness and who carries with him a small bit of red cloth as an amulet to protect his person against sickness. Consider, further, the returned student of medicine who now admits with embarrassment the incongruity of his behavior of several years before and at the same time behaves in a new and different situation in such a way as to demonstrate yet another equally incongruous admixture of cul- tural elements. An infant had died in a remote village in which two young medical practitioners were working. The practitioner who was present at the death of the child took great pains to make it clear that actually it was his associate and not he who had been treating the baby. The old cultural tendency to avoid being in a position of accountability overrode the new Hippocratic code in which responsibility for healing is integral. The attempt to reconcile the old with the new pervades Palauan cul- ture at every level. Even beliefs about the supernatural provide a series of opportunities for partial acceptance and partial resistance to change. During the remote village phase of this study I was visited by one of the village leaders. The man was a high-ranking chief and a congressman from his municipality. He had served in the past as magistrate and — what is more important in terms of this example — he was a long-time member and leading light in the local Protestant congregation. The pur- pose of his visit was to ask me to identify some skeletal fragments which had been exhumed on a nearby island. He had no doubt that they were old. Nor was there any question that they might have been animal bones. Rather, the question I was asked was whether the fragments of bone were human or whether they were those of the primeval chelid el chad ("half god -half man") deities of Palauan folklore. Despite the influence of his Christian indoctrination and his status as a reasonably enlightened emer- gent leader, this individual had not completely abandoned traditional ideas of the supernatural. Innumerable further examples of partial adoption and partial rejection and /or retention have to do with leaders, leadership behavior, and be- havior toward leaders in Palau. When the magistrate system was intro- duced, it brought a whole new constellation of meanings relating to leadership. The senior municipal official was accorded enhanced pres- tige and elevated status befitting a community headman and his role in social functions was defined within rather flexible limits. Certain behavior and some attitudes which apply to the magistrate as an emergent leader do not, however, always extend to his wife. The THE CHAINS OF CUSTOM 139 wives of individuals in executive positions of leadership in the cultures of the Western world are customarily accorded some sort of "first lady" status by virtue of the statuses of their husbands. Because of the reten- tion of traditionally patterned ideas about status which relate to sex and family position, the "first lady" of a Palauan municipality (the magis- trate's wife) is not necessarily prominent in social gatherings in which her husband plays a leading role. Unless her own family background is suffi- ciently outstanding to merit her recognition in her own right, she will be ignored by the assemblage. When it comes to behavior toward the spouses of leaders, retention of old ideas has resulted in a complex different from that found in the dominant culture from which stimuli for change were derived. RETENTION AND PRESTIGE VALUES The retention of traditional modes of behavior may be detrimental to leadership prestige or it may be beneficial, since old values may persevere and be respected in some segments of society. The positive prestige values which attach to the material symbols of Western world culture cause an emergent leader to adopt these symbols quite readily. To retain tra- ditional elements which run counter to these new prestige symbols would, according to his way of thinking, subject the leader to a lessening of his prestige. Young emergent leaders avoid traditional usages which they feel would be injurious to their prestige, both in the eyes of the administration and in the estimation of their peers. No young man would be seen in a traditional breechcloth, nor would he wear a bone bracelet or carry a handbag for his personal possessions. Some young leaders place a negative value on the practice of betel-chewing and never chew in the presence of members of the administration. However, they still must function on occasion in a traditional milieu with Palauan elders present, and then they attempt to please the elders by chewing. Great care is exercised in either chew- ing" or not chewing, depending on the situation. Conversely, the members of the traditional elite actively maintain old customs and are proud of the high social position which they symbolize. Some old chiefs, for example, deliberately wear loincloths, exhibit bone bracelets on their wrists with pride, would never be seen without their handbags, and are inveterate betel-chewers. These individuals, who have their stake in traditional ways, are proud to follow the old customs which symbolize high social position. There is a great deal of cultural pride in Palau, despite a generalized receptivity to change and the numerous modifications in pristine culture content which have occurred over several centuries. Families of high 140 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU social position actively maintain certain old traditional customs. The very high families (sibs) provide lustration ceremonies for their female members at the birth of a first child. This ceremony was formerly a pre- rogative of families of high social status and is so maintained today. In some cases new mothers are emergent leaders, but out of deference to family pressures they participate. Some women are more conscious than others of the prestige values associated with participation in such a cere- mony. Not long ago a nurse of high family-status in Ngaur municipality bore her first child. She was provided with a very large lustration cere- mony (ngasech) but she and the other young women who participated in- sisted that, even though they were to wear nativ^e costume during the ceremony, their Ijreasts should be covered — a primary concession to Western values! Still another example of the retention of old symbols which are con- sidered beneficial to prestige is seen in the "wearing" of native bead money. The segment of Palauan society which is most concerned with native currency is the one which traditionally has been considered to be elite. It is women from this stratum of society who validate their respec- tive family statuses by wearing money pieces on special social occasions. The verbal behavior exhibited Ijy some emergent leaders is another case of the maintenance of symbols of high social position in the form of customs which are followed by a particular group after the bulk of the society has given them up. Old and new elements of culture are blended together to form a resultant compound, different from both traditional and newly introduced culture elements. A congressman from an outlying municipality is a member of a high- ranking sib. He prides himself on his knowledge of traditional custom and he is generally respected for that knowledge as well as for his emergent leadership roles. He has served his municipality as teacher, school prin- cipal, magistrate, congressman, Palau Council member, and member of the pan-Palau Board of Education. He is economically successful because of his copra production and because of this success is looked upon as an economic leader. In all of the emergent leadership roles which this indi- vidual has played he has emphasized certain traditional usages. One of the most outstanding of his means of doing so is his mode of verbal expres- sion. He follows the traditionally valued practice of loading his utterances with metaphor. When he speaks, his listeners remark that he speaks as a Fig. 26. Age differences and cultural orientations. Upper: A member of the new generation looks to the future. Lower : An old female chief for whom the only clear vista is that of the past. 141 142 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU chief. For this individual the old ways hold prestige values in spite of the new roles he plays as an emergent leader. RETENTION AND DYSFUNCTIONAL LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOR Traditionally, a paramount hereditary chief had the right to make pronouncements on policy and decisions as to action only if he had the support of subordinate chiefs. Organized opposition to his independent decisions by his peers, even though they were of inferior status, could effectively render the decisions impotent. Most often the result of objec- tions to decisions was that the decisions were changed. The emphasis upon unanimity of feeling and consensus in decision-making allowed de- cisions to be altered either toward amelioration or strengthening without loss of chiefly prestige on the part of the senior chief. If necessary, how- ever, a high chief's independent authority could be challenged to the extent that his decision would be reversed even to the detriment of his prestige. The relatively "democratic" character of leadership in aboriginal Palau reduced the degree of independence a leader might exercise in decision- making. At the same time, there were individual differences, and chiefs with particularly strong wills were more autocratic than their peers who were less strong-willed. The Palauan emergent leader is also limited in his independence in decision-making since he functions in a democratic system. Independent action is always subject to approbation by peers; but however limited his independence in decision-making may be, an effective leader makes deci- sions which result in successful group activity. His consistent good judg- ment tends to build up a volume of "credit" upon which he can draw when he makes future policy decisions. If a leader makes judgments which are imprudent, even occasionally, he runs the risk of losing the con- fidence of his followers. He is expected to be correct in his judgments and decisions. A congressman places his leadership record on trial each time he argues for or against a resolution on the floor of the congress or when he so much as raises his hand to vote. In terms of functional expediency, decision-making is one of the chief features of role behavior at the level of executive leadership in the Western world. In contrast, the retention of traditional features of Palauan culture which relate to general avoidance of responsibility and an institutionalized reluctance to commit one's self gives rise to dysfunctions in contemporary leader behavior. I THE CHAINS OF CUSTOM 143 Manifestations of indecisive leader behavior are not at all difficult to discern. In a recent dispute over the expenditure of a piece of native cur- rency, the Koror council of chiefs was engaged in a long and indecisive argument over policy. The members were agreed as to sentiment, but no chief had assumed leadership in formulating a policy decision; finally, one of the lesser-ranking chiefs, who possessed considerable status as a result of his advanced age, rose to the occasion by speaking out quite directly. His comments were heard and his decision followed. The reaction on the part of the remainder of the council was interesting to observe. One member commented that the chief had spoken "like a white man, not like Palauans, who always speak like an amaidecheduiy An amaidechedui is a small lizard who climbs tree trunks in a spiral. The simile is used to describe the cul- turally patterned circumlocution which is typical of Palauans. Circumlocution is but one manifestation of a deep-seated Palauan per- sonality characteristic, namely, the generalized reluctance to commit one's self, or assume responsibility. The term "melingmes^^ is used to describe this type of behavior. In part, melingmes is based upon recognition of social status; one should not contradict his social superior. It also has a basis in general social propriety; one must always be courteous and re- spectful to others. A part of melingmes is also that one must be self-effacing and self-deny- ing. If a traveler stops to rest at a friend's house and is asked if he is hungry or thirsty, the traveler will reply that he is not, even if he is famished or very dry. This is melingmes. The host will then provide a repast over the patterned protestations of his guest and will apologize for the poor quality of the food and drink. This, too, is melingmes. Palauans are often reluctant to criticize improper behavior. They do not wish to go on record as havdng a point of view. They are reluctant to assume responsibility for acts or opinions. Numerous examples which illustrate this general tendency can be cited. Some may be drawn from the commonplace happenings in daily life; others from areas of relatively greater social importance. There may be a crisis aboard a native boat which has lost its power and is drifting toward a coral outcropping and no one among the crew or the passengers will assume the responsibility for throwing the anchor overboard; or a group of young men may stand by in suspense while a dogfight rages on a village street. The explanation for the behavior in both cases is melingmes. Recently two social issues plagued the residents of one municipality. People were not paying their taxes, and illegal stills were making alcoholic spirits for sale. Neither the chiefs nor the magistrate would assume re- sponsibility for a policy that would combat either situation. Finally a 144 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU particularly aggressive magistrate did take a stand, but his behavior was considered atypical and he received some censure. The tendency to avoid personal responsibility is so strong that even relatively young emergent leaders are often quite ineffective. A case in point is the system of forming committees of the legislature which will be responsible for working on specific resolutions for the next session of con- gress. Committees are formed on the last day of a legislative session. The President of the Congress is empowered to appoint committees, but what happens consistently is that he calls for nominations for each committee and votes are taken to determine final membership. The procedure oc- cupies a full half-day. The president's behavior exhibits melingmes. By calling for nominations and votes, he is not committed personally in the committee organization. The situation is further complicated and length- ened by many members of the congress, who decline nomination. This behavior, too, demonstrates melingmes. Palauans like large committees. A twenty-member committee in congress is quite common. The logic is clear — the more members, the broader the distribution of responsibility. Legislative sessions are often fraught with confusion because the presi- dent is unwilling to stifle useless and time-consuming debate and in general does not provide decisive leadership. Though there is a growing tendency for emergent leaders to be more willing to commit themselves and to accept responsibility, the tendency for Palauans to be generally indecisive is diffi- cult to overcome, and dysfunctional leader behavior is often the rule rather than the exception. Deep-seated tendencies toward indecisiveness in Palauan culture ac- tively interfere with the exercise of decisive leadership by emergent leaders. In one way, the perpetuation of the old behavior-governing attitudes re- sults in '"resistance" to change — not conscious resistance which results in non-acceptance at the time of introduction, but unconscious resistance which results in partial non-acceptance in later behavioral applications. The last example cited is typical of what often happens at the integrational level of directed acculturational change. The form of the newly intro- duced element has been accepted under conditions where choice is largely ruled out, but the meanings and behavioral expectancies associated with the element in the donor culture have been only partially adopted. RETENTION AND STABILITY: UNIVERSALS OR FORTUITOUS CULTURAL CONGRUENCES? Features of culture which do not evidence appreciable change from pre-contact configurations to post-contact ones either have been resistant to stimuli for change or have remained relatively stable due to reinforcing THE CHAINS OF CUSTOM 145 stimuli from the contact culture. Such reinforcement is often due to for- tuitous congruences between features of the two cultures in contact. An added consideration — yet to be stressed in studies of non-change — is that some cases of stability due to reinforcement of pre-existing features of culture may be caused by relatively pan-cultural universals. The ex- amination of relatively stable characteristics of leadership behavior in Palau under conditions of culture contact will demonstrate the point. In each case reinforcement may actually have occurred because of the existence of universals of effective leadership. That is to say, having pre- viously hypothesized the existence of such universals, we might have predicted that non-change would have resulted in certain areas of be- havior regardless of the specific cultural influences. Whether or not such universals exist could be determined only after considerable comparative work. One of the values of a case study is, however, that it can point to leads for future research. On the basis of the Palauan data which have to do with non-change in the characteristics of leadership behavior there appear to be strong im- plications for the existence of universals. These data by no means purport to exhaust the roster of such universals if, in fact, they do exist, but the data do point to what appear to be significant ones. The examples cited below are merely extracts from one study of leadership. They stand as a suggestion of the possibility that such universals exist, not as confirmation that they do. Before defensible conclusions of broad significance can be stated concerning cross-culturally valid features of leadership there will have to be a considerable amount of comparative work. STABILITY AND NON-CHANGE IN LEADERSHIP ROLE BEHAVIOR As it is conceived in this study, leadership is role behavior. A leader occupies a recognized status in a group and his actions as a result of this status constitute leader behavior. As it is used here, "role" is viewed as "the dynamic aspect of status" (Linton, 1936, p. 114). There are two audiences toward which a leader's role behavior is directed. One is the group for which he provides leadership; the other is composed of individuals who are not members of that group but with whom he comes into contact. To the latter he owes little; to the former, much. In his relations with persons not of his group, a leader ideally serves the interests of his group, since he is their representative. This is the basis of representative government, and a first lesson to be learned by emergent political leaders. 