Dobu Is, D'Entrecasteaux Islands

Bewitched man, Dobu Island, D'Entrecasteaux Islands, PNG (see below for explanation of why he was bewitched, and to see a photo of Dobu Island and some Dobu warriors click here http://goo.gl/iuu5r)

Dobu Island is one of the D'Entrecasteaux Islands, which are a group of active volcanic islands north of Papua New Guinea. In the past, Dobu Island was known throughout Melanesia for its witchcraft, headhunting and cannibalism. It was viewed with fear and awe; its people were envied for their power and influence, but also despised as barbarians.

Dobu Island has always been a critical link in the kula trade that knits together the Melanesian Islands. The Kula Ring is a fascinating tradition where participants travel hundreds of miles by canoe in order to exchange Kula valuables, which consist of red shell-disc necklaces that are traded with islands to the north (circling the ring in clockwise direction) and white shell armbands that are traded in the southern direction (circling counterclockwise). All Kula valuables are traded solely for the purposes of enhancing one's social status and prestige. You can read more about this fascinating tradition, first documented by the anthropologist Bronislow Malinowski, here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kula_ring.

An important aspect of the Kula Ring is that the kula objects have to keep circulating. Because of the prestige associated with the objects, however, there is a temptation to try to keep them. This man was bewitched by a local sorcerer as a punishment because he broke the Kula Ring by keeping an important kula object (hence preventing it from circulating). He certainly appeared to be off his rocker, and I was told that he was expected to die within a few months from the curse. He was always on the move, muttering to himself, and hard to photograph, but I spoke a few words to him in his local language (Kagutoki sinabo'ana gosega'a, meaning roughly 'good morning, friend') and for an instant he focused on me, allowing me to get this photograph.

82 mm, 1/100 sec, f 5.6, ISO 450, flash fill