Trobriand Island
The subjects of this documentary ‘Trobriand Cricket- An Ingenious
Response to Colonialism’, are these interesting people, natives of the Trobriand
islands, which is located off the coast of Papua a-New Guinea.
The trobrianders are a tribe who are driven by
a culture where magic holds a
significant role. Before the arrival of the
European missionaries magic was
widely used in inter-tribal warfare. The
British missionaries who arrived in the
Trobriands around the late 19th
century found the ritualized warfare of the
Trobrianders "barbarous" and
immediately forbade it. Coincidentally, they
introduced the game of cricket
to the Islanders as a substitute for the conflict
between two local groups,
and to encourage morality. This game, which was
introduced in its original
form in the early 20th century, has changed quite a
lot to fit into the
culture of the Trobriand people. This film was made to
highlight the
Trobriand Cricket as a great example of Acculturation - how one
part of a
culture is transmitted through contact between groups with
different
cultures, in this case the contact of the British missionaries with
the people
of the Trobriand Islands. It depicts how the game of cricket has
undergone a
remarkable cultural transformation, among the people of Trobriand
islands.
Mixture of Good and Evil: The values important to this culture
show that the
Trobrianders believe in both the goodness and evilness of
human nature. As an
example for their belief in goodness, we can use the fact
that the elder people
are revered in this society. They may not play the
game, but they are in charge
of jobs like keeping in pace with the
score-keeper of the game, counting off the
number of batsmen left, and so on.
Another example is the gifts of prestige food
that these people exchange in
the ceremony after the game. One more amazing
aspect that their game has
developed is the fact that the victory of the hosting
team is understood in
advance, it is predecided. So according to our
definitions, the game of
cricket that these people play is not a sport. This is
done in order to pay
respect to the organizers of the game, especially the
center man. This points
out their belief in the goodness of human nature.
Similarly, their belief
that Man also has evil in him, is evident when the game
is abandoned and the
narrator tells us that there is a certain air of suspicion
among the players,
that the opponents from the sponsoring political movement may
have brought on
rain with counter-magic to purposely stop the game. Man in
harmony with
Nature: The Trobrianders live in harmony with the nature that
surrounds them,
and this is evident in their sense of dressing, decoration,
their tools. They
use palm fronds to count the score of a game, or to count the
number of
baskets of yam, when they are farming. The bats, balls and stumps they
use
are carved out of light and hard wood. The clothes they wear, especially
the
traditional pubic covering that is expected of cricket players, which is
made
from the skin of a beetlenut tree. They use natural products as part of
their
everyday lives. The fact that man should in every way live in complete
harmony
with nature, is synthesized in their set of values. Present Oriented:
Although
we can witness all the 3 different kinds of time-orientations, the
present is
valued a lot more than the past or the future. The Trobriand
people do yam
farming, but at the same time, during the harvest period they
invest their time
for the game of cricket. They prefer living in the present.
They do not worry
too much about future, nor do they base their values upon
what has happened in
the past. As the narrator says, the game of cricket is
still evolving in
Trobriand, it shows that the people are open to changes
in the game, and not
prejudiced. Doing: The Trobriands have characteristic
dances and chants, which
were specially created for the game of cricket. All
the out dances are danced
with chants that are to taunt the batsman from the
opposing team who has just
got out. They criticize and ridicule the ability
of a player, using these
chants. This shows that for these people Doing is
very important. If you do not
play well, you will be taunted at. If a batsman
gets run out, he is taunted by
chanting: "Stupidity! Stupidity! Wicket left
open." Here, the batsman who
has got run out is being taunted for what he did
(leaving the wickets
uncovered-open) It doesn’t matter how good the player
was, an out dance is
performed for every batsman that gets out. This shows
the emphasis on action in
this culture. Even the center man, magicians and
the organizers for the game are
respected for the work they do, not the
positions they hold. This underlies the
fact that it is Doing that is
important to the Trobrianders. Their set of ideas
for what is right or wrong,
lay emphasis on action. Group oriented: The first
thing to be changed in the
cricket game was the limited number of players.
Twelve men on a side
could not accommodate all the players in a tribe. The
number was expanded to
50 or so, depending on how many showed up in the host
village for the game.
The other side then was allowed to have the same number.
This shows their
need to work as a group, to function as a group. This need is
also evident at
the point where the field is being prepared for the game, people
work in
groups to get the field ready. All dances, rituals and chants are
performed
as a group. They work as one team, instead of separate individual
parts. No
one commands anyone, even the center man works only as an organizer,
not a
leader. B. What are the effects of outside influences on this culture? Is
the
culture changing? What will be gained/lost? The British missionaries
who
arrived in the Trobriands found that the ritualized form of inter-tribal
warfare
which also involved magic was barbarous and immediately forbade
it.
