Express
- IlI:O~:ffE news -
ON
HE
B
By Rolf Kuschel
University of Copenhagen
Denmark
the challenge with great enthusiasm. After his exain in
1958 at the University of CoOn January 8, 2007, pro- penhagen, he went on his
fessor, dr. phil. Torben first scientific expedition to
A10nberg passed away, 77 the Solomon Islands for six
years old. This is a great loss, months, and reh1l11ed already
because he was a remark- in 1962, as a member of the
able person both as a scllOlar Danish Noona Dan expediand as a 11lI111l111. being. For tion. In between, he ~pent
more than 40 years, he was one year at the University of
a del'oted scholar of Hawaii.
Polynesian languages and
These journeys changed
cultures. Already, as a stu- Torben Monberg's life comdent had he studied the Maori pletely, and he since retumed
and Tahitian languages. In to the islands many ti mes.
1952, when one of his teachHis final visit to Bellona Isers, professor Birket-Smith, land took place in 1998, when
returned from tile Ca IMile-a he invited his vlife II"ii.i1C :mJ
Deep-Sea Expedition around his children, PernilJe,
the World, where he had vis- Christine, and Anders, their
ited Rennell, Torben Monberg spouses and RolfKuschel, la
was advised by him to visit come with him. Torben
the two Polynesian Outliers, Monberg had a great flair for
Rennell and Bellona of the languages, and with his preSolomon Islands. On these vious training in Maori and
islands, he would find people Tahitian, he tried in 1958 only
who were not only friendly a few days after his arrivnl
and cooperative, but who still to conduct interviews in the
had an immense knowledge Bellonese/Rennellese lanof the traditional Polynesian guage.
religion.
The first two months he
Torben Monberg accepted remained on Rennell and col-
lected data on their pre-Clu'istian social organization. However, his main interests lied in
the religious rihlals but with
most forgotten on Relmell, he
moved his location to the
neighbouring Bellona Island.
Here he met Paul Sa 'engeika,
an outstanding informant on
the religion and culture.
During the following decades, Paul Sa' engeika patiently explained and related
to Torben Monberg the compie and intricate pre-Christian ritllals. This became an
arduous task, but with
~he cOl11bination of Paul
Sa'engeika's patieli.Ce, intelligence and educa~ional skills,
and TOl'ben Monberg's linguistic brilliance, empathy
and endtlral1Ce, these efforts
in COll1billfition crowned the
achi~:vC!11e11t with success. As
a rt:sult, Tl'll'ben Monberg
pub]j:i hed his highly praised
book lJ(jllonr; l.sland Beliefs
({/"Id Rituols, which \\ifl§ dedi-
cated to Paul
Sa \;ngetk~L
Before Torben Monberg published his book on religion, he
had also published the book
:Kon. rPatrtic{ o/pnoe
The Minister for the' Department of
Communication, Aviation and Meteorology, the
Hon. Patrick Va 0 (.Jr). Permanent Secretary
and Staff of the department Con}n?Un!C~!!5!?
A viation wish to congratulate the newly elected
Malaita Premier Hon: Richard Na'amo, the
Department of Communication. Aviation and
Meteprology believe that your neVl! EXLcutivein partnership' with Department of 11
Communication will working together to
6/ti<hieve the Provincial plan to move the
Province forward in the new nliilenniurn
Congratulations and wish you all the success.
With his characteristic modFrom the Two Canoes together with the American lin- esty and humbleness and deguist Samuel H. Elbelt. A pub- spite his tremendous contrilication, that contained more butions to the dictionaries,
than 250 nalTatives about the Torben Monberg never
BelloneselRennellese'migra- wanted to appear as co-aution, cultural heroes, ances- thor with Samuel H. Elbelt on
tors' deeds, and the islands' these publications.
Torben Monberg admired
Christianization in 1938.
The collected oral traditions the intellectual abilities of
from 30 different infonnants most of his Bellonese and
stirred up a great interest Rennellese informants. Toamong the local population, gether, they would work for
because the narratives were hours telling stories, discussin their own language and ing the use of a word in difwith an English translation. ferent contexts and share
Although, he had shown and their life experiences with
checked his manuscript with one other, In this way, Torben
his informants, Monbcrg, Monberg acquired an intimate
when he returned to the is- knowledge of an ancient
land after the publication of Polynesian culture and lanFrOltl the Two Canoes, no- guage, which he was very
ticed that many peopie had eager to preserve for the gendiffer@IH opinions about the erations to come.
pubWl!led material.
