A modular approach to understanding the transmission of technical knowledge: Nuaulu basket-making from Seram, eastern Indonesia

This article identifies a problem relevant to studies of knowledge transmission, namely the simultaneous membership of some element to several cognitive domains. Knowledge loss in one domain may accelerate erosion in another or, alternatively, maintenance of knowledge in one domain may enable retention of knowledge in another. The more complex the domain, the more this overlap is likely to be significant. The basketry knowledge of the Nuaulu of eastern Indonesia is not a single domain and basket-making not a self-contained autonomous set of practices, but rather contingent upon several overlapping domains. Recognizing this provides a more realistic picture of how knowledge transmission works, both in terms of cognition and enskillment. The concept of 'basket' is ambiguous in Nuaulu thought and practice, generating overlapping categories of material culture: functional and morphological, scientific and local. Similarly, transmission must be understood in terms of overlapping knowledges of non-mutually exclusive domains.