oe
an equal number of new alebs sere granted independant holdings which would
not have been recognized earlier on Bikini.
Mosc sf these new alebs vere
younger brothers or elde = sisters’ soms who in effect were not willing to
wait until their traditional sredecessors had vacated office.
The Council, however, failed to modify its membership to admit the new
alabs.
Political authority now drew no sustenance from land titles on Kili
on
but continued to express the traditional power derived from lineage tandholdings
on Bikini that were no ionger accessible except in dinning memory.
A non
:
traditional elite, composed of schoolteacher, health aid, and storekeeper,
2
was allowed to attend Council meetings «a ‘.s'i17e persons in the occupational
, fe
areas represented.
It was this latter development, along with an avident frustration among
RS
the new alabs in being excluded from Council deliberations, that led me to,
be
\
predict a decline in traditional Bikini authority.
of change as expressed °- ine follewing hypothesis:
sr.
,
I assumed the probability ~
Under conditions ofreoid
change, accompanied by venifold opsortunitiss fcr improving the standardsof
living, an emergent leadership founded en new skills or other achieved status
may successfully challencethe traditional authority, especially if theistter
interposes cultural or social obstacles to realization of those opportunitie .
Now, in 1963, the Council still consists of ten alabs, all in the Bikint “
tradition.
Five are replacements in positions vacated by death, two being
younger brothers and three the sons of the deceazed. (These instances of fatherson succession are in accord with Bikini custom since each of the deceased
was the sole survivor of his matrilineage.}
The Council meets on the first
Monday of every month, convened by the Magistrate {who is still trotj) to
~a
diacuss community issues and seach decisions by consensus or, failing that,
= wR
by majority vote.
Opinivus of other adult males and of women are notsought
by
aS