Alfred Melotu, The Funeral of a Paramount Chief

Authors

  • Rolf Erik Scott SOT-Film AS, University of Bergen, Department of Social Anthropology
  • Peter Ian Crawford University of Tromsø, Department of Social Sciences
  • Trygve Tollefsen Nordahl Grieg videregående skole

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15845/jaf.v6i02.3697

Keywords:

ritual, big man, funeral, death

Abstract

Alfred Melotu is a Big Man and Paramouth Chief among the Melanesians in the Reef Islands group off, the Solomon Islands. In 1994 a film crew visited Alfred in order to plan a future film. Unfortunately, on the return in 1996 Alfred was on his deathbed suffering from mouth cancer. Nevertheless, he was still a Big Man. Alfred consequently allowed the film crew to record his deathbed and funeral in order to be remembered for the future. However, the film was also to be used as a documentation for his family in order to further secure his land and possessions from other Big Men. In other words, Alfred, used the film as a medium to try to further his power beyond his death. 

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Published

2022-09-02

How to Cite

Scott, R. E., Crawford, P. I., & Tollefsen, T. (2022). Alfred Melotu, The Funeral of a Paramount Chief. Journal of Anthropological Films, 6(02). https://doi.org/10.15845/jaf.v6i02.3697

Issue

Section

Films