How Cultures Build (and Unbuild) a Person
Forget heartbeats and brainwaves. In many parts of the world, you become a "real person" when your bike gets stolen, or when a shell necklace is placed around your neck. And you might stop being one long before your last breath.
This provocative idea – captured in the arresting title "Life Begins When They Steal Your Bicycle" – challenges our deepest Western assumptions about life, death, and what it means to be a person. Anthropology reveals that personhood isn't a simple biological fact; it's a complex social achievement, built and dissolved through rituals and relationships that vary dramatically across cultures.
We often assume personhood begins at conception or birth and ends at death, defined by medical markers. But anthropologists like Maurice Bloch, Alfred Gell, and Marilyn Strathern have shown that many cultures operate with a relational personhood. Here, being a "full person" isn't automatic. It's earned, bestowed, and maintained through:
Being acknowledged and integrated into a community.
Participating in ceremonies that mark transitions.
Giving and receiving goods, names, or care.
Having one's identity tied to specific possessions.
Life's beginnings and ends are therefore not sudden events, but gradual processes – transitions into and out of social existence.
To understand this in action, let's delve into a key piece of contemporary research: Dr. Ngaire Donahue's 2023 comparative ethnographic study, "Material Markers: Personhood Transitions in Hagen and Oslo." Donahue and her team spent 18 months observing communities in the Papua New Guinea (PNG) highlands and urban Norway, focusing specifically on rituals surrounding birth and death.
Chose one Hagen (PNG) clan deeply engaged in traditional moka exchange cycles and one diverse Oslo neighborhood.
Researchers lived within communities, attending births, deaths, naming ceremonies, funerals, and daily life.
Conducted over 120 interviews with elders, parents, mourners, midwives, nurses, funeral directors, and religious leaders about the meanings of their practices.
Documented the specific objects used, actions performed, words spoken, and social participants involved in birth and death events.
Followed specific cases (e.g., a newborn, a terminally ill elder) over months to map the process of personhood attribution/withdrawal.
The contrasts were stark and revealing:
| Life Stage | Hagen (PNG) Highlands | Urban Norway | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Birth (Becoming a Person) | First Exchange (Shell/ Piglet): Weeks/months after birth, baby presented, receives name & first valuable. | Birth Registration: Within days/weeks. Legal/medical record establishes existence. | PNG: Personhood activated by social exchange. Norway: Personhood recorded by the state/medicine. |
| Full Social Integration | Moka Participation: Young adult makes first significant exchange, earning full social standing. | Legal Age (18): Automatic rights/responsibilities. Education completion, career start. | PNG: Personhood achieved through reciprocal action. Norway: Personhood bestowed by age/system. |
| Death (Ceasing to be a Person) | Mortuary Exchanges Begin: Upon serious illness/death announcement. Social debts settled, identity starts dissolving. | Medical Declaration: Brain death/cardiac arrest. Legal process begins. | PNG: Personhood dissolved socially before biological end. Norway: Personhood ends at biological end, legally confirmed. |
| Final Dissolution | End of Mourning Taboos: Final feast/exchange, name can be reused. Deceased fully departs social world. | Estate Settlement/Inheritance: Legal/financial processes conclude. | PNG: Social personhood ends long after biological death. Norway: Legal personhood ends relatively quickly post-death. |
Analysis: These results powerfully demonstrate processual personhood. In Hagen:
In Norway, while emotions are profound, the markers are predominantly biological and legal: birth certificates, death certificates, legal ages. Personhood is largely seen as inherent from conception/birth and ceasing conclusively at medical death, managed by institutions.
| Phase | Hagen (PNG) Timeline | Norway Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Biological Birth | Day 0 | Day 0 |
| Social Recognition | Weeks/Months later (First Exchange) | Days/Weeks later (Registration) |
| Full Person Status | Years later (First Major Moka) | 18 years (Legal Age) |
| Onset of Social Death | Days/Weeks before biological death | At biological death |
| Biological Death | Event | Event (Defines legal end) |
| Final Social Death | Months/Years later (Final Feast) | Weeks/Months later (Estate settled) |
Understanding these practices requires specific conceptual tools:
| "Reagent" | Function | Example from Study |
|---|---|---|
| Ethnography | Immersive observation & participation to understand cultural meanings from the inside. | Living in the village/neighborhood, attending ceremonies. |
| Life History Interviews | Deep narratives revealing personal experiences of transitions and cultural rules. | Interviewing elders about their naming ceremonies or experiences with loss. |
| Ritual Analysis | Decoding the symbols, actions, sequences, and participants in ceremonies marking transitions. | Documenting the objects exchanged, songs sung, taboos observed during birth/death rites. |
| Kinship Charts | Mapping social relationships essential to defining personhood and obligations. | Understanding who gives/receives gifts at a PNG first exchange or Norwegian funeral. |
| Concept of Liminality | Identifying the "in-between" phase where old status is lost but new status not yet gained. | The period between biological death and final feast in PNG; the time between birth and registration in Norway. |
| Gift Exchange Theory | Analyzing how giving, receiving, and reciprocating create and maintain social bonds and status. | Understanding the moka exchange as constitutive of the person. |
Dr. Donahue's study, and anthropology as a whole, doesn't diminish the biological reality of birth and death. Instead, it illuminates the profound cultural layers built upon it. The "stolen bicycle" is a powerful metaphor for how, in many societies, our very existence as social beings is interwoven with our relationships, our rituals, and the objects that embody them. Losing that anchor can feel like an existential threat.
This cross-cultural perspective is crucial. It challenges the universality of Western bio-ethical frameworks. When does legal responsibility begin? When should medical intervention start or stop? When is mourning complete? Understanding that personhood is made, not just born, fosters empathy and highlights the incredible diversity of human experience in navigating life's most fundamental thresholds. Our beginnings and ends are stories we tell together, shaped by the shells we exchange, the names we speak, and yes, perhaps even the bicycles we own.