Gatekeepers, Assistants, Informants, and Amateur Ethnographers in the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits (1898-1899)

1 Gatekeepers, Assistants, Informants, and Amateur Ethnographers in the Cambridge Anthropological Expedi<on to Torres Straits (1898-1899) Arturo Alvarez-Roldan ([email protected]) Department of Social Anthropology, University of Granada, Spain Paper presented at the Online Conference Exploring the Ethnographic Archive: Early Ethnographers in the Long Nineteenth Century, 5–6 December 2024. Introduc*on The anthropological expediRon to the Torres Strait, led by Alfred C. Haddon and organized by the University of Cambridge in 1898, was an innovaRve project aimed at thoroughly studying the cultures of this region before colonial expansion transformed them irreversibly. AYer his first visit in 1888-89, Haddon had gathered preliminary informaRon about the island naRves but wished to return to conduct a broader and more ambiRous anthropological study. Haddon assembled a mulRdisciplinary team that included an experimental psychologist, W.H.R. Rivers, and two of his students, C.S. Myers and William McDougall, a specialist in local languages, Sidney H. Ray, another student with photographic experRse, Anthony Wilkin, and a pathologist, C.G. Seligmann. Haddon's main objecRve was to classify and compare the island naRves with the inhabitants of neighboring regions, Australia and New Guinea, viewing the Torres Strait as a key point for studying the migraRon and blending of cultures. The expediRon was conceived and described by Haddon himself in a report he published upon his return in Nature, as a collaboraRve endeavor, though led by scienRfic experts. However, upon reading the journal Haddon kept during the research, and reviewing the subsequent work to draY and publish the findings, it becomes clear that many other actors played an acRve role: gatekeepers, assistants, local informants, and even some amateur ethnographers. In this presentaRon, we aim to show how, from its origins in XIX century, ethnographic research has been a collaboraRve enterprise in which naRves and other people present in the field played a crucial role in accessing, verifying, describing, and explaining the cultural and sociological data. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17285625 2 Field research bases Ten years prior to the Cambridge expediRon, Haddon had established personal relaRonships with both seblers and naRves in the Torres Strait, which greatly facilitated the fieldwork. To conduct the research, the team set up two bases: one on Mer Island and another on Mabuiag. The process of secng up on each island was similar. Upon arriving on Mer, the team was welcomed by Arei, the island's tribal chief, by Pasi, an old friend of Haddon's and now the chief of nearby Dauar, and by Jack Bruce, the island’s schoolteacher and magistrate. In Mabuiag, they were received by Nomoa, the tribal chief appointed by Governor John Douglas, and by Waria, a friend and the island's hereditary chief. They also met John Cowling, an old friend who managed Mabuiag’s pearl-diving company and local trade. On both islands, the researchers set up their camps in mission faciliRes and were welcomed with generous food offerings from the naRves. In each place, Haddon hired a couple of locals to assist the expediRon's cook and help with camp duRes. This support and infrastructure allowed the expediRon to conduct detailed and effecRve fieldwork in both locaRons. Fieldwork in Murray Islands Haddon, Rivers, Ray, and Seligmann arrived on Mer Island on May 6, 1898. Myers, McDougall, and Wilkin joined them four days later, and together they set up their first base camp. During their stay on Mer, the team focused on documenRng and analyzing various aspects of island life, including rituals, customs, genealogies, funerary pracRces, and systems of social and spiritual organizaRon. They dedicated considerable Rme to studying the Malu cult, a set of secret and sacred rituals, as well as other religious elements such as divinaRon and iniRaRon ceremonies. Jack Bruce, who hosted and facilitated much of the logisRcs, was essenRal to the research. His knowledge of tradiRonal customs, combined with his posiRon within the community, allowed him to act as both informant and intermediary, helping the researchers gain access to other key informants. Bruce, in fact, acted as a de facto ethnographer, providing contextual informaRon and conducRng invesRgaRons of his own. 3 Haddon and his colleagues collaborated with various naRve informants, mainly elders and local authoriRes who held knowledge of tradiRonal pracRces. Their network of informants was extensive. Pasi was one of Haddon's closest collaborators on Mer. Every morning, he came to the camp with Arei to assist Ray in studying the local language. Both Pasi and Arei were tribal leaders and played acRve roles in excursions to sacred sites, facilitaRng access to stories, rituals, and legends that the researchers sought to understand. Shortly aYer arriving on Mer, Haddon hired two locals, Jimmy Rice and Debe Wali to help with daily camp tasks .Both were members of the local community, helping the team strengthen relaRonships with the island’s residents and offering an inRmate perspecRve on local customs and pracRces. Gadodo, Pasi's cousin, hosted Haddon in the village of Las, where the team studied ancient iniRaRon ceremonies. His role was pivotal in helping Haddon understand cultural pracRces in Las, as he shared stories and insights on the Malu ceremonies. Enocha and Wano, two local elders,helped reconstruct ceremonies, such as the Malu-Bomai ritual, in which sacred masks are presented to iniRates, and they validated informaRon on other ancient rites. At Haddon’s request, they made models of the masks in painted cardboard, used in a performance of the ceremony that he filmed shortly before leaving the island. Haddon valued these performances, considering them the closest approximaRon to real-life situaRons, and he encouraged his informants to execute them. Haddon and Bruce independently invesRgated the rain-making ritual on the island, relying on various local informants: Gasu, Ulai, and Enocha. Haddon was able to observe and document independent demonstraRons of the ritual by Enocha and Wano on one side, and by Gasu on the other. Other informants on Mer whom Haddon menRons in his diary included police officers Baton and Mamai, as well as Sergeant Jimmy Dei, all of whom Haddon already knew from his previous visit and considered old friends. Fieldwork in Mabuiag The research team arrived in Mabuiag on September 17, and stayed there for just over a month. Cowling, helped the team seble in and provided them with supplies. He also served as an intermediary with some of the local people and accompanied the team on visits to sacred and ceremonial sites on the nearby island of Pulu. 4 Fieldwork on Mabuiag focused on recording the inhabitants’ cultural pracRces, religious beliefs, social organizaRon, and customs. The island relied heavily on pearl diving, which made it difficult to recruit local parRcipants as informants, so Haddon hired several men to assist with the research. Among them was Waria, an old acquaintance of Haddon's. He described Waria as "a very accomplished person". His knowledge of English facilitated interviews, allowing the researchers to gather precise informaRon about local pracRces and beliefs, especially regarding the clan system and island rituals. Waria was also instrumental in documenRng iniRaRon ceremonies and the island’s poliRcal organizaRon. He further collaborated with Rivers on genealogical studies and assisted Ray in his research on the local language. Even aYer the expediRon, Waria conRnued to respond to Haddon’s inquiries through correspondence via Cowling. Among Haddon’s papers preserved in Cambridge is a 300-page manuscript wriben in the Mabuiag language that Waria sent to Haddon and that Ray used to study the language. Another naRve whom Haddon hired as an assistant was Gizu, whom he described as "a great authority on the old customs and beliefs and legends”. His role was especially valuable in reconstrucRng local legends, such as that of the mythical hero Kwoiam, around whom ceremonies combining totemism and hero worship were performed. The informants group on Mabuiag was completed by Paipi and Noboa. Both played an important role in field acRviRes, accompanying the team on excursions to sacred sites and helping to explain and demonstrate various cultural pracRces. At the end of their stay in Mabuiag, Rivers and Wilkin returned to England. The remaining members of the expediRon embarked on an exploratory journey through Saibai, Tudu, Yam, Thursday Island, Somerset, and Hammond Island. Along the way, Haddon reunited with his old friend Maino, the chief of Tudu and Yam. Maino joined Haddon and other team members in their exploraRon of sacred sites on Yam Island and other significant locaRons, granRng access to ritual areas and providing explanaRons of the ceremonies of the island's augud (totems). By comparing the symbolism of these pracRces with those of other islands, Haddon believed he had found links between totemism and hero-worship that he had already observed in Mabuiag, as well as insights into how certain pracRces evolved into more elaborate forms of devoRon. 5 However, Haddon noted in his journal that upon reaching Thursday Island, Maino's collaboraRon diminished, highlighRng the complexity and instability of relaRonships with informants during fieldwork. Jack Bruce: An Accidental Ethnographer Jack Bruce’s role in the research extended far beyond logisRcal assistance, opening doors, mediaRng with local people, or providing occasional data. He effecRvely acted as an early ethnographer, despite lacking formal academic training. Bruce’s contribuRons to the ethnography of Mer are best seen in his extensive correspondence with Haddon. He responded to numerous quesRons from Haddon, Rivers, Myers, and MacDougall. Bruce provided detailed field notes on kinship, mourning rituals, puberty customs, funerary and religious ceremonies, and genealogies for Rivers. He also reported on local court cases and community events. In some instances, Bruce included drawings