146 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU To the members of the group he represents, a leader's roles are many. Some Palauan leadership role behavior which has remained relatively stable throughout the history of contact suggests that universals may be involved; for example, leaders may be looked to universally for advice and counsel by members of the group they lead. Sagacity may well be a uni- versally esteemed characteristic of leadership. Traditional leadership in Palau was provided by individuals who were expected to be informed about the group for whom they provided leader- ship, and also were expected to be generally informed. I have noted earlier in my discussion of traditional leader role behavior and the expec- tations of traditional leadership that general knowledgeability on the part of the chiefs was stressed. The same expectations hold for emergent lead- ership. Persons who have been elected to political office in Palau ha\e ordinarily been ones who were informed not only as to the problems in their communities, but also as to the means for executing their duties. Being informed (or knowledgeable) is closely related to the possession of certain facilitating skills. One of the expectations of emergent leaders today is that they should possess an understanding of the nature of the American administration and the culture it represents. Because of this understanding it is "gen- erally felt that these leaders are in a . . . position to secure favors . . . from the administration" (Palau District Memorandum from District Anthro- pologist to District Administration, 1953). Traditional leaders in Palau offered advice whether it was solicited or not. Age-respect patterns assured them that attention would be paid to their words. A chief was frequently the only source of information on a given subject. Wisdom and advanced age were considered to be positively correlated; hence, chiefs, who were usually of advanced age, often were termed chelimosk ("wise person"). Hereditary leaders were known for their special knowledge as well as their general wisdom. A chief in one munici- pality today is considered to be an authority on chants and money matters. He is consulted by younger persons at social functions where chants are sung competitively. He is renowned for his memory and reminds forget- ful singers of the proper words. His leadership is directed to all members of the community, not just toward his kin group. Likewise, if a young man wishes to make a money payment, he will consult this chief to dis- cover the proper piece he should use and to learn what he should expect in return. A person who listens to and abides by the advice supplied by an elder is kedung ("well-mannered," "respectful," "good"). Because the whole of the process of socialization consists of the proffer- ing of instruction and advice, both in word and deed, and since leaders of i THE CHAINS OF CUSTOM 147 kin groups were the agents through which sociaHzalion occurred in ab- original Palau, it is clear that traditional leaders exhibited role behavior in which they advised and encouraged their followers. Emergent leaders also advise and encourage — sometimes because of special knowledge they possess, and sometimes because they are consid- ered to be generally wise. A successful storekeeper who is clearly an economic leader may be asked his opinion and advice, not only on business matters within a field of his presumed competence, but also on matters which have nothing to do with economic pursuits. This represents a carry-over from traditional ideas of leadership role behavior; it demon- strates a high degree of stability. Besides offering advice and counsel, a leader often provides an outlet for the confiding of problems. Advice is unconsciously sought by followers who react toward their leaders in this way. Under the indigenous kinship system in Palau a chief was frequently also the leader of a sib. He stood in avuncular relationship to many of the sib members, since all male elders within a sib were conceived of col- laterally as "mother's brother." The special behavior one exhibited tra- ditionally toward one's maternal relations and particularly toward one's mother's male sibling or, in extension, toward all male sib-mates of com- parable age to one's mother, has special significance for this study. A sib leader definitely stood in a special institutionalized relationship to other sib members and was the socially designated individual in whom one might confide. To some degree the biological father of Ego competed with the mother's brother for the loyalty of Ego, but even when Ego chose to take his cares to his father in preference to his maternal uncle, it was a leader to whom he appealed, because the father provided household leadership and per- haps held leadership status in his own sib. Emergent leaders do not always stand in a consanguineal connection to persons who look to them for leadership. Because they function within the traditional kinship system, emergent leaders do serve in some cases as leaders of kin groups. To the extent that they do, they will be called upon to play confessor-confidant roles. Their selection as emergent leaders, however, is governed by factors which are external to the traditional kin- ship system, and their followers outside their kin groups may or may not confide in them or confess troubles to them. There has been some transfer in role behavior, however, and some emergent leaders who com- mand respect from those they lead are able to fulfill roles formerly played exclusiv^ely by traditional leaders. A recognition of special competence may dictate the choice one makes as to whom he will bring his problems. If a young man wishes to go to 148 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU high school in Guam, he may confide his desires to the local teacher or principal. If a person is concerned over something he has done which is generally considered reprehensible, he may seek out a lay minister or catechist. Likewise, an individual who suspects that he has a venereal infection may discuss it with a medical practitioner or nurse rather than with any other leader. Traditional leaders were expected to be all things to all men — at least to all men within the group for which they supplied leadership. With the present-day emphasis upon specialization of leadership, the roles of leaders are more clearly defined and are limited to a particular sphere of compe- tence. Specialist emergent leaders often serve Palauans in general, rather than only those of a relatively small kin or local group. Their role be- havior is, therefore, more limited in scope than that of traditional leaders, but is directed generally to the broader audience.^ Still another relatively stable feature of Palauan leadership behavior which may be a universal of leader role behavior is that of arbitration. In aboriginal times the Palauan councils of chiefs performed the functions of a court as well as those of a legislature. Executive, legislative, and judicial functions were combined. It was common practice for chiefs to settle dis- putes over land, money, and personal property. They depended upon the traditions of custom law to provide answers to social problems. With this bolster, the chiefs dictated settlements which allowed for a payment of native currency. Such payments usually brought a dispute of almost any intensity to an end. One money payment which was formerly quite common was called tngakereng. Today this payment is made principally to resolve marital dif- ficulties when a wife has left her husband because of some alleged or actual misbehavior on his part. In earlier days it was also prescribed for the settling of disputes between consanguineal relatives, friends, age-grade so- cieties, kin groups and kin group segments, village moieties, and villages. Today magistrates and some other emergent leaders (including infor- mal leaders) are called upon to settle disputes between members of the groups they lead. The role of chiefs in settling disputes has changed some- what. Some matters are appealed to chiefs, but there are today other leaders to whom one may appeal. Special agencies such as the District ^ It should be emphasized that specialist emergent leaders do not ordinarily supply leadership for a well-defined social group of relatively small numerical size. There is often little group cohesion among those served and members of such a collectivity may share few common interests or may not even perceive themselves as a group. This variety of leadership is not strictly comparable to the variety of leadership in small groups where interpersonal relations are primary, where interests are mutually valued, and where members are aware that they form a collectivity which is distinguishable from other collectivities. THE CHAINS OF CUSTOM 149 Court and the Land and Claims Department of the administration have been estabHshed to handle differences. Traditional leaders are called upon much less often than before the introduction of external authority and new agents and agencies of power. Today a legal code provides the basis for settling many disputes. Most chiefs have only a hazy knowledge of the contents of the code. Either American or native judges decide dis- putes which formerly would have come to the attention of traditional leaders and which would have elicited appropriate role behavior from them. Thus the arbitrating role of traditional leaders has been usurped to some extent by emergent ones as a result of cultural change, but they are still called upon to arbitrate some disputes. Another characteristic of effective leadership which has remained un- changed in Palau and which may be a universal is that of resourcefulness. The fact that ineffective leadership exists today among some traditional leaders and some emergent leaders who lack resourcefulness, serves to point up the disparity which exists between normative and actual be- havior. Resourcefulness on the part of a leader is still an ideal prerequisite of effective leadership. Its absence in some cases is significant because it is indicative of a detrimental effect of change. The ideal has remained stable, but actual behavior fails to live up to the ideal because of the weakening or total loss of leadership sanctions at the traditional level and because of inadequate appreciation of leadership sanctions at emergent levels. Individual differences at both levels contribute to a given leader's degree of resourcefulness. In pre-contact Palau a chief was supposed to be an "idea man." His followers and lesser-ranking chiefs were obliged to put his ideas into action. The fact that many traditional leaders are not exhibiting resourceful be- havior today was brought sharply to light recently in a municipal "town meeting" in one Palauan municipality. Following is an excerpt from field notes covering the meeting. The discussion centered on an assessment of the recent accomplishments in the municipality. Everyone was agreed that there had not been many. Two factions were arguing the reasons. The hereditary chiefs (traditional formal leaders) formed one faction and the relatively young men (30-45 years of age) the other. The most out- spoken young men were those who provided informal and formal emergent leadership in the municipality. They were taking their elders to task. The main point they made was that, among other things, the chiefs were not resourceful. First young man: "Things have not been well in the village. Nothing is being accom- plished. If you chiefs would get together and do your jobs properly, then things would be different. It is just like the way in which you chiefs go to the canoe shed to wait for your share of the fish when the fishermen return from the lagoon. While you are sitting 150 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU there, the canoe shed is falHng down around you. The responsibility for the village is the chiefs'. You have forgotten your responsibility." Chief: "But the people do not listen to us; we are weak." Second young man: "You chiefs always say that you have no power. You and your helpers must have meetings and discuss problems. If you do, the people will take heart." First young man (to a specific chief) : "You chiefs have real, big power. You can tell people to pay their taxes and they must. You are the man who sits with his back to the ptang [stone back-rest on the council house platform; a seat of authority] ; you are strong." Leaders vary in their resourcefulness. In the spring of 1955 a new magistrate was elected in one of the municipalities on Babeldaol:) Island. He began immediately to "organize" the municipality. He planned a series of projects, from the designation of responsibility for care of the roads to stopping the manufacture of alcoholic spirits in unlicensed stills. He set up committees and delegated responsibility. His manner was force- ful, his program logical. He was successful where his predecessor had failed. When a leader lacks resourcefulness and does not provide efTective leadership, there will be no common "positive" activity. Divisive tend- encies will prevail. An example of ineffective leadership will serve to substantiate the point. As has been mentioned earlier in this study, there is a long tradition of individual village autonomy in Palau. This is true in spite of the affiliation of groups of villages into political confederations. This tendency toward autonomy is based upon socio-political systems which existed relatively independently in all villages. The individual social statuses of kin group leaders (hereditary chiefs) were maintained under this system. The tradition of village autonomy has been retained to the present time. Municipal boundaries correspond to pre-contact lines of division which separated small groups of villages which were closely allied; for example, Ngerechelong municipality contains seven villages, each of which has a senior chief and a village council of chiefs. Traditionally, one of the seven villages was considered senior and its chief was senior to those of the other six villages. The present administration recognizes this scheme of organ- ization. At the present time the senior chief of Ngerechelong municipality is highly ineffective. His personality is far from dynamic, and he has suf- fered poor health for some years and is generally inactive. His behavior is not resourceful. Moreover, he has few sib members upon whom he may rely for support, and therefore he has very limited financial resources. As a result, he does not exert effective leadership within the municipality. Chiefs from the other six villages carry on as autonomously as possible. THE CHAINS OF CUSTOM 151 There is little unanimity of action, little concerted effort toward common municipal goals, and a consequent general dysfunction. The senior chief does not provide a cohesive force. His role behavior is not that of an effective leader. The neighboring municipality of Ngarard, on the other hand, is headed by a resourceful chief of strong character from a large sib. He has good health and is financially solvent. Ngarard is recognized as a relatively well-organized municipality in which individual village autonomy is sub- merged in the interests of municipal unity. Resourcefulness on the part of the senior chief in this municipality results in effective leadership which provides group cohesion. Perhaps it may ultimately be shown that effec- tive leadership is basically active leadership — in other words, that "good" leaders get things done.^ Several generations ago a high chief of Youldaob was known for his achievements. His leadership frequently is compared with a more recent holder of the same title. This latter chief is known for his lackluster per- formance as a leader. He did not know custom. He violated chiefly responsibilities by squandering his sib's money, and he tried to use village money to pay for his family obligations. People explain his behavior vari- ously. One explanation is that when he was young and still heir presump- tive to the high title, he did not apply himself to the learning of custom and chiefly duties; he preferred to go fishing. Under a system of ascribed leadership status it is possible for an indi- vidual to be a leader nominally, but to exhibit few of the qualities of lead- ership which relate to action. In this case, such an individual becomes a figurehead. Actually, other individuals provide functional leadership which results in action, but they are not leaders nominally. An example of action-prone emergent leadership may be drawn from Koror village. Several years ago the middle-aged-women's club wished to have a clubhouse. (This is innovative behavior in the first place since, as has been mentioned earlier, women's clubs had no houses in aboriginal Palau.) They arranged for land upon which to erect the house and called upon the men's clubs for assistance. After some time it became apparent that no assistance was forthcoming. One of the women, therefore, took it upon herself to secure a building. She discovered an unused Japanese- style building" and secured the permission of the administration to dis- mantle it and re-erect it on club land. Next she organized crews of men and women to do the work and arranged for trucks to transport the dis- mantled sections. The women not only had their clubhouse as a result of the leadership provided by this woman, but the women won a victory over 1 For a thoughtful and probing commentary on the characteristics of effective leadership, see Whyte (1955, pp. 257-263 and passim). 152 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU the men's clubs with whom they compete. The distinction which must be drawn here is between nominal leaders and true or "good" leaders. "Functional" or "operational" leadership is based upon action (see Gard- ner, 1956, and Whyte, 1951). A final characteristic of leader behavior which has remained stable in Palau and which suggests itself as a possible universal of effective leader- ship is that of integrity. Indigenous leadership in Palau ideally was sup- posed to be trusted. A leader's word was supposed to be dependable. If a chief freed a prisoner captured in a raid on an enemy \dllage and told him to go his way — that he would not be molested — the prisoner was supposed to be able to rely on the promise. Likewise, if a leader promised his followers that he would do something, he was supposed to keep his word. Attitudes toward emergent leaders are much the same. If a magis- trate promises to repair the village road or to raise teachers' salaries he is expected to do so. Both of these promises were made by a magistrate in one Palauan municipality recently. When he failed to carry out his promises he was criticized by members of the community. The Palauan language includes a term for truth. If one's word may be depended upon it is said that he speaks mral tegoi (literally, "real talk"). Traditional Palauan leaders were supposed to be fair and just in their dealings w^ith their followers. Despotism did occur occasionally under the system of inherited titles, but chiefs who were particularly despotic were either banished from office or killed outright. Meserou, a high chief of Youldaob in the dim past, is depicted in folk tales as a despot. One in- formant said, "When Meserou was chief he was very strong and hard on the people. So they threatened to oust him and he moved to another village" (thereby relinquishing his title). Folklore accounts tell of several chiefs who were ambushed and killed because of their oppressive despotic behavior. Ideally a chief was ex- pected to behave fairly in his relations with those he led and with chiefs from other villages. His conduct was constantly scrutinized by his sub- ordinates and peers. If he was found wanting in any chiefly character- istics, including fair-mindedness, he was subjected to censure and the eflfectiveness of his leadership suffered. Emergent leaders, too, are supposed to be fair and just in their rela- tions with followers and other leaders. A fair-minded man does not take advantage of his superior position in interpersonal relations. A value re- lating to ideal leader behavior which was applied to traditional leaders and which is also applied to emergent ones is that a leader should not be egoistic or conceited. He should not hold his status up for all to see. Rather, he should behave fairly toward all persons with whom he has deal- THE CHAINS OF CUSTOM 153 ings. When discussing a particularly controversial contemporary young leader an informant gave this appraisal: "He is meterakakel a ngarel ['reck- less with his mouth'] . He speaks to men as he would to a dog or cat. He acts like he is a high man." Whether or not universals of leadership behavior are involved, it is patent that there has been a high degree of stability and non-change in patterns of Palauan leader behavior. The chains of custom have been pulled taut under acculturative stress, but they have