Read Highland Tribes

Post date: Nov 29, 2011 5:45:13 PM

Overview

Network Dataset

The dataset name is GAMA, and includes the following two 16-by-16 matrices:

• • GAMAPOS symmetric, binary

  • GAMANEG symmetric, binary

Background

Hage & Harary (1983) use the Gahuku-Gama system of the Eastern Central Highlands of New Guinea, described by Read (1954), to illustrate a clusterable signed graph. Read's ethnography portrayed an alliance structure among three tribal groups containing balance as a special case; among Gahuku-Gama the enemy of an enemy can be either a friend or an enemy.

The signed graph has been split into two matrices: GAMAPOS for alliance ("rova") relations, GAMANEG for antagonistic ("hina") relations. To reconstruct the signed graph, multiply GAMANEG by -1, and add the two matrices.

References

• • Hage P. and Harary F. (1983). Structural models in anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (See p 56-60).

• Read K. (1954). Cultures of the central highlands, New Guinea. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, 10, 1-43.