A Papuan perspective on pollution

Abstract

Despite many efforts at definition, pollution remains an amorphous and ill-defined concept. The distinctive characteristics of polluting substances, and that which differentiates them from simple dirt or mess, are still subjects of confusion and controversy, as are their occasional positive uses. This article discusses the pollution theory of one New Guinea Highland people, the Hua, and examines the concepts of pollution in some ethnographic literature of Papua New Guinea and South Asia as well as the more general theory of pollution proposed by Mary Douglas. These concepts and theories cannot account for the Hua data. The article concludes with a new theory of pollution which is adequate to account for pollution ideas in Hua society and possibly that of middle class North American Society as well.