Yam Cycles and Timeless Time in Melanesia

Western and Melanesian cultures frame time differently. The Western concept of time is mainly linear, whereas with the Abelam of Papua New Guinea it is primarily episodic and organized around a cycle of ceremonial yam growing. In episodic time, current events are thought to be repetitions in an unchanging temporal reality; in linear time, events cause change gradually. From the Abelam perspective, real change can only occur cataclysmically via a total restructuring of the world. Such notions fit comfortably with cargo cult beliefs and contemporary Melanesian anxieties concerning the year 2000.