The Film Trobriand Cricket

The Trobriand Islands are known today as the Kiriwina Islands, which are 170 miles of coral atolls off the eastern coast of New Guinea. The average population on the main island, Kiriwina is about 12,000 indigenous inhabitants, who are called Trobrianders. The people who live in the traditional settlements are subsistence farmers who use the form of agriculture in which a portion of land produces enough food for the family or a smaller community. The social structure of the Trobrianders is a matriarchy community, which indicates that the women hold the power instead of the men. The warfare within the Trobrianders was radical until colonial rules forbidden the act, which lead to the introduction to an aggressive form of cricket. (Trobriander)

The Trobrianders have many cultural aspects, but two were a major interest in the study that was the gift exchange system of the Kula and their sexual behavior. The exchange system with the shells called Kula created ways to bring together the communities within the islands. The British missionaries had their own values and beliefs, which they influenced onto the people on the island. British missionaries introduced the Trobrianders to different challenges and the game of cricket.