With his emphasis on the
To his ch~grin, and with a accurate record of the endanwond~r[ul s~nse of under- gered knowlerl?e', 11is meticustMement, Torbcn Monberg lous translation into English,
noticed that the reception of and his intellechlal committheir book was not entirely fa- ment, he sat a standard for
vom-able. Some criticized him other antlu'opologists and linfor having missed certain guists. One of his colleagues
points, others wanted to add once wrote, "He was onc of
some other details,
those rare people who remind
Conscientious, Torben onl};X)fwhat anthropology is
Monberg wrote down all the supposed to be about."
The Bellonese and
comments, which he later
published in the article In- Rennellese peo'ple came to
fonnants Fire Back, Already understand and appreciate the
here, we meet one ofTorben work of Torben Monberg.
Monberg's hallmarks: never When he 3lTived on the isto judge what is right or lands, parents would often
wrong, but always listen and send their children to his hut
learn from one's own lapses. so that he could explain parts
For Torben Monberg it was of their past cui hIre to thenl
paramount to let the - parts that the parents themBelloneselRennellese people &elye5 had already forgotten.
lmQW what he had written Nobody went ill vain; he alahout them.
ways took the time to explain
He never kept anything in detail what the young genaway from them, so that they eration wanted to lwow.
Realizing, that the youngest
could comment upon his
work, Therefore, he always generation at school did not
tried to publish as nw oh lTIq- lea m any DrS1C eiemepts of
terial as possible in their n,,- their wrf language, he enlive ianguage. As his last couraged his wife Hanne to
project Torben Monberg develop a small schoolbook
started to make available on called Na Leia ma na Napa 0
the
internet Mugaba ma Mungiki ('The
(www.bellona.dk) published Alphabet and the Numbers of
material fl"l'lrTl :9011tlfl;l and Relillell and Bellona') T"i:ll!len
R nnell Jshnd In orderto was ilfways concemed about
prevent the Bellonesel the education ofthe Bellonese,
Rennellese language from and whenever possible, he
slipping into oblivion, Torben tried to help young Bellonese
Monberg encouraged Samuel and Rennellese pursue their
H, Elbert to writp <> diotit1l1- eaucation
• •
ary. ,
In the traditional
For many years, the two re- Polynesian society, distribusearchers worked on this dif- tion rather than on accumuficult project and finally, in lation was of great impor1975 and 198 I the two vol- tance, Sharing was also one
umes of a DictionOly of the ofTorben Man, erg's fnnda! 1t11:;n//a/; lIt floJ""""e l ,' (,,111
,..,. d
mental values.
~..J··'·',~"'·""O"" '-'J
More than anybody else, he
Bell0l1O came out.
.&\. ..... " ' .
,
National Express - Tuesday, 30 January, 2007
invited people to make use of
his tremendous knowledge.
No one ever went away
empty handed, when asking
for his advice. Likewise, he
inspired several researchers
from other fields than his
own to go to Bellona and
Relmell.
Gradually, a group of
Bellona researchers - the
Danish Bellona Club - gathered around him to discuss
the complexities of the traditional culhlre. Several publications of high scientific
value were published and today the islands ofBellon a and
Rennell are among the most
researched societies in the
world - thanks to Torben
Monberg.
Almost fifty years have past
since Torben Monberg
planted his feet on Bel/ona
for thejirst time. Since then,
the Bellonese andRennellese
have realized the importance
ofTorben MOl1berg s work in
saving the oral traditions
from disappearing completeLv. Jvlu/lY <Ire the names
of honour bestowed on
Torben, clll10ng them the
name Hctangaihenua, 'The
Land·Feeder', in recognition
and remembrance ofhis endless generosity to the people
0/1 the two isl(/llds. A few
year:; ago, he \I'as also
a~'OIodedthe title 0/ 'honourable chief' (lwkalllla) of
Bellon G LlJ1dgiven the sacred
staff nga 'akalltll 'uti as an
emblem of his new title.
Torben Monberg lived fit/ly
up to his honorific title, for
he was not only respected
among his principal.informants, /Jut a/s'd a~~ong ali members ofthe society. When, in
the traditional culture, an exceptional hakalllla died, one
couldsometimes observe certain natural phenumena,
w~icJ7. ··,fro - Bellonesel
.Re17/1ellese related to his demise. The evening sky could
turn an overwhelming crimson coloUl; and if something
like this happe;led, the
Bellonese would speak of it
as the power ofthe hakahua.
At Torben Monbetg sfuneral
the skies turned crimson - he
was on his way to meet his
lifelongfriendsfrol17 Bel/ana
andRennell Hakamotu toku
-' 'm;gvhana Torben - my expression of love for )'ou,
Torben.