WORLDS IN MIND - THE EXPERIENCE OF AN OUTSIDE WORLD IN A COMMUNITY OFTHE FINISTERRE RANGE OF PAPUA-NEW-GUINEA

This paper deals with how the Yupno's mental image of proper settlemen t patterns has been changed through the experience of an 'outside worl d'. The Yupno inhabit a rugged, extremely remote, mountainous region o f the Eastern Finisterre Range in the Madang Province of Papua New Gui nea. Teptep is the administrative centre. The region is one of the las t unexplored areas of Papua New Guinea. The old Yupno grew up in an is olated world, which was bounded both externally (they knew only their own valley) and internally (the fenced-in dwelling house was the centr e of the settlement structure). After the Second World War, however, t he valley was 'opened': schools were established and some younger Yupn o left their valley to visit the cities of Madang and Lae. This experi ence of the 'outside world' changed the mental image of their own sett lement territory. When asked to draw their own area, i.e. to externali se their mental image in the sense of Piaget, the Yupno without 'outsi de'-experience (the old men and the children without school education) drew a closed, usually oval world with the Yupno river at its centre (the valley as the 'world'), whereas those who had 'outside'-experienc e drew an open, rectangular map laden with details.