The Many Dimensions of a Kuni Folktale

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Cover of Volume: Anthropos Volume 114 (2019), Edition 2
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Anthropos

Volume 114 (2019), Edition 2

Authors:
Publisher
Nomos, Baden-Baden
Copyright year
2019
ISSN-Online
2942-3139
ISSN-Print
0257-9774

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Volume 114 (2019), Edition 2

The Many Dimensions of a Kuni Folktale

Authors:
ISSN-Print
0257-9774
ISSN-Online
2942-3139
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Engaging with a superficially simple folktale from the Kuni of Papua New Guinea, I identify a number of far-flung and quasi-universal themes as well as some widely distributed Melanesian ones. I suggest the main function of the etiological folktale is to obviate aspects of everyday existence, then to restore and reaffirm them. I attribute the grip of etiological tales, more generally, to a human drive for explanation. An added attraction for the Kuni is the sense of solidarity gained in public semi-ritualised retellings. Finally, I analyse some of the ‘inside’ meanings contained in this tale of Kolukolu and the Moon.

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