and sketches to illustrate his observaRons and even sent ethnographic objects and regional plants, along with comments on their significance. During this exchange, Haddon occasionally sent Bruce photos taken during the expediRon to request details about the scenes depicted. He oYen asked Bruce to clarify, correct, or confirm versions of legends, song lyrics, and other texts they had collected. Haddon even requested Bruce’s criRque of the arRcle “Ethnographical Notes on the Murray Islands” by Reverend Hunt, published in the Journal of the Anthropological Ins6tute. The demanding collaboraRon kept Bruce very busy, as he worked to verify that all informaRon through mulRple informants. On several occasions, he asked Haddon to stop sending addiRonal quesRons, but this did not deter Haddon’s inquiries nor Bruce’s replies. Thus, Bruce’s fieldwork proved fundamental in shaping Volume VI of the Reports, which focused on the ethnography of the eastern islanders. Conclusion The Cambridge Anthropological ExpediRon to the Torres Straits, led by Haddon, exemplifies how ethnography has been a collaboraRve enterprise between local people and academic experts from its very origins. Personal relaRonships and mutual trust were essenRal for gaining access to rituals and tradiRonal knowledge. The expediRon’s wide network of naRve assistants and informants played a crucial role in the fieldwork; without them, the 6 expediRon members would not have been able to conduct their research. This underscores the importance of local parRcipants in the producRon of anthropological knowledge. The fieldwork conducted by Jack Bruce, both during and aYer the expediRon, was comparable to the work of the other expediRon members and later professional ethnographers in the 20th century, establishing him as an early ethnographer in his own right. 1 Gatekeepers, Assistants, Informants, and Amateur Ethnographers in the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits (1898-99) Arturo Alvarez-Roldan Exploring the Ethnographic Archive: Early Ethnographers in the Long Nineteenth Century December 5-6, 2024 2 Introduction: The Torres Strait Anthropological Expedition (1898-99) •Objectives: •Study native cultures of the Torres Strait before colonial transformation •Compare island cultures with Australia & New Guinea •Document cultural migration and blending •Multidisciplinary Experts Team : •Anthropologist •Psychologists •Language specialist •Photographer •Pathologist 3 Introduction: The Torres Strait Anthropological Expedition (1898-99) •Collaborative Effort: •Local informants •Assistants •Amateur ethnographers •Significance : Highlights collaboration as essential in ethnographic fieldwork Expedition members with their assistants:From left to right are:Seated -Jimmy Rice, Debe Wali.First row:Alfred Haddon, Charlie Ontong, Anthony Wilkin.Second row: William Rivers, Sidney Ray.Third row:William McDougall, Charles Myers, Charles Seligman.Mer, May 1898,. MAA N.22900.ACH2 10 Fieldwork on Yam •Journey through Saibai, Tudu, Yam, Thursday Island, Somerset, and Hammond Island. •Conducted with Maino, chief of Tudu and Yam. •Mapping of Yam Island Ritual Areas: Explored shrines and ceremonial sites tied to totemism and hero worship. Ubarau Zogo consisting of a stone figure with clearly delineated eyes and head surrounded by trumpet and clam shells. The Zogo is situated beside two large felled tree trunks in the undergrowth. Yam, October 1898. MAA N.23057.ACH2 Maino, the Mamoose (Chief) of Tud and Yam, sitting behind the Table stone at Damu. Photo by Kathleen Haddon. Yam, September 1914. MAA N.23060.KH 11 Jack Bruce: An Accidental Ethnographer •Beyond Logistical Support: •More than a mediator or occasional data provider •Acted as an early ethnographer without formal training •Key Contributions: •Extensive correspondence with Haddon, Rivers, Myers, and MacDougall. •Supplied foundational data for Volume VI of the Expedition Reports (Sociology, Magic, and Religion of the Eastern Islanders) •Notebooks preserved in Cambridge reflect his significant input. •Ethnographic Work: •Detailed field notes on kinship, rituals, ceremonies, and customs. •Supplemented reports with drawings and objects •Verified legends, songs, and texts through multiple informants •Clarified expedition photos •Critiqued published ethnographic articles like Rev. Hunt’s Ethnographical Notes 12 Conclusions •The expedition was a pioneering example of collaborative ethnography. •Success hinged on personal relationships and mutual trust with locals. •Indigenous informants were integral to data collection and analysis. •Their efforts highlight the collaborative nature of anthropological research. •Jack Bruce’s fieldwork during and after the expedition was comparable to that of professional ethnographers of the 20th century. •Bruce’s contributions emphasize the importance of acknowledging non-academic ethnographers in anthropological history. •The expedition demonstrates that anthropology relies on teamwork, not solitary expertise. 13 Thanks for your attention [email protected] @alrold Department of Social Anthropology University of Granada, Spain