held, even in the face of relatively drastic directed and enforced cultural change. It is to be expected that their strength will diminish only gradually as the passing of generations causes them to erode and fall away. IX. Leadership and Cultural Change in Broader Perspective There are two cogent questions which may be posed at the conclusion of any case study: To what extent do the data and findings of the study corroborate or contradict general theoretical understandings and com- parable case studies and to what extent do they extend them? The Palauan data on leadership change under acculturational stress tend to reinforce a number of significant general understandings about what hap- pens under conditions of culture contact. The special conditions of directed change in the area of leadership, furthermore, suggest certain modifica- tions, if not contradictions, and some extensions of our general under- standings about acculturational change. Of course, the remarks in this study are based on the assumption that cultural anthropology is, as Rad- clifTe-Brown (1952, p. 1) has said, a nomothetic study, "the aim of which is to provide acceptable generalizations." Comparisons of the data of this study with other case data are made in this chapter. Case materials are those selected from Africa and from parts of Oceania outside Micronesia. Each of these areas has had a history of contact and an administrative background broadly comparable to those in Palau. GENERAL UNDERSTANDINGS AND OTHER CASE DATA The foregoing pages of this study validate the maxim which holds that people "tend to respond most easily to stimuli which have some continuity with, or analogy with, their traditional values and forms of organization." (Firth, 1957, p. 198.) Relative ease of culture transfer and adaptation to external stimuli for change has for some time been attributed to what Herskovits (1938, p. 134) has called "congruity of culture patterns." "Under such conditions there will be a basis for collaboration and agree- ment in ideas, sentiments, and general outlook. . . ." (Malinowski, 1945, p. 66.) Compatibility or congruity as well as their antitheses have been subsumed under what Malinowski chose to call "the common factor in culture change." Where compatibility exists, the common factor is a positive one and felicitous change may be expected; where it does not 154 i LEADERSHIP AND CULTURAL CHANGE 155 exist, the common factor is negative and the effects of such conditions are also negative. "Long-run identity of interests" (loc. cit.) between introduced cul- tural emphases and indigenous Palauan ones which relate to leadership and which contribute to the existence of a positive common factor of lead- ership change in Palau centers on the acquisition and maintenance of wealth, certain assertive personal characteristics, respect quotients, and specialized skills and competence. The negative common factor relates to relative age, mode of leader selection, sex role behavior, and qualities of decisiveness. The conclusions arrived at by Malinowski in his analysis of African contexts of change seem to be very well borne out by leadership change in Palau. Leadership change in Palau effectively demonstrates the tendency for a culture undergoing change to place familiar interpretations on newly acquired cultural increments. The various characteristics of cultural ele- ments (form, meaning, use, and function) allow almost infinite malleability under relatively non-stringent conditions of contact. However, in Palau, and in all probability in the majority of cases of contact between so-called "native peoples" and technologically advanced cultures, conditions are rarely non-stringent. But even in the face of overpowering influences to conform to the modes of behavior relating to adopted elements under conditions of dominance and submission, considerable violence to the integrity of introduced elements is done. The generally accepted notion that an acculturating culture will im- pose familiar interpretations in the course of adopting new cultural fea- tures is confirmed by the Palauan materials on leadership change. Such interpretations result in stability and non-change. Retention of the old in the adoption of the new is the process involved. The examples cited in the foregoing pages of this study may be added to those of any number of other reports of change in the area of native leadership. Extremely comparable are the findings from a number of African field studies (see, for example. Hunter, 1936). Palauan materials also serve to bulwark the African data bearing on the issue of the loss or partial loss of traditional sanctions of leadership and the consequent vitiation of effective leader behavior. In Northern Rho- desia the administration recognized the chiefs while failing to note the importance of the hereditary sacerdotal functionaries who served as coun- cil members aboriginally. Bereft of his advisors, a chief could not function as before. He no longer had behind him the sanctions of public opinion which his council provided. In a close parallel to the situation in Palau, Bemba chiefs also lost sanctions related to the possession of economic assets. 156 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU The abolition of war and tribute-taking, when coupled with the intro- duction of a money economy and medium of exchange by the dominant culture, left chiefs without another basic sanction for leader behavior (Richards, 1935). Support is found in Palauan leadership change for the idea that any contact situation may be viewed advantageously as an integral whole (Malinowski, 1945, p. 14). Powerful and effective responses to stimuli for change tend to be disintegrating influences in the sense that they negate certain existing features of culture by supplanting or simply out- lawing them. A situation where these features have to do with deeply rooted aspects of culture ofTers an especially fav^orable opportunity for the observation of the integrated nature of culture. In less crucial areas of culture, such "chain reactions" when one cultural feature is displaced or subtracted are less observable. An example of the far-reaching involvements in leadership change may be drawn from Malinowski's (op. cit., p. 52) comments on African culture: Chieftainship is often based on the Native system of kinship, and it represents the principle of family authority in an extended and glorified form. It is the embodiment of past history, of all that is magnificent in it. In order to uproot chieftainship com- pletely it would be necessary to change law and religion, to refashion family life, and to stamp out all the memories of the past. The integration of hereditary leadership in Palauan culture is no less true. Principles of family authority, history, law, religion, the exchange system, inheritance, social control, and territorial alignments are all subject to reverberations when traditional leadership merely is nudged. When it is given a great push aside, the reverberations become tremors of drastic proportions. Thus is confirmed Radcliffe-Brown's (1952, p. 7) comment: "It is a corollary of the hypothesis of the systematic connection of features of social life that changes in some features are likely to produce changes in other features."^ At the same time that attention is called to the validation of the func- tional viewpoint, it must be said that Malinowski's (1945, p. 20) unwilling- ness to accept the assertion that existing institutions cannot possibly be understood without a knowledge of the past is not a tenable position \vhen we examine Palauan leadership change. Even if we grant the difficulties of determining a "zero point of change" (Mair, 1934) or of producing a comprehensively valid historical reconstruction, it still must be maintained that change has to be measured against a previous condition or state of being. A cultural base-line of change must be established if it is at all ^ Compare two Pacific contexts in which "initiating and multiplying" effects of change are noted in Melanesia (Belshaw, 1954, p. 148) and "primary, secondary, and even tertiary" effects are noted in Polynesia (Danielsson, 1956, pp. 229-230). LEADERSHIP AND CULTURAL CHANGE 157 possible. Among certain groups where historical reconstructions are im- possible, a mode of analysis which ignores temporal factors entirely has been suggested and utilized in an initial field situation. It has yet to be widely adopted. Watson's unique method of analyzing "acculturational change" among the Cayua ignores temporal factors completely and places emphasis rather on causal factors of change. He developed a so-called configurational ap- proach which stresses what he calls "conditions" as against the more tra- ditional emphasis which has been placed on diffusion and borrowing of culture traits in the process of acculturation. Evans-Pritchard (1950, p. 121) probably stated the case for the impor- tance of historical backgrounds as well as it has been done when he said : The claim that one can understand the functioning of institutions at a certain point in time without knowing how they have come to be what they are ... as well as a person who, in addition to having studied their constitution at a particular point in time, has also studied their past, . . . seems to me an absurdity. The treatment of leadership and political behavior in general has been assessed as "by no means one of the strongly focused points in anthropo- logical literature" (Keesing and Keesing, 1956, p. 295). Very often when leadership and political behavior are dealt with, they "appear in longer book or monograph-length studies for which the titles offer no overt clues" (op. cit., p. 275).^ For example, in Experiments in Civilization Hogbin devotes an entire chapter to a discussion of Solomon Island traditional leadership. Elsewhere, tucked into the introduction, he notes some effects of leadership change in Malaita which are substantially identical with those in parts of Palau (Hogbin, 1939, p. 4). The old system of leadership . . . attacked on all sides, has practically collapsed. The authority of the headmen over their followers depended in the past on such factors as the protection they gave, their great stocks of valuables, and the sacrifices they made to secure the good will of the ancestors. Today, on the other hand, order is preserved by the Government, and offenders are imprisoned; young men, since they alone are employed as labourers, possess far more wealth than their elders; and, where Christian- ity has been adopted, sacrifices can no longer be offered. Robbed of their supports headmen therefore have very little influence. When Mead comments about the Manus that for them "the political practices of the West carry very little intrinsic sense of reward," she might just as well be talking about Palau. Political meetings in Manus, Mead (1956, p. 418) says, are likely to be a bore. The same thing holds for Palau. This is not to say that it is an invariable rule. But when the meetings are not boring, there is usually some crucial issue at stake. Such ^ For a very comprehensive survey of the literature relating to leadership see Keesing and Keesing (1956, pp. 275-295). 158 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU is the case with legislatures in the Western world, too, it should be noted. The bulk of the pages of the Congressional Record probably provides as adequate a sedative as most persons would require. The important point that Mead makes that is also true of Palau is that the new political forms along democratic lines do not adequately supplant the old forms, which were, in Mead's terms, "cathartic rituals, self-limited and satisfying." The old forms were perceived as purposive; the new are not. The problem of perception bulks large in the study of cultural change. With specific reference to political change and leadership, Belshaw (1954, p. 159) notes that an administrative official in charge of native political affairs "cannot be expected to inculcate a genuine belief in democratic methods unless he can show that these do in fact contribute to native happiness. His forms of procedure are often meaningless and empty unless they are given a context of value. . . ." In other words, newly introduced elements must be perceived as being worth while — of leading to valuable ends if followed — or else they are merely accepted because they must be — as forms, as hollow shells whose values remain unperceived. On Raroia in Polynesia hereditary chiefs have been replaced by popularly elected chiefs and councils. "The old leaders, who were re- ligiously sanctioned and therefore obeyed, have disappeared, and their places have been taken by traders and office seekers, who lack authority." (Danielsson, 1956, p. 224.) While this example does not provide an absolute parallel with conditions in Palau, it does point to what has been spelled out in bold letters in this study, namely, that traditional sanctions for leadership and power have broken down at the same time that new sanctions supportive of new emergent leadership positions and leadership power have been introduced. The Palauan data are supportive of Radcliffe-Brown's (1952, pp. 205 ff.) comments on positive and nega- tive social and supernatural, or, as he preferred to say, religious sanctions. Wealth as a specific positive sanction for leadership is not at all peculiar to Palau. Hogbin (1951, pp. 118 ff.) makes quite a point of it in his study of Busama village in New Guinea. The changing sanctions for leadership in Africa also are largely the same as those in Palau (Wilson and Wilson, 1954, p. 7). Political authority in the new system [of leadership in Africa] is less immediately linked with religious status and wealth. . . . The religious power of the traditional authorities is being transferred to European missionaries and to African ministers and elders; in wealth they are no longer solely prominent, being equalled or outdone by their subjects who have become clerks, shopkeepers, and mechanics. In another monograph, this one centering on a description of an urban Papuan village, there appears a sketch of an emergent leader LEADERSHIP AND CULTURAL CHANGE 159 whose behavior is absolutely comparable to the behavior of some Palauan emergent leaders. His frustrations and successes might just as easily be theirs (Belshaw, 1957, pp. 226 ff.). The following is one of Belshaw's comments about a Papuan emergent leader he describes: . . . underlying his desire for things European was a hardly veiled hostility which on occasion verged upon a mild persecution mania. . . . With a fine sense of hierarchy he continually sought out senior officials to lay complaints before them, suggest policies, and discuss public matters. When they reacted against him, resenting the fact that he "gave himself airs," bored with his long-drawn-out arguments, and suspicious of his political manipulations, for which they gave him greater credit than he deserved, Gavera felt that they were persecuting him, and attributed all his difiiculties to the machinations of his opponents, European or otherwise. My own field notes from an emergent leader's case history are as follows : S is preoccupied with his importance. He uses any device possible to create an impression with the administration. His ends are self-seeking. Actually he has a lim- ited amount of power within the Palauan political scene, but the administration is unsure of just how powerful he may be. He is considered something of a nuisance. S is quite concerned that he should be as American as possible and he affects American behavior constantly. Yet he speaks with great pride of his hereditary right to certain high titles and lets his importance as a Palauan be known. If a thorn in the side of the administration exists, it is surely S. He is a very busy young man. He often intrudes himself into matters which do not directly concern him and is quick to ofi'er his opin- ions. When they are rejected or he is rebuff'ed in other ways, he becomes maledictory. Periods of sulking and self-pity appear to be common with him. He alternately resents members of the administration and his cultural peers. My notes on another Palauan leader are as follows: N is beyond a doubt the most militant of the young men in leadership positions in . village. His resentment of Americans is not always shielded. He has had the ben- efit of some advanced education and is well aware of current events. He professes an in- terest in the social betterment of Palauans in general, but it is difficult to determine the depth of his convictions. He is much interested in his own future and the leadership role he plays guarantees him a certain measure of personal success regardless of the future for Palauans at large. He, like S, makes life difficult for administrators. The main diff"erence is that N is generally a more capable person and has some knowledge of legal affairs. If he can find support for his position in the statutes of the territory, then he can successfully combat the administration, which he gives every evidence of resenting at times. In this way he turns the forces of law back on those who have intro- duced them. In so doing he remains relatively immune, since he is responsible only for pointing to the law of the land, not for promulgating it. Belshaw (1957, p. 227) says of his subject: Indeed, although Gavera had some vision, in a vague way, about advancing his community, he saw politics as a continuous battle with Europeans around him, and as an instrument for advancing his own personal power. As to the first, he sought points of difficulty, and made it an intellectual exercise to find ways and means of defeating 160 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU Europeans with their own arguments, particularly those of the law, which he learnt to be all important. h Some effects of cultural change in the area of leadership which are not entirely comparable with those in Palau are described by Roth for Fiji (1953, p. 162). His view of what is happening in Fiji as young people experience higher education does not entirely dovetail with the situation in Palau. This may be because the Fijians are better able to adapt to village life following advanced education than is true of present- day Palauans, or because Roth (loc. cit.) has oversimplified his remarks in the effort to present an optimistic outlook for the future: Every year there is an increase in the numbers of Fijians who have received higher education either in Fiji or overseas. Many take up posts in Government or industry and this normal development is supported by Fijian Administration policy. Under the same policy Fijians not attracted by such posts can satisfy their urge to reach a higher standard of living by work in the village. Young men with some training in academic subjects can assume social responsibilities of service to their fellows, some as Fijian Administration officials, some as village leaders in the widest sense; they can at the same time grow crops of economic value and by their training be an example to others. In Palau the situation is far from the neat one Roth presents, and since the contexts are so similar, one wonders if Roth's position as an administrator and his hopes for a smooth and well-adjusted society do not cause him to overstate the happy quality of the assimilation of young ■ educated persons into a reservoir for community leadership. In June of 1956 a number of young Palauans graduated from George Washington High School on Guam (an American type of school). Many of them had not been home for several years. A number of the group were uncertain of their futures. The "bright lights" of the thriving American and Guamanian community of Agana along with opportunities for lucrative employment and a continued association with American culture were more attractive to many than the thought of returning to , their sleepy home villages in Palau, where everything seemed so far off J the beaten path. How were these young people to put their