Doll News Winter 2021 - 48

48

A Mendi woman wears mourning dress in a 1954-58
photograph by D'Arcy Ryan, used with permission
from the Australian National University Archives.

A young Mendi girl mourns her father in a 1954-58
photograph by D'Arcy Ryan, used with permission
from the Australian National University Archives.

of the clan in whose cause the deceased was killed. If
compensation proceeded on schedule, it reinforced
the bonds of friendship and loyalty between the allied
groups. If that compensation was not being paid as
expected, figures representing the deceased were carved
into posts or smaller figures were created and displayed
at ceremonial gatherings to remind the friends and allies
responsible of the debt and shame them into paying the
compensation owed. I believe it is this latter practice that
led to the creation of what are called " Revenge Dolls "
or " Payback Dolls " although the term payback is more
appropriate since they served as a reminder to people
who were basically friends to pay back a debt (Ryan p.
140). Trompf also recognizes this concept in his book
although he is much more focused on the dynamics of
revenge, not compensation.
The female dolls are also dressed the same way

that Ryan describes traditional mourning (photos seen
above). According to Ryan page 153: Women wear a
'Job's tears' bead necklace (photo on next page) and
voluminous reed skirts as mourning dress, which
matches how many of the female dolls are depicted.
Mourners also rub their bodies with gray ash, which
has been visible on some of the older female examples
I have seen. Mine wears a necklace of cowrie shells
with decorations of Job's tears beads. This, I am totally
guessing, may also explain why the dolls are often in
male/female pairs. It might be that the mourning wife
was depicted to further shame the deadbeats who owed
payments, or remind them to whom it was owed.
If this is the explanation for them, the revenge
notion is incorrect, just an assumption easily made
due to the well-known pattern of ongoing feuds in
the highlands and because " revenge " is a common

WINTER 2021



Doll News Winter 2021

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http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/doln/70-04
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/doln/70-03
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/doln/70-02
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/doln/70-01
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/doln/69-04
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/doln/69-03
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/doln/69-02
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/doln/69-01
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/doln/68-04
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/doln/68-03
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/doln/68-02
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/doln/68-01
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/doln/67-4
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/doln/67-3
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/doln/67-2
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/doln/67-1
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/doln/66-4
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/doln/66-3
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/doln/66-2
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/doln/66-1
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/doln/65-4
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/doln/65-3
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/doln/65-2
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/doln/65-1
https://www.nxtbook.com/allen/doln/64-4
https://www.nxtbook.com/allen/doln/64-3
https://www.nxtbook.com/allen/doln/64-2
https://www.nxtbook.com/allen/doln/64-1
https://www.nxtbook.com/allen/doln/63-4
https://www.nxtbook.com/allen/doln/63-3
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com