Includes bibliographical references (pages 173-180) and index.

Introduction. A sacred place ; Ethnographic comparisons ; Trobriand history, geography, and language ; Trobrianders today -- The Trobrianders : past and present. A tragic return ; Earlier times ; Expectation and disappointment ; A history of resisting change ; An extraordinary discovery -- Death and the work of mourning. Uwelasi's death ; "Owners" and "workers" ; The threat of sorcery ; "Carrying" the dead person ; Keeping the dead alive -- Fathers and matrilineality. Interrupted sleep ; Birth and ancestors ; The other matrilineage ; A father's care ; "Hard words" -- Youth and sexuality. Waiting and watching ; Adolescent sexuality ; Seduction with magic ; Choosing one lover ; Looking for a spouse ; Eating yams together -- Marriage and the politics of yams. Yam gardens ; Yams as wealth ; The first exchanges at marriage ; Yams and sexuality ; Women and the politics of yam exchanges ; Men and their yam houses -- Chiefs and hierarchy. A chief's visit ; What the ancestors brought ; The differences yams make ; Finding wives ; Power and fear -- Men working for women. Harvest competitions ; Death and women's wealth ; The need for bundles -- The regeneration of matrilineality. The women's mortuary distribution ; Fathers and daughters ; The bundle distribution ; The end of lisaladabu ; The regeneration of matrilineal identity -- Kula and the search for fame. "Argonauts" on Kula voyages ; The basis of Kula : ceremonial or utilitarian ; Kula in historical perspective ; Working for Kula ; The circulation of a Kitomu ; The meaning of Kula -- Conclusion. The power in objects ; The pathos in objects; Tradition and change.