skills, their] knowledge of world history and current events, and their general aware- ness of the outside world to practical and personally rewarding use in] Palau? The administration could use only a small proportion of the graduates in its offices. In Palau there is no organized industry which could absorb these young people. Outside of the administrative center! of Koror, there is little to excite the active and capable person who has become accustomed to a more urban atmosphere. His age stands in the way of his achieving any crucial leadership position for some years to come. Even if he wished to teach other young people in his munici- pality .school, there are a limited number of openings available in a four- LEADERSHIP AND CULTURAL CHANGE 161 teacher school. After exposure to urban excitement, assimilation into a rural and extremely rustic community is difficult in any society; witness the numbers of young people in America who find it impossible to return to the somnolence of their place of native birth in North Dakota or Nebraska after four years of college in a major metropolis. So it is in Palau. Dissatisfaction and unrest are among the effects of being forced to return to one's native village. A consequence of this dissatisfaction and unrest is that many young people (even those who have not been away to school) flock to Koror, where there exists the nearest facsimile of Guam and the wider world. Denied employment, they live with relatives, often causing an economic strain. Boredom and dissatisfaction combine to effect rebellious behavior. Delinquency and its unsavory rewards result. One suspects that, in spite of Roth's rather rosy estimate of the assimi- lation of young educated persons in Fiji, something of the same nature as that in Palau is happening among young Fijians. In fact Roth (1953, p. 161) notes: While the genuine workers have little difficulty in finding a reasonably permanent outlet for their various qualifications there is a tendency for youths to seek part-time work in closely-settled or industrial centres. Here amid the so-called glamour of an alien way of life they exist on a small weekly wage eked out by partly free board and lodging provided by relatives. But these transient excitements they enjoy in an atmos- phere where there is no customary discipline and where they behave as they like with impunity. Overcrowded conditions, particularly but not only in Suva, lead to out- breaks of hooliganism or vice. . . . THE IMPERATIVE QUALITY OF DIRECTED CHANGE Non-material elements of culture have long been assumed by anthro- pologists to offer greater barriers to integration than material ones. Kee- sing has gone even farther by suggesting that any given culture may be separated into two groups of "zones." One group of zones consists of those in which the persistence of old ways and non-change may be ex- pected (Keesing, 1953b, p. 83): . . . those which appear to show a high frequency of persistence, as pertaining to basic survival, security, integrity, value, problem solving, for the group concerned, and in which, if change or interference occurs, the greatest disturbance and tension is likely to be generated. Categories cover essentials of psycho-somatic conditioning, communica- tion, organic maintenance, primary group relations, prestige status maintenance, territorial security, and ideological (including religious) security. The categories I have italicized have particular significance for leader- ship change. To these we might add power sanctions, loci of social control, and decision-making. 162 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU The other zones consist of those "in which mobility or ready change tend to appear with high frequency." These, Keesing indicates, are rela- tively "nonaffectively charged techniques" to which he refers as "instru- mentalities." Included are tools, etiquette, and military tactics. Gener- ally the categories in this group of zones relate to relatively "impersonal or mass social structures." A point which requires stressing in the light of the Palauan data is that under directed cultural change the zones of culture which are often hit the hardest are the hard core of culture — Keesing's "zones of persistence." The less persistent zones of culture — Keesing's "zones of mobility" — are the flesh of culture, so to speak, where more choice is left to the subordi- nate group. A good bit of the "theorizing" about what happens under conditions of acculturational change gives the impression that the cultures in contact are relatively equivalent. This is rarely, if ever, the case. The Palauan data point up the importance of a realistic attitude about domi- nance and submission in contact relations. Palauans have had relatively little choice in some areas of change. Alterations have been demanded and secured. As in all situations of contact, impact has been uneven (see Danielsson, 1956, p. 222). The conditions of directed acculturational change are such that some zones of culture which under non-directed change would be expected to be resistant to change are those which stand the l^est chance of being programatically required to change. Resistance still occurs, to be sure, but it takes the form of "post-acceptance" modifications based on con- genial interpretations. To the extent that a subordinate culture can com- promise its zones of persistence with demands for change in those zones, it will avoid cultural disintegration. Inability to compromise with the requirements for change imposed by a dominant culture can have only dire results. Palauans seem to have (and to have had) a penchant for adapting to new ways. This has been true even in zones of persistence, where accept- ance has been enforced. A generalized receptivity to change is one of the most marked features of Palauan culture (Barnett, 1953, p. 59). The Palauans expect change in their culture and most of them are resigned to it; some gladly welcome it. This attitude is in harmony with their history. It appears that they have always been politically unsettled, and conquest and penalization for defeat are not new to them. Since the discovery of the islands by Europeans they have Fig. 27. Emergent economic leaders. Upper: Asao, successful store owner in Koror village. Lower: Haruo, who takes care of his father's store in Mengellang village of Ngerechelong mimicipality. 163 164 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU taken their domination by foreign peoples as a matter of course; it is a prerogative that goes to the victor. What Barnett is claiming for Palauans here is a congenial attitude toward change which has deep cultural roots and enables a successful adaptation to the new, even in crucial and deep-seated, "persistent" zones of culture. The conditions of directed acculturational change are such as to cause us to revise some of our understandings of the processes of change as they are viewed when we assume that the cultures in contact are relatively equivalent. It is a commonplace that prestige values will often recom- mend an element of culture to a borrowing group. However, if an element is deliberately introduced by a donor culture, prestige values which would recommend it for acceptance if the recipient culture had free choice in the matter need not necessarily even be perceiv^ed. When a subordinate cul- ture is forced to accept an element or a complex of elements, adaptation becomes an essential means of survival. If we were able to tally the num- ber of instances of the existence of Nadel's "social symbiosis" in today's world, they probably would be in the considered minority when compared with instances of great disparity between contact groups and a consequent domination of one by the other. ^ Since the development of machine tech- nology in the last few centuries such disparity has become especially pro- nounced. Certainly the history of contact between relatively complex civilizations and rather more primitive peoples far antedates this period, but it is since the development of advanced technologies that disparities have become greater and at the same time contacts with less developed cultures have been accelerated through the creation of better and faster modes of transportation. Contact between cultures has become much more than the mere trad- ing of a few superficial features of culture which did nothing radical as far as revising the basic integrity of either of the contact groups. It has become increasingly revolutionary in its scope. DOMINANCE TOWARD SELF-DETERMINATION As a result of the steadily increasing directive tendencies of the admin- istrations which have governed Palau, cultural change has advanced apace as the years of contact have become extended. The present American administration is something of a paradox to Palauans. It directs change, 1 Just how long such instances of disparity between industrialized and relatively non-industrialized cultures will continue to exist is a moot point and no attempt is made here to offer an answer. Points which would have to be considered in such a prognostication would seem to be available natural resources, relative population (and, therefore, labor force) size, individual and collective motivation, aptitudes, desire for and rates of change, etc. LEADERSHIP AND CULTURAL CHANGE 165 but it also expects Palauans to strive for self-sufficiency. This latter fea- ture is understandably puzzling to a people who have been accustomed to domination which left little room for the expression of their own wills. "Domination," says Roucek (1947, p. 279), "is the process . . . which limits interaction and forcibly controls . . . activities ... in the direction of values or goals chosen by [the dominator]." The general history of leadership change in Palau is adequately described by this definition, and it is also appropriate to the changes in leadership which are being brought about currently by the American administration in the introduction of concepts of local representative government through elected leaders. The difference is that the present dominant culture has introduced a series of new and revolutionary concepts which actually are coercive in a totally different direction. They have as their ultimate aim the dissolution of externally imposed dominance. This situation is extremely puzzling to Palauans. The absence of a tradition of self-sufficiency under foreign administration leaves a void which at times is unproductive of guides for action. The present admin- istration's insistence upon the development of indigenous responsibility for motivating action is sometimes interpreted by Palauans as a lack of interest in promoting indigenous welfare. There appears to be a real dysfunction in sudden shifts of expectations as to the expression of free will and the assumption of responsibility for self-determination by in- digenous leaders. Equally puzzling to Palauans, and unresolvably so to some, is their perception of the former Japanese administration as contrasted with that of the United States. Even though the Japanese administration actively promoted ends which served its own purposes, sometimes to the detriment of those which would have been to the best interests of Palauans, the feel- ing on the part of many Palauans is that they were much better off under Japanese rule than they are today. To some extent this is true if we use an economic yardstick. And this is what Palauans do when they express this attitude. Extensive colonization in the Palaus by Japanese immigrants and entrepreneurs created a situation which was economically quite beneficial to some Palauans. The fact that some benefits, such as the opportunity to earn wages as an employee of a Japanese businessman or the chance to buy goods imported from Japan in local stores run by the Japanese, were not specifically designated for Palauan well-being and prosperity, is not clearly understood. Instead, comparisons are made between the Japanese period and the present one in which only a few Americans are present and colonizing and business enterprise by non-Palauans are interdicted. 166 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU Today the "fringe" or "marginal" benefits which were the fortuitous result of a large alien population, such as was the case in Japanese times, are denied Palauans. Government positions for natives are restricted in number. Consequently, elements of material culture which formerly were in sufficient supply so as to result in "surpluses" enjoyed by Palauans are not so numerous. The Japanese period is looked upon as a sort of "golden era" in which times were prosperous beyond precedent. DOMINANT CULTURE RESISTANCE TO CHANGE In all likelihood the problems of culture transfer under directed cul- tural change generally will be greater than if change were not enforced, but rather more a matter of choice. Wherever behavioral responses are restricted through direction under domination, the risk of heightened frus- tration and possibly aggression is greater than where choice is freer. How- ever, another factor must be considered, and this is the desire of a people to change. If pressure for change under dominance is matched by a cor- responding intensity of desire for change in the directions under enforce- ment, the adaptation will proceed with facility, even under relatively stringent conditions. A case of widespread desire for change in another Pacific culture is pointed to by Mead in her treatment of accelerated cul- tural change in Manus (1956, p. 442). She carries her point even farther by commenting that a subordinate culture may well wish to change with greater speed than the dominant culture is willing to allow. This, she says, constitutes "resistance to giving" by the members of the more developed culture. This way of looking at resistance to change is something of a de- parture from our customary attitude with respect to resistance to change. Mead's comments which follow from the above statements are a con- siderable moral indictment of the administration of native peoples by the Western world. She offers the view that too often only a restricted meas- ure of dominant culture content is off"ered the administered. Unwilling- ness to allow full social participation in the Western way of life seems all too prevalent to Mead. Emissaries of cultures of the Western world advo- cate changes in dress, sanitation, architecture, exploitation of resources, political representation, civil law, education, and so on, while at the same time they deny access to statuses of prestige and the degree of social partici- pation allowed non-native peoples. It is not my intention to off'er a discussion of the moral quality of the contact situation in present-day Palau as Mead has done for conditions of contact in general. What is important to this study, however, is her com- ment about restricted social participation. While, by and large, Mead's comments with respect to limited social participation hold true in Palau, LEADERSHIP AND CULTURAL CHANGE 167 what must be added is, first, that a far greater degree of social acceptance and participation exists than in certain other Pacific dependencies under European administration; and, secondly, that social acceptance and par- ticipation are awarded to native leaders to a far greater extent than to members of the native community at large. Degree of acculturation seems to have a great deal to do with just how extensive a given leader's social participation in the dominant culture is allowed to be. In Palau, for example, several of the young emergent leaders in the field of medicine are more frequently invited to the homes of American administrative personnel for purely social reasons than any other members of Palauan culture. These are ordinarily young people who have been away to school in Guam or Hawaii and with whom the mem- bers of the American administrative community have considerably more in common than with the Palauan who has slight knowledge of English and has never left his nativ^e village. Less acculturated leaders also are more in evidence at American social gatherings than non-leaders. Another criterion beyond mere "degree of acculturation" which should be noted and which may explain why medical specialists are allowed a relatively greater degree of social participation in the American community is that they constitute no "resurgent threat" to the members of the administra- tion. Relatively "militant" political leaders may constitute such a threat. Hence, they are unconsciously denied the same rather extensive degree of participation enjoyed by the relatively "non-resurgent" medical personnel. At official Palauan social gatherings at which Americans are in attend- ance, only the more prestigeful members of the administration are likely to be invited. Of course at unofficial levels of social interaction, there are many contacts between non-leaders from both cultures, but much more important to consider are the "official" contacts. Perhaps what is demon- strated by this "social selectivity" as far as participants are concerned is another possible universal of leadership, namely, that leaders ordinarily have more social contacts and opportunities for social interaction outside the groups they lead than do their followers (see Whyte, 1955, p. 259). RATE OF CHANGE: ATTITUDES, POLICIES, AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE Palauan culture is undergoing rapid change. Palauans are anxious to adopt new ways which they consider to be superior to their own. The general positive attitude maintained toward Americans and things Amer- ican has been mentioned earlier in this study. Linton (1940, p. 484) rec- ognized the importance of the attitude of the recipient culture toward the donor culture when he said: "... the attitudes of the receiving group 168 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU toward the donor group will attach themselves ... to the elements of cul- ture which contact between the two groups makes available for borrow- ing." Positive general attitudes toward American culture have facilitated a rapid rate of leadership change in Palau under the American admin- istration. Rapid rates of change often have been pointed to as productive of difficulties in acculturating groups. If total cultural disintegration were not the result, at least there ensued considerable unrest and serious dys- functional effects. A departure from the idea that these developments were the only predictable ones recently has been made. Mead's observa- tion of an extremely rapid rate of cultural change in Manus has led her to suggest that where the people of a culture actively desire change, an integrated and well-balanced culture is best achieved by rapid change. This point of view assumes that partial change over protracted periods of time in some cases actually can be productive of discord and incongruences. Mead thinks that dominant administrations have two courses. Either they should introduce changes in as abstract a form as possible so that they may be incorporated within old patterns with a minimum of change, or they should introduce as much of a given culture pattern as possible so that all the congruent elements may be made available to the recipient culture and it will not have to tack together a patchwork of ill-adaptive indigenous elements to "piece out" partial patterns which have been in- troduced. Leadership change in Palau lies somewhere between the ideal al- ternative approaches spelled out by Mead. Some introductions have been left at relatively abstract levels so as to allow freedom of interpretation, and so as not to overtax the recipients and /or disastrously upset indigenous patterns. In other cases, introductions have been highly specific. Mead's support of "all out" change is difficult for anthropologists with strong rela- tivistic ideas to accept. Policy formulations are carefully eschewed by most anthropologists in applied fields. Direct recommendations are shied away from. Firth (1957, p. 209) has stated that the ideal role of the applied