Coincidentally, they introduced the game of cricket to the Islanders.
When
introduced to the Trobrianders, however, something wonderful happened to
the
game of cricket. It underwent a remarkable cultural transformation. It
was an
evolutionary process, over the last 80 years, and it continues even
today. The
British influence from colonists, and more especially from
missionaries, became
felt less and less. The islanders slowly began to
recapture their native
customs. Ritualized warfare was still outlawed, but
the magic lived in the
people, and the fight was in the men. The first thing
to go in the cricket game
was the limited number of players. Twelve men on a
side could not accommodate
all the fighters in a tribe. The number was
expanded to 50 or so, depending on
how many showed up in the host village for
the game. The other side then was
allowed to have the same number of warriors
(players). Then the magic came back.
In the old days there were many
incantations and secret spells cast by the
magician to empower the
spear-throwers. These same spells, with some
modification, began to be placed
on the bats used in play. There were no balls
generally used in the old
tribal wars, so no magic was available for the balls.
But wait! There was
magic for the throwing arm (formerly with spear in hand) and
that same magic
could grant strength and true-aim to a pitcher. And so on, the
magic was
used. Best of all was the transformation of the dancing and chanting
into an
element of the cricket game. What we see in the Trobriand Islands is
a
transformation of war into dance. On the morning of a game, by this decade,
the
warriors wake up, put on their paint and battle dress, and dance in line
to the
village hosting the game. They enter the field, dancing and chanting,
taunting
the other side to dare compete. The home team then does the same.
The chants and
spectacle incorporate ancient tribal totems and current
advertising slogans. The
dancing is precise, vigorous, aggressive, and
fierce. The game is usually played
for two days, involving as many innings as
there are players, and no one is
killed. The game ends with a feast provided
by the host chief (for political
reasons) and the Trobriand Cricket game is
over. Hence we see that this game of
cricket has undergone quite a lot of
change, change to suit the Trobriand way of
life. The game was transformed in
many ways. Perhaps the biggest change was that
the home team was always the
winner - this according to our definition does not
constitute a sport. In
addition, the visiting teams batted first. Each out was
followed by a
celebration. The bowling action was not traditional. Runners as
well as
batsmen. Bat and ball were not regular. They bowled alternately from
each
end. There was no limit to the number of players. Scoring varied
considerably
with 6 runs being scored by a lost ball, or hitting the ball over
the highest
coconut tree. Umpire was from the batting side, and when sides
changed so did
the umpire. There were ritual entrance dances. There was the
mascot dressed
as a tourist. Instead of trophies, there was a ceremony of
exchanging food
with the home team putting on the feast. But more than changing
the rules and
format of the game, it also meant totally different things for
the
Trobriands. It was introduced as a substitute for intertribal warfare
and much
of the game gook on war-like aspects: the throwing of the ball that
replaced
bowling was very similar to the action of spear throwing; the bodies
were
decorated in war colors and designs; and the field entry and exit dances
were
those of war formations. The Trobriands reinterpreted the English game
of
cricket to suit their own culture. The Trobriand Island Cricket is
transmitted
by learned rules viewed visually and oral transmission of rules,
rituals and
traditions. Thus the outside influence of European missionaries
during the late
19th century did change the culture of the Trobriand
people. European
colonialism brought with it industrial goods like chewing
gum, modern form of
dressing (shirts, trousers), carry bags, etc. The people
were exposed to such
products and adapted them to their own living. The brand
name of a chewing gum,
was used in chants to represent something that is
sticky, in this case, it was
the hands of the person who catches a ball hit
by a batsman and gets him out. It
is very interesting to notice that the
people have incorporated words like PK in
their chants!! One can also notice
some of the players not in the traditional
pubic dressing, but instead in
shorts made out of cotton cloth. I also noticed
that the umpire had a small
carry-bag wrapped around his shoulder. It is indeed
fascinating to see all
these products in the form that they have been
incorporated into this
culture. The Trobriand culture did lose a lot due to the
interference of the
European missionaries. Their method of establishing
superiority over an
opposing tribe through warfare was stopped by the
missionaries. This led to a
drastic cultural change. The missionaries and the
government officials now
had to find something to replace the traditional
warfare, and they did. They
introduced the game of cricket to the people! It
seems that this change
brought about by the missionaries has brought about a
more peaceful life in
these islands. Had the missionaries not interfered in the
first place, these
islands would have been a different scene today!