Papers of Bruce M. Knauft, an American anthropologist, consisting largely of carbon copies of anthropological field notes taken by Knauft and his wife Eileen when they lived among the Gebusi people of Papua New Guinea from 1980-1982. The notes include information on social structure, kinship, and culture, with especial emphasis on spiritual activities of the Gebusi, including transcriptions of audio recordings made at séances.
Bruce M. Knauft Papers, 1980-1985 (MSS 31)
OFF-SITE STORAGE: COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. ALLOW ONE WEEK FOR RETRIEVAL OF MATERIALS.
Restrictions: The Bruce Knauft Papers cannot be used without the permission of Bruce Knauft, Department
of Anthropology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322.
Extent: 0.6 Linear feet (2 archives boxes)
Bruce M. Knauft is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Emory University in Atlanta. Born on January 25, 1954, Knauft graduated Magna Cum Laude in anthropology from Yale University in 1976. He received his M.A. in anthropology from the University of Michigan in 1979, and he earned his PhD. in anthropology from Michigan in 1983.
From 1980 to 1982 Knauft and his wife Eileen lived in remote villages of Papua New Guinea's Western Province among the Gebusi tribe. During this time the Knaufts participated in all activities of tribal life and acquired a working knowledge of the Gebusi language. Much of the material gathered among the Gebusi was used in writing Knauft's dissertation titled Good Company and Anger: The Culture and Sociology of Sorcery Among the Gebusi of the Strickland Plain, Papua New Guinea (1983), and his book Good Company and Violence: Sorcery and Social Action in a Lowland New Guinea Society (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985).
The focus of Knauft's research was directed toward the unusually large rate of homicides within the Gebusi tribe. Also of interest to him was tribal genealogy and the kinship relationship between the Gebusi and neighboring tribes. Knauft sought to explain the sharp contrast between the tribe's notions of good fellowship versus their attitudes toward punishment and homicide. He found that beliefs in witchcraft or sorcery represented a bond between members of the tribe, their friends, and within family units. Such beliefs, he found, were as important a bond as other aspects of socialization and fraternization.
Bruce Knauft has received many awards and honors, including the C.S. Ford Cross-Cultural Research Prize in 1976 and a Guggenheim Foundation research grant in 1985. His articles have appeared in numerous scholarly journals.
The collection consists largely of carbon copies of anthropological field notes, some in manuscript and some in typescript. The notes were written by Bruce Knauft and his wife Eileen and are based on their experiences among the Gebusi. Although some of the materials are dated as late as 1985, the actual field research took place during the years 1980-1982. Arranged in two series: !) CORRESPONDENCE, and 2) FIELD NOTES.
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