anthropologist in solving problems in so-called underdeveloped countries is limited to "diagnosis" and "prediction." The same point is discussed by Barnett (1956). There are, nonetheless, serious implications for Palauan leadership change in what Mead has to say about alternative modes of directed change. At a very concrete level, should administrators, noting some of the dys- functional effects of the institutionalized reluctance of leaders to make decisions, bear down hard on emergent leaders and demand decisiveness? Should assertive qualities of leadership be rewarded over non-assertive ones? Should women and members of the legislature with relatively low- LEADERSHIP AND CULTURAL CHANGE 169 ranking sib affiliations be actively urged to participate to greater extent? These are questions answerable only in terms of the possible outcomes of such actions. The same effects may be brought about through time with perhaps a greater chance of avoiding difficulties. Under programatic rapid change, traditional modes of leadership and the associated values tend to crumble more rapidly. Chiefs already feel so little a part of legis- lative activity at times that at one recent congress one of them rose and announced to the assembly that it seemed to him that the chiefs were of so little consequence in the activities of the congress that they might as well go home. My personal conviction is that Mead's alternative of complete and maximum change is a more drastic step than would be advisable in terms of Palauan leadership — in spite of widespread Palauan amenability to and desire for change. For example, I can not agree with her that there are no generational differences in attitudes toward change. She says of Manus: "The people of Peri all changed together as a unit— parents, grandparents, and children — so that the old mesh of human relations could be rewoven into a new pattern from which no thread was missing." Mead goes on to say: "As living individuals remembering their old ways and their old rela- tionships, they could move into a new kind of village, live in new kinds of houses, participate in a new kind of democracy, with no man's hand against another, no child alienated from the self or from the others." (Mead, 1956, p. 452.) This Utopian characterization seems to be an over- simplification for Manus and, as a matter of fact, even a contradiction of her comments elsewhere in her study as quoted earlier in this chapter (op. cit., p. 418). The conditions of change she describes for Manus would hardly be true of Palau if more vigorous attempts at change were undertaken. Palau (as probably is true of most other societies, too) is not so homogeneous a culture that some segments will not be affected more than others by cultural changes which more closely impinge upon them. There is too vast a corpus of traditional cultural elements with respect to leadership, for example, for traditional leaders to change all together as a unit along with individuals of younger generations whose stake in the old ways is naturally much more limited. A more prudent approach to leadership change in terms of ultimate effects, particularly under an administration which is attempting to incul- cate "democratic" ideals, would seem to be one in which specific dysfunc- tions would be combated with specific guides for action, and education toward self-sufficiency would proceed over a relatively longer period of time with a slower rate of change than would be true under Mead's "revolutionary" alternative. The current general positive attitude toward 170 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU American culture tends to expedite the contemporary rate of cultural change in Palau. So long as it exists, change will proceed apace in the area of leadership as well as in other areas of culture. I Appendix I: Methodology THE PLAN OF THE STUDY Initial Phase of Orientation and Site Selection The sixteen months of field work upon which this study is based be- gan on December 10, 1954. The administrative center of Koror served as a base of operations for me and my wife while we were getting estab- lished. The initial period of several months was one of adjustment and orientation. We discussed our research plans with members of the Amer- ican administration and we secured from them many helpful recommen- dations and suggestions. One of our first tasks was learning the Palauan language. The services of a capable guide and translator were engaged. This individual, a man of considerable prestige in Palauan society, had a passable grasp of English and had been an employee of the administration for several years. In addition to serving as a linguistic informant, this individual accompanied me to a number of Palauan communities which were considered as possible sites for intensive investigation. The over-all research plan was to divide time in the field equally be- tween two Palauan communities. Ideally, the two communities were to represent the greatest degree of contrast possible within present-day Pa- lauan culture, so as to allow observation and study of one community which represented maximum change from traditional Palauan culture and another which represented minimum change. The selection of the most changed community presented no problem. The administration center of Koror was the only choice. This community has experienced a more intensive history of contact with alien cultures over a longer period of time than has any other community in Palau. It was formerly even more of an administrative hub. Koror was the headquarters for the Japanese man- date of all Micronesia for many years. This community has been the center for commercial as well as governmental activities throughout a long history of contact. It remains so and is the major port of entry in the Palau Islands since it is adjacent to the only deep-water harbor. Koror village on Koror Island is the urban center of Palau. Among other things which are over-and-above, but also related to, the presence of government headquarters, Koror boasts the main trading company in 171 172 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU Palau, the only movie, numerous stores and restaurants, three mission churches and schools, electric power, a rudimentary water system, a hos- pital, and the only secondary school in the district. It is also the head- quarters for the Palau constabulary force. There are several other urban features of Koror which are largely due to the existence there of the ad- ministrative headquarters. One is a government weather station and the other an entomology laboratory. Koror also contains the only post office in the Palaus. The District Court sits in Koror, and the village is the con- vening headquarters for such groups as the Palauan legislature and the pan-Palau Board of Education. Even with all these features, it is hardly the thriving metropolis it was during Japanese times when geisha houses, hotels, and Japanese-owned businesses, homes, and military installations crowded the tiny island. In those days there was even a park and a zoo. For these reasons the decision to conduct half of the field study in Koror had been made long before going into the field. The selection of the other site for investigation was a more difficult problem. A series of criteria had to be satisfied by the second community. Ideally it had to be as nearly representative of aboriginal Palau as possible, so as to aff"ord the least altered view available of traditional social structure and political organiza- tion, and hence, of leadership. The more closely this community corre- sponded to traditional Palauan culture, the better it was for the purpose of the study. It also seemed desirable to obtain a community which had not been studied previously by anthropologists. This was to avoid dupli- cation and to provide comparative data. This criterion immediately ruled out three communities. The community had to be small enough in space and population to facilitate the study of its various villages or hamlets without the expendi- ture of an undue amount of time in travel between them. Also, the com- munity selected had to be representative of aboriginal settlement patterns and possess a complete range of age groups. A number of communities were eliminated from consideration because they had been drained of many young adults through emigration to Koror or Guam. Sought for as well was a community which exhibited viable political activity, so that a view could be obtained of Palauan "grass-roots" leader- ship. Finally, it had to be an integrated and well-functioning social unit, free of excessive disruptive factionalism, and reasonably vital. After a series of reconnaissance visits to outlying communities it was decided that the community of Ngerechelong at the northernmost tip of Babeldaob Island and about twenty-five miles from Koror fulfilled the criteria for site selection better than any other Palauan community. Therefore, necessary arrangements were made to depart from Koror for APPENDIX I: METHODOLOGY 173 Ngerechelong, and the "remote village" phase of the study began on March 1, 1955. The Remote Village Phase Ngerechelong is one of fourteen communities within the Palaus which are designated by the administration as municipalities. As is true of the other municipalities, Ngerechelong is a semi-autonomous territorial and political entity. Its boundaries are based on aboriginal ones. The seven villages of present-day Ngerechelong also were aligned together as a polit- ical and territorial entity during pre-contact times. At the time of this study approximately 600 persons resided in the municipality. In dealings with the administration they were represented by an elected official called a magistrate. They supported their own elementary school and levied and collected taxes for its support and the support of their elected repre- sentatives as well as various community projects. Ngerechelong's geographical location at the tip of the big island of Babeldaob renders it a relatively isolated community. It is bordered on three sides by water and on a fourth by a narrow neck of land. Above this stricture, the municipality reaches northward for a distance of between two and three miles and is about a mile to a mile and a half wide at its greatest width. The land is hilly, and the hills are often bare and eroded. The lower areas and the stream courses, however, are well supplied with foliage. Mengellang, the main village of Ngerechelong, is the seat of political control. The senior chief of the community lives there, and there also the community has erected its municipal office in which the magistrate holds forth. It was in Mengellang that the headquarters for this phase of the field study was established. Arrangements were made to live with a native family. For seven months my wife and I participated as much as possible in the family life of the household and in village and community life in general. All seven of the villages in the municipality were included within the scope of the study. There were fewer than twenty houses in Mengellang in 1955. A small general store, a public meeting house, a part-time medical dispensary, and the municipal office rounded out the village structures. A single grass- covered road bisected the village, which was set on top of a hill. From Mengellang it was a steep three-quarters of a mile in either of two direc- tions to the sea. On all sides the land sloped steeply away to the low swampy taro fields where the women went each day to work. The household which served as field headquarters in Mengellang was surrounded by leaders. The magistrate had his home and store across the 174 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU road. The senior chief of Ngerechelong is also the head chief of Mengel- lang village. His house was about a minute's walk in one direction from the headquarters and the municipal office was about as far in the other. As it turned out, the widow with whom we lived was the senior title- holding female representative of the ranking kin group of one of two traditional village socio-political factions. Throughout this phase of the study there was ample opportunity to observe vigorous leadership be- havior at extremely close range. The household fluctuated in size from time to time because Palauans are essentially peripatetic. There is much visiting between relatives and sometimes the visits are quite extended. Some dependence was placed upon native sources for food during this phase of the study. Occasionally, however, because the supply of vege- tables and even fish was rather modest in the village and because every attempt was made not to work a hardship on the household, our diet was supplemented with surplus government "C" rations. One item of diet was always available in more than adequate quantities, however, and that was taro. Integration into village life was aided greatly because the "family" arrangement entered into corresponded with indigenous residence pat- terns and because of the prevalence of adoption in Palau. A wife custom- arily comes to live after marriage in the household of her husband's family of orientation. Sometimes some years elapse before the couple is able to establish a separate residence of its own. Not many weeks after my arrival it became clear that I had been adopted and that my role in the household was that of son. The confirmation of this fact actually became clear for the first time in terms of my wife's status rather than my own. She was reacted to as a daughter-in-law. She was the "outsider." It was with the development of several minor family crises involving "in- law" relations that we realized that a measure of rapport had been gained. The significance of this integration into the household was that once we were so ensconced, avenues were opened for more general integration. As the elder son in the household I found that I also was considered as a representative of the sib to which my "mother" belonged — my connection being, of course, maternal. As the ranks of the sib were at the time shy of male members and there was a vacant title for my sib on the village coun- cil of chiefs, I was urged to accept the title and participate in the activities of the council. True, the title was number nine in a roster of ten. Never- theless, I was accorded chiefly status and was expected to be present at all meetings of the chiefs and to contribute support to financial undertakings of the group — in keeping with my rank, of course, since degree of partici- pation and responsibility correspond to one's position on the council. APPENDIX I: METHODOLOGY 175 Obviously, for purposes of the study of leadership, no better opportunity could have been desired. From the time of my acceptance of the title, I was henceforth referred to as Ongetiu (literally, "ninth"). Of course, there were many other concomitant doors opened as a result of the relatively fortuitous circumstances of our choice of a household in which to live. For example, because I had been accorded chiefly status, and in spite of her comparatively junior age-status, my wife was, according to custom, allowed to become a member of the senior (oldest) women's age-grade society. From her vantage point of membership she was able to observe the senior female traditional leaders in the age-grade society, much as I was able to observ^e the senior male traditional leaders in the village council. The principal indication that chiefly rank had been vouchsafed in all sincerity was a totally different attitude which subsequently was displayed toward us. ^Vhen we first arrived in the village very special care had been taken to treat us as members of the American administration. Special consideration was given us at gatherings, where we would be seated on specially placed mats in a prominent position. If food was served, ours was the choicest available, and we were served first. Deferential treatment was the rule and, try as we might, we could not altogether discourage it. This is the customary hospitality and respect behavior shown visiting American administrators. Because Palau is a closed security area, virtu- ally the only American visitors to Ngerechelong besides ourselves had been members of the administration or missionaries, who are extended similar hospitality. Consequently, there was only one existing pattern of behavior where Americans were concerned. When our protestations that we were not members of the administra- tion and had come to Ngerechelong specifically for the purpose of learning aliout the way of life in Palau were finally accepted, a new way of reacting to us developed. A place in the community was found for us, and our statuses were defined. With the assumption of the title, deferential be- havior reserved for members of the administration was no longer accorded us. At social gatherings my seat was that of the ninth chief; my wife's place was with the women of the senior age-grade society. Our food was no longer necessarily the choicest, but corresponded in quality to my rank- position on the council of chiefs. We were no longer served first, but rather took our turn. One of the chief reasons why it was possible for us to be integrated was because we could communicate and be communicated with in the native language. Because the principal of the Ngerechelong school and one of his teachers were the only members of the community who spoke and 176 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU understood English with ease, it was necessary to use the native lan- guage almost exclusively in Ngerechelong. For approximately the first month of our stay in the remote village we had the services of the guide- translator we had hired upon our arrival in Palau. However, this individ- ual's family and small store were in Koror village and he did not wish to be away from them for very long. His wishes corresponded with our own desires to be as dependent upon our own linguistic ability as possible. By the time the translator left for Koror, our command of the language was sufficient to allow us to work alone with informants who spoke only Palauan. With his absence, our learning rate was accelerated perforce. Deprived of our "crutch," our linguistic legs grew stronger — and this was what we wanted. In order to observe leadership behavior, we attended village council meetings, municipal council meetings, and informal caucuses, and worked with teachers, municipal leaders, and chiefs. We observed the course of the election of a new magistrate and documented the intrigues centering upon the selection of a new village chief. In the latter case we saw the means by which two rival sibs were vying for the focal power position in the village; in the former, we witnessed the first faltering steps of the new- born institution of electing representatives to leadership positions. In order to understand the meanings of traditional leadership, we in- vestigated village socio-political structures and saw the basic patterns of power and leadership emerge. Study of the social organization of the community was essential to understanding the background of traditional leadership and the reasons for the obvious stalemates and dysfunctions in the exercise of leadership; these we noted, but at first could not explain. Accordingly, we reconstructed traditional schemes of organization through the use of elder informants. In this way we gained an understanding of the kinship system, which, in turn, made possible an understanding of hereditary leadership. We collected genealogies, life histories, and per- sonal data from both traditional and emergent leaders so as to determine family connections, individual characteristics, general backgrounds, spe- cial competences and skills, travel experiences, etc. We attempted to discover in this way just why these individuals had been singled out by their society as leaders. To better understand the meaning of traditional political power and leadership at the village level we mapped all seven villages, located sib land, delineated