Tsembaga Maring tribe

Not to be confused with the Maring Naga of Northeast India.

Tsembaga Maring are a horticulturist people who live in the highlands of New Guinea. They have been extensively studied by ethnographers, the foremost of which is Roy Rappaport.

Background

The study done in the Maring community of Papua New Guinea by Roy A. Rappaport during 1962 and 1963 is a good illustration of the bush fallow system of subsistence farming.

Ethnographies

Rappaport conducted research on the Maring in the 1960s, publishing his work in a book entitled Pigs for the Ancestors.

Lifestyle

The Maring are known for a special pattern of farming, hoarding of pigs, and warfare. Warfare usually proceeds after a ritual pig feast, known as kaiko.

External links

• Ritual and self-regulation of the Tsembaga Maring ecosystem in the New Guinea highlands