If we feed them, we do not feed on them: A principle of Huaulu taboo and its application*

A version of this article was presented at a lunch seminar of the Inst. for Advanced Study, Princeton, on March 7, 1990, and at the Departmental Seminar, Department of Anthropology, Princeton University. A revised version was read at the Department of Anthropology, University of Trondheim, Oct 12, 1992. I am grateful to all these audiences, and especially to Janet Hoskins, Marianne Gulkestad and SolrunWilliksen‐Bakker, for the comments that allowed me to ameliorate the paper. The research on which it is based has been carried out in the years 1971–3, 1985, 1986 and 1988, under the auspices of the Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia (Jakarta) and Unpatri (Ambon), and with the financial support of the Wenner‐Gren Foundation, The Social Science Research Council, the Institute for Intercultural Studies and the Lichtstern Fund. I wish to thank them all. My greatest thank goes, however, to the Huaulu people.

The Huaulu people of Seram (Eastern Indonesia) say that it is taboo for them to eat the animals which they feed. The reason is that sharing food with them implies attributing to them the status of fellow social beings. This status implies in turn a degree of personhood. Persons may not be treated as the ultimate thing: food. The article shows that the principle “if we feed them we do not feed on them” applies differently to domesticated species and to wild ones. If some individuals of a domesticated species are raised by the Huaulu, the whole species becomes taboo to eat. But in the case of wild species the taboo is limited to the individuals which are actually raised. The article also shows that the principle is not the only reason for the taboo on domesticated animals, but a shorthand for a variety of other reasons that have to do with the place of those animals in Huaulu society.

Notes

A version of this article was presented at a lunch seminar of the Inst. for Advanced Study, Princeton, on March 7, 1990, and at the Departmental Seminar, Department of Anthropology, Princeton University. A revised version was read at the Department of Anthropology, University of Trondheim, Oct 12, 1992. I am grateful to all these audiences, and especially to Janet Hoskins, Marianne Gulkestad and SolrunWilliksen‐Bakker, for the comments that allowed me to ameliorate the paper. The research on which it is based has been carried out in the years 1971–3, 1985, 1986 and 1988, under the auspices of the Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia (Jakarta) and Unpatri (Ambon), and with the financial support of the Wenner‐Gren Foundation, The Social Science Research Council, the Institute for Intercultural Studies and the Lichtstern Fund. I wish to thank them all. My greatest thank goes, however, to the Huaulu people.