traditional political boundaries, and noted the general interrelation of kin group affiliation with relative politi- cal power and leadership. As a part of our general survey of the community we made a complete census, recorded household composition and the genealogical relation- APPENDIX I: METHODOLOGY 177 ships of each household member, and compared contemporary village and family organization with that of yesteryear. Also treated were in- heritance patterns, old and new agents of social control, social stratifica- tion, and the exchange system. We sat in on land disputes, divorce settle- ments, and house-buying ceremonies. During the course of our stay we noted the observances of various life crisis situations such as birth, mar- riage, and funeral ceremonies. In each case the guiding principle which determined whether or not we should study a given feature of culture was whether or not it would throw light on the basic problem of leadership and cultural change. Ngerechelong lived up to our most optimistic expectations in fulfilling the requirements of the over-all plan of the study. We concluded the remote village phase of the study after seven months and on October 1, 1955, returned to Koror for the "urban" village phase. The "Urban" Village Phase Koror, the fons et origo of Palauan cultural change, stood in sharp con- trast to the relatively quiet and sleepy "country town" where we had just spent a little over half a year. There had been busy times in Ngereche- long, but the general pace was slower. There, the most advanced land transport was in the form of two or three small oxcarts, roads were hardly more than widened trails, and trading company boats paid only irregular calls. Here, in Koror, there were bicycles, jeeps, and graded roads. Several piers were busy every day with native boats from outlying areas, and once every several months a supply ship made port. Here there was a weekly plane which served as Palau's chief link with the outside world. Here was the government radio station, electric power, and even an ice cream machine in one native store and a jukebox in another. This was the "city." By the current standards of the Western world even Koror is a pretty rustic community, but in Palau it is the apogee of urbanism. The first job in Koror was to find suitable working headquarters. Government housing was completely occupied at the time and because of large-scale emigration to Koror from other areas of Palau, native hous- ing was also at a premium. To have attempted to live with another Palauan family would have created hardship and would not have afforded the privacy we wished for the "urban" phase. Moreover, we had been integrated into a native community already and had learned what we wished from that experience. In Koror our problems of rapport were of a different order. Palauans knew who we were and that we had lived in Ngerechelong for some months. They knew we were not administration personnel. Our status was defined al- ready. In other words, it was not necessary for us to further validate our 178 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU reasons for making inquiry. We did not wish "family" obligations or encumbrances of loyalty to any particular sib, council, age-grade group, lineage, or household. Rather, we wished to rove freely in the commu- nity, concentrating on various features of leadership and change as cir- cumstances allowed. At times we devoted ourselves to a survey of administrative records. Census data, certain administrative correspondence, office files dealing with native affairs, and other government records were placed at our disposal. Some of these related to the background and development of Palauan legislative bodies. At other times, when the legislature convened or when other groups of leaders met to discuss some issue, we devoted our- selves to observation. During the urban phase of the study we established headquarters at the entomology laboratory in Koror. A large room served as living and working space. The arrangement was particularly desirable since the laboratory was removed from the main administration housing areas and it was our wish to remain unidentified with the administration. At the same time, the laboratory was sufficiently centrally located so that most parts of Koror could be reached quickly. In the months that followed the return to Koror we interviewed and observed leaders in political aff'airs and specialist leaders such as those in religious groups, leaders engaged in economic pursuits, public health func- tionaries, administration employees, and so on. We concentrated also on describing and analyzing the local kin groups as well as the general struc- tural organization of Koror village proper and the smaller surrounding villages within its immediate political penumbra. A new series of life histories of leaders was collected, and standardized personal data were gathered for individuals in all categories of leadership. Extensive interviews were conducted with relatively youthful emergent leaders. In this last phase of the study the preliminary proceedings and actual meetings of two sessions of the Palauan Congress were observed and re- corded. One of these sessions was held in October of 1955 and the other in April of 1956. Our study of the remote village had been interrupted in order to observe the ninth biannual session of the congress during April of 1955. These three legislative sessions, each of one week's dura- tion, provided a vivid view of both formal and informal behavior in one category of emergent leadership. The fact that the sessions were consecu- tive lent a desirable quality of continuity to the analysis. During this last phase of field work, the community of American ad- ministrators was included within the scope of the study. Certain members APPENDIX I: METHODOLOGY 179 of the administration who were vitally concerned with overseeing the de- velopment of self-government were as much subjects of observation as were the Palauan leaders. These administration officials were the agents who were introducing new elements of culture relating to leadership. Their interaction with representatives of the receiving culture was an extremely important desideratum of the study. Koror village afforded the most panoramic view of emergent leader- ship in Palau chiefly because it was where the majority of emergent leaders were to be found. Their leadership roles made their presence there obligatory. We were able to observe sessions of the District Court with Palauan judges presiding. We noted the leadership roles played by medical practitioners at the Koror hospital. The fact that economic entre- preneurship is most prevalent in Koror enabled us to view the behavior of economic leaders. And so it was with specialists, native administrative employees, and Koror municipal officials. Our observation of the multifarious categories of emergent leadership was coupled with an investigation of traditional leadership in Koror. This latter was particularly important because of the focal socio-political position of Koror village in pre-contact times. As has been shown above, Koror was pre-eminent in one of two political confederations and was, at the time of contact with representatives of the Western world in 1783, in ascendancy over all of Palau. With the observation of the eleventh session of the Palau Congress in the spring of 1956 the second main phase of the field study of Palauan leadership was concluded. On April 14, we left Palau. STUDY METHODS AND TECHNIQUES Beyond an over-all participant-observation field approach employed in this study, subsidiary means were utilized for securing and ordering data. The Outline of Cultural Materials system of filing data was used. All field notes were typed in duplicate, as soon after elicitation as possible. Immediate reworking of the first notes allowed a review of each interview while the material was fresh. Expansion was the usual result. Lacunae were noted and new elicitations secured to fill them. The carbon copy was mailed to the United States and the first copy and the original rough notes were retained in the field until the completion of the field project, when they, too, were mailed to the United States, a few at a time. This seem- ingly cumbersome means of separate field note shipment was to avoid loss. In order to become familiar with Palauan culture, we had consulted the literature on Palau before leaving for the field. Several anthropolog- ical reports on various aspects of Palauan culture based on field work con- 180 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU ducted from 1947 to 1949 form the most recent documentation of Palauan culture (Barnett, 1949; Ritzenthaler, 1954; Useem, 1949; and Vidich, 1949). The field work upon which these most recent reports are based was part of a pan-Micronesian project called the Co-ordinated Investi- gation of Micronesian Anthropology (CIMA). The data of the reports provided a convenient springboard for inquiry. A further review of this literature was made during the first phase of the study, and excerpts of each native term appearing in the texts along with the accompanying definitions (often abstracted) were transcribed onto 3" X 5" cards. These cards were then placed in one of twelve cate- gories with appropriate questions written on attached slips of paper. These twelve categories were designed simply to combine related materials for ease of investigation. The categories were as follows: kinship; titles and names; religion and the supernatural; death and death ceremonies; money; community; sayings; birth and birth ceremonies; general vocabulary; ex- change system; adoption; social position. In the early months of the study the categories were used as the basis for eliciting information which had significance for the study of leadership and cultural change. This technique also allowed a check on the relia- bility of the CIMA research on Palau and provided an organized means for going beyond those earlier investigations. Because the primary focus of the study was on leadership, leaders were, of course, the primary subjects of investigation. Since leaders form a rela- tively small proportion of the Palauan population, sampling theory had little meaning for the study. For example, in Ngerechelong municipality we dealt with a limited number of chiefs, one magistrate, three congress- men, several teachers, and a handful of informal leaders. Owing to the relatively small number of individuals involved, it was both necessary and possible to include them all in the study. To have drawn any sample at all from such a universe without prior knowledge of its characteristics, obviously would have skewed the findings toward inaccuracy since a ran- dom sample is not necessarily a representative one. A crucial point with regard to any field data is their reliability. In other words, were the same study to be conducted independently by an- other investigator, would the findings be the same? In this study, tech- niques of inquiry were utilized which I believe adequately assure the reliability of the findings. As has been mentioned, the findings of earlier studies were utilized. Our own findings either confirmed or failed to con- firm their reliability. Where our findings differed from earlier ones, we made a special eff'ort to treat the area exhaustively so as to make sure our own data were accurate. APPENDIX I: METHODOLOGY 181 Every attempt was made to assure reliability by utilizing multiple in- formants; by repeating questions on the same topics not only with a number of informants, but also with the same informant on separate occasions; and by checking and re-checking the information which seemed to be at variance with what otherwise appeared to be the logical patterns. Moreover, we used the native language in interviews and in everyday life and recorded certain data in the vernacular; also, we determined crucial meanings of key terms, and generally questioned the information we elicited until we were sure it was the consensus or that it integrated well with other information. Appendix II: Orthography The basic form of the orthography which has been employed in Palau stems from early German missionary attempts to reduce the native lan- guage to writing (Walleser, 1913). It has never been wholly satisfactory and usage has been far from uniform. The general recognition of the absence of a universally agreed upon system of spelling for the Palauan language and the resultant problems which had arisen culminated in a meeting of interested persons in Koror village during May of 1955. Present were representatives of the Palau District administration, officials of the mission schools, and members of the Palau District Education Department. The purpose of the meeting was to arrive at some consensus and to develop an orthography which would be agreeable to all concerned. The orthography used in this study corresponds only partially to that agreed upon by the committee. The transcriptions by missionaries, Ger- man ethnographers, CIMA team members, earlier standards of the edu- cation department, the decisions reached by the committee, and my own transcriptions were compared before we arrived at the final orthography. In this study the following symbols are used in the spelling of native terms : Vowels a as in father. e as in \^et (also designates the shwa as in rut). i as in machme. 0 as in note. u as in rude. This study differs from the agreed upon system (1955) in that long vowels are not designated by duplication and semivowels are used: Semivowels w as in w^U. y as in >'ou. In the adopted system labialized vowels are indicated by //, thus: uodel ("old"), not wodel. Also, palatalized vowels are indicated by /, thus: iolt ("wind"), not yolt. 182 APPENDIX II: ORTHOGRAPHY 183 ai as in h/gh. au as in lioase. oi as in soH. ei as in late. ao as in mouse.. Diphthongs Consonants ch "g often medial. often medial. sometimes as in sob sometimes as in sop sometimes as in width (unvoiced). sometimes as in /Aat (voiced). as in /ell. sometimes as in call sometimes as in "o as in /ead. as in wan. as in no (infrequent). as in rod. as in jail. glottal stop or velar fricative, as in German suchen. (This feature is changing; sometimes merely aspirated by younger speakers.) as in sing. Appendix III: Glossary of Palauan Terms abai: council house, men's clubhouse. Aibedul: senior male title of Koror village. ak: I. amaidechedui: small lizard. ar- (r): prefix denoting plurality with respect to persons. arbedcheduches: persons of lower family-status. archad: men (human beings). artal ulaol: (literally, people of one floor); members of a kin group (household, line- age, etc.). bab: up. Babeldaob: geographico-political division. belu: village (in extension, hamlet, town, city, state, country, etc.). bital {bitang): other. bital belu ma bital belu: (literally, other village and other village) ; refers to village moiety division. bital blai ma bital blai: (literally, other house and other house) ; refers to kin group seg- ments and vdllage moiety system. bital eiyanged: (literally, other heaven or sky); refers to major political confederation. bital taoch ma bital taoch: (literally, other channel and other channel); refers to village age-grade society alignment. bital wa ma bital wa: (literally, other leg and other leg); refers to kin group segments. bladek: ancestral spirit. blai {bin, possessive form): (1) house; (2) kin group term. blolobl: institutionalized concubinage. boldak: together. bul dil: prenatal divining ceremony. chad: human being. chad era ngebard: (literally, man of the west); white man. cheldebechel: age-grade club(s). cheldukl: stone house-yard platform. chelebechil: death settlement. chelid: (1) god; (2) middle. chelid el chad: (literally, god-man) ; supernatural being. chelimosk: wise person. daob: ocean. debechel: special food for title-assumption feast and, by extension, the name for such a feast. delach: stomach. di: just, only. di emol blai: just one house. diak: no, not (general negative). digimes oil: (literally, wet legs); "recent" immigrants. 184 APPENDIX III: GLOSSARY OF PALAUAN TERMS 185 Dira-: female house-title prefix. ebul: impoverished and/or unfortunate (refers to impoverished persons and connotes lower status). eiyanged: (1) heaven (or sky); (2) political confederation. emol (emong): one. era: to, for, with, from, in, of. ilaut: cooked palm flower juices. katur: left (side). kauchocharo: mutual enemies. ke-: prefix connoting mutuality. keblil: kin group term. kedikem: right (side). kedung: well-mannered, respectful, good. kinro hoshi: co-operative work. (Japanese) kl-: prefix connoting plurality under special conditions. kleblil: kin group term. klibedul: roster of men who have held the title of Aibedul. kloal saos: (literally, four posts); four top-ranking sibs within a village. klobak: council of chiefs. klobak el dil: (literally, council of women) ; female chiefs' council. kumiai: co-operative association. (Japanese) ma: and. mechas: (1) elder female; (2) vocative term for elder females, connoting respect. melingmes: patterned reticence, self-derogation, and reluctance to assume responsibility. mengesus: to exhibit respect behavior. mengol: (literally, to carry on shoulder); concubine. merau: wealthy (may refer to an individual, a kin group, or even a village). merreder: leader. mesekiu: dugong. meteet: upper social status. meteet el belu: high-ranking village meterakakel: reckless. meterakakel a ngarel: (literally, reckless with his mouth) ; unseemly and indecorous speech. metiud a belu: split of the village (moiety division). mich: a kind of nut. Modekngei: nativistic religion. mral: real, true. mral tegoi: (literally, real talk); truth. mur: feast. murengel a bechil: feast in honor of one's wife. ngalek: child. ngarel: his, her, its mouth. ngasech: lustration ceremony for mother at birth of her first child. ngebard: west. ngelong: front; a division within the village council of chiefs. ngi: he, she, it. Ngira-: male house-title prefix. obak: older brother (generic). ochel: matrilineal descent. 186 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU oheraol: house- or canoe-buying ceremony. oil: his, her, its leg. oktemelek: my maternal uncle — referential kinship term applied most frequently to Ego's mother's eldest male sibling, but extended to mother's other male siblings and sib-mates as well; general designation for senior males whose membership in a lineage is based on maternal ties. Olbil era Kelulau: Palau Congress. omotk oiyang: (literally, omotk, first bloom; oiyang, flower cluster of the coconut palm); jumping over, to accede to titled rank through supersedure.^ osiis: patterned respect behavior. 0U-: prefix denoting making, having, or doing. oungalek: (1) kin group term; (2) to make a child of. oiirot: general designation for females whose membership in a lineage is based on maternal ties; used also to designate female members of high-ranking sibs. pkid: peninsula. ptang: stone back-rest on council house platform; a seat of authority. rebai: back; a division within the village council of chiefs. rubak: (1) elder male; (2) vocative term for elder males, connoting respect. Riibak el Dios: God. seinen dan: young men's association; in Palau applied to both young men's and young women's age-grade societies. (Japanese) sengk: ceremony connected with a birth. (German; from Geschenk) tal (tang): one. talungalek: kin group term. taoch: channel. Tebechelel Olbil: Palau Council. tegoi: (1) language, word, talk; (2) thing. terul: two (refers to humans). terul udos: two female siblings. tngakereng: money payment. udoud (udoudir, possessive form) : money. ulaol: floor. ulechel: patrilineal descent. ulengang: god-house. uriul: after. uriul klobak: (literally, after council); lower-ranking members of some village councils. wa: leg (generic). waisei: yes (general affirmative); indicates accord, agreement, ratification. you: down. Touldaob: geographico-political division. 1 The use of these terms to describe a situation is an example of the extensive use of figures of speech in Palau. Informants diff"cred as to terms, but there was no dis- agreement as to the behavior described. One informant gave the terms noted here; another simply indicated that supersedure might be described through the use of the word omlotk ("to hop or jump over"). Walleser also gives this meaning for the term omlotk. Moreover, for the "flower cluster of the coconut palm," he records the term choeang, clearly the same term I have transcribed as oiyang. He does not, however, include the term omotk in his dictionary. The similarity between omlotk ("to jump over") and omotk ("first bloom") seems too close to be coincidental. My own tran- scription of the first of the terms descriptive of supersedure possibly should include the letter "1." Appendix IV: Documents PALAU DISTRICT TRUST TERRITORY OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDS CHARTER OF THE OLBHL ERA KELULAU ERA BELAU WHEREAS the Palau Congress was inaugurated on July 4, 1947, under the author- ity of the Military Government of the United States of America to act as a body of advisors to the Military Government of the Palau District; and WHEREAS the Palau Congress has met annually in regular sessions since its inau- guration; and WHEREAS the people of the Palau District of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands have stated their desire for representation in the government of their district; and WHEREAS the Congress of the United States of America has agreed by ratification on July 18, 1947, of the Trusteeship Agreement between the United States and the United Nations Security Council to promote the development of the inhabitants of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands toward self-government; NOW THEREFORE, I, Delmas H. Nucker, Deputy High Commissioner of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, do hereby charter the people of the Palau Dis- trict of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands to convene a Congress which shall be known as the OLBIIL ERA KELULAU ERA BELAU, hereinafter referred to in this document as the OLBIIL ERA KELULAU, to advise the District Administrator, and otherwise aid in the government of their District as hereinafter provided. Article I: MEMBERSHIP SECTION 1. The OLBIIL ERA KELULAU shall be composed of the two High Chiefs of North and South Palau, and of the magistrate, the recognized para- mount hereditary chief, and the duly elected representative or representatives of each municipality of the Palau District, these elected representatives to be herein- after referred to as CHADAL OLBIIL. SECTION 2. The secretary of each municipality shall certify each newly elected or appointed member of the OLBIIL ERA KELULAU from his municipality for eligibility and shall so inform the secretary of the OLBIIL ERA KELULAU prior to the opening of each session of that body. SECTION 3. Members of the OLBIIL ERA KELULAU may receive compensations and allowances for travel and subsistence as may be determined by each munici- pality. 187 188 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU Article II: REPRESENTATION IN CHADAL OLBIIL SECTION L Each municipality shall hold elections for CHADAL OLBIIL at least every two years. SECTION 2. Each municipality shall elect one but not more than five CHADAL OLBIIL provided, that if the population as determined by the last official census preceding election is less than 200 it shall elect one CHADAL OLBIIL; that if the population exceeds 199 but not 499 it shall elect two CHADAL OLBIIL; and that if the municipal population exceeds 499 it shall elect one additional CHADAL OLBIIL for each additional 500 population or fraction thereof. SECTION 3. Any citizen of the Trust Territory is eligible for membership in the CHADAL OLBIIL, regardless of sex, provided that he has attained the age of twenty-six years prior to the date of election; and that he has been a resident of the Palau District for more than three years prior to the date of election; and that he has been a resident of the municipality which he is to represent for the year immediately preceding his election; and that he has been elected by vote of the electorate of that municipality; and that he continue to be a permanent resident of the municipal district from which he was elected for the period of his term in office. SECTION 4. An CHADAL OLBIIL shall serve for a term of two years following the date of his election, unless he is removed from office as hereinafter provided, or until such a time as his successor is elected or appointed. Article III: OFFICERS SECTION 1 . A member of the OLBIIL ERA KELULAU shall be elected president, to be known as BEDUL OLBIIL, by majority vote of that body at the beginning of each April session. He shall serve until the qualification of his successor, unless he is removed from office or dies in office, in which case a new president shall be elected to complete his term. SECTION 2. The BEDUL OLBIIL shall be assisted by a secretary, whom he shall appoint with the approval of the OLBIIL ERA KELULAU. SECTION 3. The BEDUL OLBIIL shall be assisted by a body of advisors to be known as TEBECHELEL OLBIIL; he shall appoint the TEBECHELEL OLBIIL with the approval of the OLBIIL ERA KELULAU. Article IV: MEMBERSHIP VACANCIES SECTION 1. Upon the death or ineligibility of a duly elected CHADAL OLBIIL, a substitute shall be appointed by the municipal council to represent the munici- pality for the remainder of the term of office so vacated. SECTION 2. In the event that a duly elected CHADAL OLBIIL or a magistrate is unable to attend a session of the OLBIIL ERA KELULAU, a substitute may be appointed by the municipal council to represent the municipality for that session. SECTION 3. An CHADAL OLBIIL may be removed for cause by the District Ad- ministrator or by petition of two-thirds of the electorate of his municipality and a substitute shall be appointed by his municipal council to fill the unexpired term in office. SECTION 4. After certification by their municipal secretary, appointees to the OLBIIL ERA KELULAU under the provisions of Sections 1, 2, and 3 of this APPENDIX IV: DOCUMENTS 189 Article shall in all ways be considered members of the OLBIIL ERA KELULAU with all of the powers of those whom they are appointed to replace. SECTION 5. In the event that the paramount hereditary chief of a municipality or either of the two High Chiefs is unable to attend a session of OLBIIL ERA KELULAU, he may designate a substitute who shall have all the powers that he himself could exercise if present. In cases where a paramount chief is unable to confer such appointment, his chief's council may act in his stead. The council will certify such appointment and will so inform the secretary of the OLBIIL ERA KELULAU prior to the opening of its next session. Article V: POWERS SECTION 1 . The OLBIIL ERA KELULAU shall have the power of resolution upon any subject, including but not limited to those herein specifically mentioned. SECTION 2. The OLBIIL ERA KELULAU shall determine its own rules and pro- cedures, provided that they do not contravene any provisions of this charter, and may choose any officers or employees it deems desirable in addition to those herein provided. SECTION 3. The OLBIIL ERA KELULAU is hereby empowered to receive and administer real and personal property, including that which was formerly acquired or held by the Congress authorized and existing pursuant to District Order 1-49. SECTION 4. The OLBIIL ERA KELULAU shall have the power by resolution to levy and provide for the collection of taxes and fees. SECTION 5. The OLBIIL ERA KELULAU shall have the power to disburse funds in accordance with resolutions. Article VI: MEETINGS SECTION 1. The OLBIIL ERA KELULAU shall meet as a single body, convened in regular session during April and October at dates to be fixed by that body prior to the close of the previous session. SECTION 2. The OLBIIL ERA KELULAU may be convened in special session by the BEDUL OLBIIL or by petition of one-third of its membership. SECTION 3. Any session of the OLBIIL ERA KELULAU shall be adjourned by majority vote. SECTION 4. A quorum to do business shall consist of two-thirds of the CHADAL OLBIIL and two-thirds of the membership not eligible to vote on resolutions. Article VII: VOTING SECTION 1. All members of the OLBIIL ERA KELULAU shall have equal rights and privileges, except as hereinafter provided. SECTION 2. All members of the OLBIIL ERA KELULAU shall have the right to propose resolutions and to vote on all matters except resolutions. The CHADAL OLBIIL alone shall have the right to vote on resolutions, each CHADAL OLBIIL having a single vote. Magistrates, paramount hereditary chiefs, and the two High Chiefs of North and South Palau may vote on resolutions only if they are also elected CHADAL OLBIIL. 190 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU SECTION 3. Any matter, in order to be expressed as a resolution of the OLBIIL ERA KELULAU, shall require a two-thirds majority vote of the CHADAL OLBIIL present and voting. SECTION 4. The secretary of the OLBIIL ERA KELULAU shall maintain a rec- ord of all sessions of that body and forward a copy thereof in Palauan or in English as the body may determine, to the District Administrator. SECTION 5. Resolutions adopted by the OLBIIL ERA KELULAU shall be signed by the BEDUL OLBIIL and the secretary and submitted to the District Admin- istrator. SECTION 6. Resolutions will be approved or disapproved by the High Commissioner within a period of one hundred and eighty days from the date of acceptance by the District Administrator of an English translation thereof; if the High Commissioner fails to approve or disapprove any resolution before the expiration of the one hun- dred and eighty day period, the resolution shall be considered approved, providing it does not conflict with any provision of the Trust Territory Code or an existing District Order. SECTION 7. The District Administrator shall cause to be filed with the Clerk of Courts of the Palau District a copy of each resolution accorded the force and effect of law together with copies of all action thereon. SECTION 8. Any resolution so approved or considered approved in accordance with Section 6 above, shall have control over any municipal enactment. SECTION 9. Questions may be submitted to the BEDUL OLBIIL by the District Administrator for consideration by the OLBIIL ERA KELULAU. Article VIII: AMENDMENTS SECTION 1 . All provisions of this charter shall continue in force until amended by resolution of the OLBIIL ERA KELULAU or by order of the High Com- missioner. Article IX: EFFECTIVE DATE SECTION 1. The effective date of this charter shall be the 5th day of January, 1955. SECTION 2. Approval is hereby granted for a District Order rescinding Palau Dis- trict Order 1-49 effective on the same date as this charter. Given under My Hand and Seal this 5th Day of January, 1955 DELMAS H. NUCKER Deputy High Commissioner oj the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands APPENDIX IV: DOCUMENTS 191 TRUST TERRITORY OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDS Office of the Civil Administrator Palau Islands District Order No. 3-48 PALAU COUNCIL TO THE PEOPLE OF THE PALAU ISLANDS: Article I: FUNCTIONS On July 1, 1948, a Palau Administrative Council shall be formed with the following functions : Membership: High Chief of the Southern Palaus. High Chief of the Northern Palaus. Advisor to the Political Department. Advisor for Legal. Advisor for Finance. Advisor for Public Safety. Advisor for Labor and Agriculture. Advisor for Education. Advisor for Statistics. Advisor for Commerce. Advisor for Public Works. Advisor for Public Health. Advisor for Lands. Advisor for Administration. Such other members as the Civil Administrator may appoint. The function of the Palau Council is purely advisory to the Civil Administrator. They will submit conclusions and recommendations on any matter submitted to them by the Civil Administrator. They are encouraged to originate and submit to the Civil Administrator any matters relative to Civil Administration. In other words, the Coun- cil is to keep its fingers on the pulse of the people and so inform the Civil Administrator on public opinion. The council may originate desired legislation and submit to the Palau Congress via Civil Administrator. Sessions: The Palau Council shall be subject to call of the Civil Administrator. No dates for regular sessions will be set until such times as the need for them is indi- cated. Any member of the Council may request to the Civil Administrator that the Council be called into session, stating their reasons thereof. Given under my hand this 17th day of June, 1948. C. M. HARDISON Commander, U. S. Navy Civil Administrator, Palau District 192 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU TRUST TERRITORY OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDS Office of the Civil Administrator Patau Islands District Order No. 4-48 PALAU CONGRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF THE PALAU ISLANDS: The composition, function and duties of the Palau Congress are as follows: Article I: COMPOSITION The Palau Congress shall be composed of the magistrate of each municipality and elected members from each municipality as follows: One (1) member for 0 to 199 population. Two (2) members for 200 to 499 population. Three (3) members for 500 and over population. The members must be indigenous to the municipality they represent, and will be elected for a term of two (2) years. In case of vacancy brought about by death or ill- ness of a member, a special election will be held in the municipality concerned to fill the vacancy. Article II: SESSIONS The Palau Congress shall meet once a year, on the first Monday in April and shall remain in session until the business before it is finished or a three-fourths majority vote adjourns it. The Congress can be called into extra session by the Civil Administrator and in such event it will remain in session as long as the Civil Administrator deems it necessary. Article III: FUNCTIONS The function of the Palau Congress is purely advisory to the Civil Administrator. It will be the duty of the Palau Congress to submit opinions and recommendations upon any matter brought before it by the Civil Administrator. The members of Congress may submit matters for opinion and recommendations to the assembled Congress. The rules of procedure for the Congress will be published separately. This order effective 1 July, 1948. Given under my hand this 18th day of June, 1948. C. M. HARDISON Commander, U. S. Navy Civil Administrator, Patau District APPENDIX IV: DOCUMENTS 193 TRUST TERRITORY OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDS Office of the Civil Administrator Palau Islands District Order No. 07-55 REVOCATION OF DISTRICT ORDERS 3-48 and 4-48 District Orders 3-48 and 4-48 which concern the establishment of the Palau Coun- cil and Palau Congress respectively, are hereby revoked and superseded by the charter of the Olbiil era Kelulau. Given under my hand this 2nd day of May 1955. DONALD HERON District Administrator Approved this day of 1955. Deputy High Commissioner Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands 194 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU TRUST TERRITORY OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDS Office of the Administrator Palau Islands District Order No. 1-49 TO THE PEOPLE OF THE WESTERN CAROLINE ISLANDS: ARTICLE I Rules for the Etection of Congressmen. 1 . Election of congressmen will be held by the Municipality concerned within 10 days after the termination of Congress. 2. Elections will be conducted by an electoral assembly. 3. The Chief and the Magistrate (or Clerk, in municipalities where the Chief is Magistrate) are charged with the proper conduct of elections. 4. Three days prior to the election day the Magistrate of the Municipality will publish the time and place of the electoral assembly. 5. All persons eligible to vote, except those physically unable, are urged to leave their daily tasks and be present at the electoral assembly. 6. An electoral assembly is duly and legally constituted if a majority of the electors are present. 7. The Chairman of the electoral assembly will be furnished by the clerk of the Municipality concerned, a roster or registration list of eligible voters. 8. The Chairman of the electoral assembly will register the electors participating in the electoral assembly and make a report to the Civil Administration. This report will contain the following: Number of voters eligible to vote, number of voters present, names of nominees, number of votes cast for each nominee, name of person or persons elected. 9. It is prohibited to hold an election without the permission, in each case, of the Civil Administration. 10. Members of Congress will be elected from each Municipality of the Palaus in the ratio of: One member for up to 199 population. Two members for 200 to 499 population. Three members for 500 and above. 11. The Magistrate of a Municipality will automatically become a member of Congress over and above the ratio as shown in paragraph 10. 12. Each Palauan 26 years of age or older is hereby qualified to vote for or to be elected as a member of Congress except that : (a) Persons must vote in the Municipality where they maintain their legal residence. (b) Persons elected must be legal residents of the Municipahty concerned. (c) Persons imprisoned are hereby disqualified for the length of their term of imprisonment. APPENDIX IV: DOCUMENTS 195 (d) Persons under probation are hereby disqualified for the length of their term of probation. 13. Members of Congress will be elected for a term of office of two years from the date of election. 14. If there is a session of Congress convened at the expiration of any Congress- man's term of office the date of the new election will be postponed until the Congress has adjourned and the member will retain all his rights and prerogatives as a member of Congress until the postponed election can be held. 15. Each Municipality is authorized to pay to its Congressmen an allowance of not more than $1.00 per day each day Congress is in session. ARTICLE II Rules for the Conduct of Congressmen. 1 . Congressmen shall attend all sessions of Congress. 2. Upon receiving notification of the convening of Congress, Congressmen shall be punctual in arriving on the date set. 3. In the case of temporary illness or other circumstances which would prevent a member from attending Congress, it is directed that the Civil Administrator be informed as soon as possible. 4. In the case of permanent illness or inability of a member to attend Congress, the Civil Administrator will appoint a member to fill the unexpired term of office of the Congressman concerned or until an election can be held. 5. The President of the Congress will be elected at the beginning of each annual meeting of Congress. If a special session of Congress is called the President of the last regular session will preside. The President of the last regular session will preside at the opening of the new Congress and will, as the first matter of business before the Congress, hold the election of the new President of Congress. The President of the Congress may be re-elected. 6. The President of the Congress is charged with the following: (a) He will open and close the sessions. (b) He will moderate the discussions. (c) He will appoint the Secretary of Congress; said Secretary will not be a member of Congress. (d) He will keep order in the Congress. In this duty he is empowered to order the removal of any person who will not keep order; he may order the spectators cleared from the Congress if they do not keep order. (e) He may, with the consent of Congress, limit the discussion on matters brought before the Congress, or he may declare out of order discussion which has no bearing on the matter before the Congress. (f) He may summon such advisors as he deems necessary for advice or explanation of matters before the Congress. He may not disregard a request from the Congress for summoning of such advisors. (g) He may not submit any opinions or enter into the discussion of the matter before the Congress except to introduce said matter for dis- cussion. 196 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU (h) He may not vote on any matter before the Congress except to break a tie vote, (i) If a motion to introduce new matter for discussion is brought to the floor while another matter is already under discussion, he will not close such discussion without the consent of the Congress, (j) He will present the record of the business of the Congress to the Civil Administrator. 7. If the President is unable to sit as President a new President will be elected, for the time being. 8. The Secretary of the Congress is charged with the following: (a) He will keep the record of the proceedings. In this duty he is allowed to appoint assistants as he deems necessary. (b) He will call the roll at each session. (c) He will record the results of all voting of the Congress and enter them in the proceedings. (d) He will assign a serial number to all matters introduced into the Con- gress. Such serial numbers will show the number of the documents and the year and session of the Congress. This may be in the form of the following examples: 1-48, regular session, or; 12-48, 2nd special session. 9. All matters to be brought before the attention of Congress, whether intro- duced by the Civil Administrator or a member of the Congress, will be submitted to the President of the Congress on the first day of the Congress or as soon thereafter as may be practicable. The President of the Congress will then give them to the Secretary of the Congress to be numbered and placed on the agenda except as other- wise ordered by the Civil Administrator. 10. All bills submitted to the Congress will be forwarded to the Civil Adminis- trator with the record of the voting and discussion. 11. Each Congressman will cast his own vote and all votes will be counted equally. 12. The Civil Administrator may close Congress at any time. 13. Sessions of the Congress are open to the public. 14. Congress is empowered only to render opinions and make recommendations to the Civil Administrator. 15. The Civil Administrator is not required to follow the opinions and recom- mendations of the Congress; however, he will, in all cases, take account of such opinions and recommendations. 16. Recommendations once approved by the Congress and the Civil Adminis- trator will then become effective upon publication and posting in the various Munici- palities. 17. The Civil Administrator reserves the right to modify, change, or retract any of the rules in this order at any time. APPENDIX IV: DOCUMENTS 197 ARTICLE III The rules given in Article I, Section 12, shall apply to elections, for municipal officials or to any issue that requires a vote in the municipality. District Order No. 8-48 is hereby cancelled. Given under my hand at Koror, Palau Islands, this 12th day of January, 1949. C. M. HARDISON Commander, U. S. Navy Civil Administrator, Palau Islands TRUST TERRITORY OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDS Office of the District Administrator Palau District District Order No. 05-55 REVOCATION OF DISTRICT ORDER 1-49 Pursuant to instructions contained within Hicomterpacis dispatch serial 050321 Z of January, 1955, Palau District Order 1-49 is revoked as of this date. Given under my hand this 11th day of April, 1955. DONALD HERON District Administrator Bibliography^ I. GENERAL SOURCES Adam, L. 1947. Virilocal and uxorilocal. American Anthropologist, vol. 49, p. 678. Anonymous 1832.* The history of Prince Lee Boo, a native of the Pelew Islands. John Harris, London. After, D. E. 1955. The Gold Coast in transition. Princeton University Press. Baker, R. H. 1951. The avifauna of Micronesia. University of Kansas Publications: Museum of Natural History, vol. 3, pp. 1-359. Barnett, H. G. 1940. Culture processes. 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A. 1949. The science of culture. Farrar, Strauss and Co., New York. Whyte, W. F. 1951. Small groups and large organizations. In Social psychology at the cross- roads, pp. 297-312 (J. H. RoHRER and M. Sherif, Editors). Harper and Bros., New York. 1955. Street corner society: The social structure of an Italian slum. (Second edition.) University of Chicago Press. Wilson, G. and M. 1954. The analysis of social change. Cambridge University Press. Wilson, J. 1799. A missionary voyage to the southern Pacific Ocean . . . 1796-98 ... in the ship Duff. T. Chapman, London. WORSLEY, P. 1957. The trumpet shall sound. MacGibbon and Kee, London. Yanaihara, T. 1940. Pacific islands under Japanese mandate. Oxford University Press, New York. BIBLIOGRAPHY 207 II. OFFICIAL SOURCES Civil Affairs Handbook: West Caroline Islands 1944. Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Navy Department. Washing- ton, D.C. Code of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands 1952, Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Honolulu. Decisions on Names in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands and Guam 1955. Part I: Caroline Islands. Cumulative Decision List No. 5501. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C. District Order 2-48 1948. American Navy Administration. Palau District. Handbook on the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands 1948. Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Navy Department. Washington, D.C. Palau District Annual (Statistical) Report 1948-56. (Mimeographed.) Palau District Memorandum from District Anthropologist to District Admin- istration 1953 (dated Jan. 16). Quarterly Report, Civil Administration Unit, Palau District 1951 (April, May, June). Quarterly Report, Palau District 1952 (Jan., Feb., March). Special Study on Social Conditions in Non-Self-Governing Territories 1956. Summaries and analyses of information transmitted to the Secretary-General [United Nations] during 1955. Columbia University Press. Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands: Annual Reports 1955. Seventh annual report on the administration of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 1956. Eighth annual report on the administration of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 1957. Ninth annual report on the administration of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. United Nations Review 1956. Modernizing without uprooting: The challenge in the Pacific Islands, vol. 3, pp. 46-52. Columbia University Press. United Nations Visiting Mission : Handbook of Information 1956. Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Guam. Inde) Acculturational change, 123-136, 157, 162, 164; behavioral responses in, 129-132; general understandings about, 154, .164; integrational processes of, 128, 129. See also Exogenous cultural change. Adam, L., 46 Administration of native peoples, 89-91; the administrator, 89, 90; assistants, 90, 91 ; direct rule, 89, 90: indirect rule, 89, 90; philosophies of, 86, 87 Age-grade societies, 40, 42, 43, 71, 106, 108, 135, 136, 151, 175, 178; dual or- ganization of, 32, 40; leader selection, 136; leadership of, 42, 136; member- ship in, 42; membership progression in, 42 Alien administrations, 102, 108, 109, 134, 165; policies and practices of, 87-89 Antelope, 66 Apter, D. E., 123 Authority, duplicating systems of, 112 Barnett, H. G., 43, 44, 48, 126, 127, 134, 164, 168, 180 Beals, R., 126, 127 Belshaw, C. S., 156, 158, 159 Bernice P. Bishop Museum, 7 Blending as an integrational process of acculturational change, 128-131 Burial, 129, 130 Burney, J., 66 Business, 84, 102, 114, 134, 147, 165, 179 Businessmen, 102, 116; Japanese, 85, 165. See also Economic leaders. Capell, A., 50 Carnegie Corporation of New York, 7 Cayua, 157 Charisma, 116, 117 Cheyne, A., 70 Clans. See Sibs, Sub-sibs, and Super-sibs. Climate, 18, 21, 22 Clubhouses, 40, 42, 71, 78, 151 Communication, 121, 122 Competition, 36, 40, 42, 44, 53, 65, 76, 91, 152 Concubines, 113. See also Institutional- ized concubinage. Congressmen, 101, 104, 113, 131, 137, 138, 140, 142, 180; how elected, 100; quaU- fications of, 100; term of office of, 101 Constabulary force, 90, 106, 109, 110, 172 Co-ordinated Investigation of Microne- sian Anthropology (CIMA), 180, 182 Cousin terminology, 49 Cultural base-line of change, 156 Cultural borrowing, 86, 124, 132, 157, 168; processes of, 124-127 Cultural change, 7, 15, 108, 123. 124, 127, 137, 149. 177, 180; common factor in, 154, 155; processes of, 124-129, 158, 160, 166; rate of, 132, 164, 167-170. See also Acculturational change, Di- rected cultural change, and Enforced cultural change. Cultural dynamics, 7, 123-127 Cultural equilibrium, 127 Culture elements, characteristics of, 128, 155; duplication of, 137; functional equivalence of, 134-136; introduction of, 86, 118, 125-128, 132, 133, 137, 140, 155, 158, 164, 179; material, 166; mean- ings of, 117, 118, 126, 132-134, 144; non-material, 161 ; retention of, 126, 131, 136; transfer of, 117, 124, .168 Culture patterns, congruity of, 154 Culture transfer, 154, 166 Danielsson, B., 156, 158, 162 Decision-making, 142, 143. 161 Delano, A., 68, 69 Descent reckoning, 46, 48 de Valencia, Friar A., 71 Directed cultural change, 76, 101, 125- 127, 132-136, 144, 153, 154, 161, 162, 164, 166, 168; and cultural dynamics, 124-127. See also Enforced cultural change. Division of labor, 30 Dominance, 16, 59-64, 127, 164-166, 168; and submission, 155, 162 Domination, 32, 57, 164-166; by foreign powers in Palau, 76; by Germanv, 31, 71, 72, 80-84, 86, 88, 108; by Japan, 72-74, 82-84, 86, 87, 92, 93, 130, 135, 165, 166, 171, 172;bySpain, 70, 71,84, 86, 88; by the United States, 74, 75, 83, 84, 86, 90, 92-106, 109, 110, 118, 130, 164, 165, 171, 178, 179 Donor culture, 117, 120, 123, 125-127, 132, 133, 144, 167, 168 Dual organization, 32, 36, 43, 65; age- grade societies, 40; kin groups, 43, 44; in village moiety system, 43 \ 208 I INDEX 209 Duff, 69, 70 Dugong bracelets, 55, 113, 139. See also Order of the bone. Dumont D'Urville, J. S. C, 70 Economic leaders, 102, 130, 134, 140, 147, 178, 179. See also Businessmen. Effective leadership, 149-152; universals of, 144-153, 167. See also Functional (operational) leadership. Emergent leaders, 91-107, 111-122, 131, 137-149, 152, 158, 159, 167, 168, 179; characterization of, 106, 107 Emergent leadership, 15, 107, 118, 123, 133, 146, 151, 176, 178, 179; behavioral roles of, 106, 119, 140. 147, 152; com- pared with traditional leadership, 106, 107; definition of, 88; non-political, 101- 107; political, 91-101; sanctions of, 111, 120, 158 Endeavour, 68 Endogenous cultural change, 124 Enforced cultural change, 125, 153. See also Directed cultural change. Erasmus, C, 123 Evans- Pritchard, E. E., 157 Exchange system, 7, 44, 48. 51-53, 62, 83, 84, 102, 113, 156, 177, 180. See also Native "bead" money and Wealth. Exogamy, 44, 48, 49 Exogenous cultural change, 124. See also Acculturational change. Exposure as a basic process of accultura- tional change, 124 Extended family, 45, 46, 50 Fairchild, H. P., 16 Fallers, L. A., 123 Feasts, 37, 44, 52, 56, 77, 130, 131 Female chiefs, 40 Fines, 37, 51, 59, 71, 77, 80, 113, 122, 131, 135. Sec also Native "bead" money. Firth, R., 50, 154, 168 Follower insecurity, 120, 121 Fosberg, F. R., 28 Functional (operational) leadership, 151, 152. See also Effective leadership. Gaetan, J., 66 Gardner, G., 16, 152 Gibb, C. A., 16 Gillin,J., 127 ' Gressitt.J. L., 21 Gulick,J., 123 Hereditary chiefs, and age-grade society I leadership, 136; burial patterns related I to, 129, 130; and conflict with magis- trates, 120, 121; conversion by mission- aries, 78; and decision-making, 142, 143; 1 domination by shamans, 57; election as i magistrates, 101; female, 40; and in- direct rule in Palau, 72; levying of fines by, 81, 113, 122, 131, 135; as locus of political power, 62, 111, 122; loss of power by, 76, 85, 86; participation in Palau Congress, 100, 118, 169; posses- sion of wealth by, 84; and provision of traditional leadership, 32, 146, 149-152; respect behavior toward, 58, 59, 116; rightsand/ordutiesof, 56, 98, 133, 142; and symbols of status, 139; and village council, 36, 37. See also Traditional leaders. Herskovits, M. J., 124, 127, 132, 154 Hogbin, H. I., 157, 158 Hoiden, H., 70 Households, 32, 44, 49, 50, 64, 147, 176- 178; leadership in, 54 House-titles, 54 Hunt,Jr., E. E., 22 Hunter, M., 155 Implications for the future, 167-170 Independent comaintenance as an integra- tional process of acculturational change, 128-130 Inheritance, 36, 46, 48, 50, 58, 73, 112, 152, 156, 177 Institutionalized concubinage, 71, 77, 86, 135. See also Concubines. Integration as a basic process of accultura- tional change, 124-127, 129 Inter-kin group relations, 50-53 Judges, 149; American, 104; district, 90, 104, 179; municipal, 104 Kanehira, R., 28 Keate, G., 28, 55, 66, 68, 69 Keesing, F. M., 127, 161, 162 Keesing, F. M. and M. M., 123, 157 Kennedy, R.. 93 Kin groups, 34, 36, 43-54; leaders of, 32, 36, 53, 54, 146, 147, 150. See also Ex- tended family, Households, Lineages, Nuclear family, Sibs, Sub-sibs, and Super-sibs. Kin group terminology, 44-50; multiple referents in, 50; overlap in, 44-46, 48- 50 Kinship system, 32, 137, 147, 176 Kinship terminology, 49, 58 LaPiere, R. T., 116 Leader, definition of, 16; Palauan concep- tion of, 32; Palauan term for, 32 Leader insecurity, 118-120 Leader selection, coexisting modes of, 113, 114; new modes of, 1 36 Leadership, 15-17; age and respect sanc- tions of, 58, 59; in age-grade society, 42; change, dysfunctions resulting from, 117-122; charismatic, 116; definition of, 210 CULTURAL CHANGE IN PALAU 16; hereditary sanctions of, 54-56; kin group, 53, 54; role beha\ lor, 145-148, 179; sanctions of, 112, 158; supernatural sanctions of, 56, 57, 77, 158; traditional sanctions of, 32, 155; in village council, 37 Legal Code of Trust Territory of Pacific Islands, 109, 134, 135, 149 Lineages, 32, 43-46, 48-51, 53, 65, 178 Linton, R., 117, 124, 125, 132, 134. 135, 145, 167 Lowie, R. H., 34 Lustration ceremonies, 140 Magistrate, 99, 101, 104, 113, 114, 119, 131-133, 135, 138-140, 143, 144. 148, 150, 152, 173, 180; definition oif. 94; duties of, 94, 98; qualifications of, 94; role behavior of, 120, 121 ; term of office of, 94 Mair, L. P., 156 Malinowski, B., 124, 154-156 Marriage, 51, 52; proscriptions, 51 Mayo, H. M., 28 McClure, Commodore J., 68 Mead, M., 123, 157, 158, 166, 168, 169 Medical practitioners and nurses. See Professional leaders. Melingmes, 64, 122, 143, 144 Missionaries, Catholic, 70, 71, 86 Missions, 101, 102: Catholic, 101; Luther- an, 102; schools, 101, 102; Seventh-Day Adventist, 102 Modekngei religion, 87 Money. See Native "bead" money. Mother's brother, 49, 147 Municipal charters, 98 Municipal council, 94, 99, 101, 104, 121; duties of, 99; membership of, 99 Municipal government, 93-99 Murdock, G. P., 34, 48, 49, 125 Nadel, S. F., 164 Nanyo-Cho (South Seas Government), 73, 84 Native "bead" money, 7, 52, 55, 59, 86, 112, 135, 143, 146, 151; and competi- tion between kin group segments, 44; fines in during German administration, 71, 80; as kin group "income" resulting from marriage arrangements, 52; and kin group mobility, 51; payments by village council members, 37; payments made to settle disputes, 148; payments to shamans for healing services, 57; as symbol of traditional elite status, 113, 134, 140. See also Exchange system. Fines, and Wealth. Nuclear family, 45, 50 O'Keefe, D. D., 70 Oliver, D. L., 123 Order of the bone, 55. See also Dugong bracelets. Pacific Science Board, 9 Padilla, F., 66 Palauans, phvsical characteristics of, 22 Palau Congress, 100, 101, 113, 119, 122, 131, 133, 142, 144, 169, 178, 179; char- ter of, 100, 101; composition of, 100; date of inauguration of, 100; voting in, 118,137 Palau Council, 100, 140; composition and functions of, 100 Palau Islands, alternate spellings of, 18; description of, 21, 26; geographico-ter- ritorial divisions of, 34; location of, 18, 21, 26; municipalities of, 27 Panther, 68 Political confederations, 32, 34, 56, 150, 179 Political power, coexisting and rival agen- cies of 111, 112; contemporary agencies of, 99-101; of female chiefs, 40; per- sonal, 55, 98. See also Power. Pope Leo XIII, 70 Population, 22, 23, 26, 28, 30. 36, 46, 64 Power, agents and agencies of, 15, 110; assumption of positions of by emergent leaders, 15, 16, 90, 91; coexisting sanc- tions of, 108-1 1 1 ; conflict between agen- cies of, 109; diminution of among hered- itary chiefs, 86, 87, 150; legislative power granted the Palau Congress, 100; levels of, 98: personal characteristics produc- tive of, 54; political power of female chiefs, 40; positions of on village coun- cil, 36, 37; of sibs, 52, 176; supernatural sanctions of, 77, 78, 108; traditional sanctions of, 80, 88, 110, 158. See also Political power. Prestige and status, coexisting symbols of, 112^ 113 Prestige values, 139-142, 164 Professional leaders, 102-106, 138, 148. 167, 178, 180 Radcliffe-Brown, A. R., 154, 156, 158 Reaction as a basic process of accultura- lional change, 124, 125 Redfield, R., 124 Religious leaders, 101, 102, 148, 178 Residence, 46, 48, 174 Respect, 16,40,56-59,114-117, 119, 137; age-respect, 58, 115, 137, 146; charis- matic leaders and respect, 116, 117; co- existing canons of, 114-117; respect be- havior^ 58, 59, 115, 116 Retention, of old elements of culture, 126, 136, 138, 155; and dysfunctional lead- ership behavior, 142-144; and non- change in leadership role behavior. INDEX 211 145-153; and prestige values, 139-142; and stability, 144, 145 Richards, A. I., 156 Ritzenthaler, R. E., 180 Role, defined, 145 Roth, G. K., 160, 161 Roucek, J. S., 16, 116 Shamans, 56, 57, 64, 116 Shapiro, H. L., 125 Sibs, 32, 34, 36, 37, 40, 42, 43, 45, 46, 48- 55, 59, 62, 64, 82, 85, 140, 147, 151, 174, 176, 178 Social control, 108, 122, 156, 161, 177 Social participation, 166, 167 Social stratification, 16, 50-53, 65, 106, 134, 137, 140, 177; correlation between wealth and social status, 134; and social usages, 139, 140 South Pacific Commission, S-12 commu- nity center project, 106 Specialists, 91, 130, 138, 178 SSRC summer seminar on acculturation, 18 Sub-sibs, 43, 45, 49, 50, 64 Subsistence, 28, 30, 31,65 Supersedure as an integrational process of acculturational change, 128, 130, 131, 134 Super-sibs, 43, 45, 50, 64 Teachers. See Professional leaders. Technology, 30, 31 Tetens, A., 70 Tikopia, 50 Totemism, 44, 48, 56 Traditional leaders, 57, 84, 85, 87, 99. 101, 106, 113, 116-120, 122, 131, 133, 147-149, 152, 169, 175 Traditional leadership, 15, 32, 64, 80, 83, 88, 91, 107, 108, 112, 123, 133, 135, 146, 156, 169, 176, 179; behavioral roles of, 54-56, 82, 106, 120, 133, 146, 147, 151, 152; characteristics and expecta- tions, 54-56; definition of, 32 Tri-Institutional Pacific Program (TRIPP), 7, 9 Trusteeship, 74, 75, 100, 132; and directed political change, 92 Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, 8, 21, 32, 74, 75, 92-94, 98, 100, 104, 109, 133, 134 20-30 Club, 106 United Nations, charter, 92, 93, 98; Se- curity Council, 100; Trusteeship Coun- cil, 98; visiting mission, 98 University of Hawaii, 7, 8 Useem,J., 44, 87, 123, 180 U. S. Navy, military government and civil administration, 92, 93, 100 Vidich, A., 44, 180 Village council house, seating arrange- ment, 37, 40 Village council of chiefs, 36, 37, 40, 43, 55, 57^ 62, 64, 71, 104, 108, 109, 111, 135, 143, 148, 150, 174-176, 178; consensus in decision-making, 142; derivation of term for, 36; membership of, 36 Village organization, 34, 36 Villalobos, R. L. de, 66 Voting, 118, 130, 137, 176; in the con- gress, 100, 144 Walleser, Bishop S., 182, 186 Warfare, 55, 57, 68, 71, 77, 86, 135, 152, 156 Watson, J. B., 157 Wealth, 50-55, 59, 77, 80, 82, 83, 85, 102, 113, 133, 134, 155, 158. See also Ex- change system. Weber, M., 116 Whyte, W. F., 151, 152, 167 Wilson, Captain H., 66, 67 Wilson, Captain J., 69 Yale University, 7, 8 Zero point of change, 156 Zones of culture, 161, 162, 164 Publication 882