Gerd Koch

Gerd Koch (11 July 1922 – 19 April 2005) was a German cultural anthropologist best known for his studies on the material culture of Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Santa Cruz Islands in the Pacific. He was associated with the Ethnological Museum of Berlin (; until 1999 Museum für Völkerkunde). His field work was directed to researching and recording the use of artefacts in their indigenous context, to begin to understand these societies.

His work in cultural and social anthropology extended to researching and recording the music and dance of the Pacific Islands. He collaborated with Dieter Christensen, a music-ethnologist, on The Music of the Ellice Islands (German: Die Musik der Ellice-Inseln) (1964) and Koch also published the Songs of Tuvalu (translated by Guy Slatter) (2000). In Tuvalu he was also known as 'Keti'.

Biography As a child Gerd Koch was fascinated by accounts of explorers including the Pacific voyages of James Cook. After he completed his secondary school leaving examination his family could not afford to send him to university so he became an apprentice salesman at the Pelikan fountain pen company in Hanover. He joined the German Navy in 1941 and was trained as a radio operator. His military service involved monitoring radio communications in the English Channel.

He was accepted at Göttingen University in the winter term of 1945 where he studied ethnology. He was interested in the subject of acculturation, the process of cultural change that results following meeting between cultures. In 1949 he wrote a dissertation that was titled Die frühen europäischen Einflüsse auf die Kultur der Bewohner der Tonga-Inseln 1616-1852 (The early European influences on the culture of the inhabitants of the Tonga Islands 1616-1852). Koch completed five short films about Tonga culture. During this expedition Koch also carried out research and made further documentary films in Fiji (in the Sigatoka region) and in Samoa (in Falealupo on the western tip of Savai'i).

Ellice islands in 1960–1961 Koch visited the atolls of Nanumaga, Nukufetau and Niutao, which resulted in his publication of a book on the material culture of the Ellice Islands. Following the change of name to Tuvalu, the English translation by Guy Slatter was published under the title The Material Culture of Tuvalu.

In the early 1960s the elders of the islands retained memories of the late 19th century before the influence of the Christian missionaries (who were predominantly Samoan missionaries that were trained by the London Missionary Society) and the European traders and colonial administrators had impacted on the cultures of the islands. This allowed Koch to record the traditional music of Tuvalu and film traditional Tuvaluan dancing such as the fakanau, fakaseasea and fatele. These fighting techniques, using traditional spears and clubs, had been developed when the islands were subject to raids by warriors from Tonga and the Gilbert Islands (Kiribati).

Gerd Koch also made recordings of traditional songs on the islands of Niutao, Nanumaga and Nukufetau. These songs were considered in a 1964 musicological publication, with a selection of the songs published in 2000 as Songs of Tuvalu together with two CDs of the recorded songs.

Gilbert and Ellice islands in 1963

He returned to the Ellice Islands, where he showed the films he made on his previous visit and made further film documentaries. Koch then carried out research continued on the Gilbert Islands, Following the change of name to Kiribati, the English translation by Guy Slatter was published under the title The Material Culture of Kiribati.

New Britain, Papua New Guinea and the Santa Cruz Islands in 1966–67 From November 1966 to the end of February 1967 he undertook field studies in the Pacific, spending several weeks on Gazelle Peninsula in New Britain and in the Maprik District of East Sepik Province in Papua New Guinea (PNG). He then spent four months in the Solomon Islands, carrying out research at Graciosa Bay on Nendö Island (Ndende/Ndeni) in the Santa Cruz Islands and on Pileni and Fenualoa in the Reef Islands and returned with documentary film, photographic and audio material. In 1971 Koch published Die Materielle Kultur der Santa Cruz-Inseln.

Koch did not collect artefacts that were of importance to the inhabitants. Significant artefacts that he brought back to the Ethnological Museum of Berlin were the gable roof of a large meeting house from the East Sepik Province and the last still complete Tepukei (ocean-going outrigger canoe) from the Santa Cruz Islands. While the intended inter-discipline project did not proceed the project resulted in a major exhibition at the Ethnological Museum of Berlin entitled "Steinzeit Heute" (Stone Age Today), which opened in 1979. Following his retirement he continued to write and publish on ethnological topics. Gerd Koch brought his life to a self-determined end on 19 April 2005 off the coast of Newfoundland when travelling by boat to New York. The Ethnological Museum of Berlin also holds approximately 12,000 photos and an extensive collection of audio tapes (including music-ethnological material) recorded by Koch. including the only surviving original Tepukei (ocean-going canoe) that Dr. Koch obtained in the Santa Cruz Islands in 1966–67.

Publications His published work includes: Suedsee-Gestern und Heute: Der Kulturwandel bei den Tonganern und der Versuch einer Deutung dieser Entwicklung (Pacific – yesterday and to-day: acculturation with the Tongans and an attempt at an interpretation of this development) was published in 1955 as Volume 7 of Research into the history of culture, edited by Dr Nabil Georg Eckart, Professor of Kant University, Brunswick, and Dr Herman Trimborn, Professor of Bonn University. English translation by P.E. Klarwill, Wellington, NZ published by Albert Limback Verlag, Brunswick with the assistance of the German Research Association (1958). Die Materielle Kulture der Ellice-Inseln, Berlin: Museum für Völkerkunde (1961); The English translation by Guy Slatter, was published as The Material Culture of Tuvalu, University of the South Pacific in Suva (1981) ASIN B0000EE805. Die Materielle Kultur der Gilbert-Inseln, Berlin: Museum für Völkerkunde (1965) The English translation by Guy Slatter, was published as The Material Culture of Kiribati, University of the South Pacific in Suva (1986) . Kultur der Abelam: die Berliner "Maprik"-Sammlung (1968) (Culture of the Abelam: The "Maprik" Berlin Collection) of Maprik District, East Sepik Province, PNG. Die Materielle Kultur der Santa Cruz-Inseln, Berlin: Museum für Völkerkunde (1971 & 1972). Iniet: Geister in Stein: die Berliner Iniet-Figuren-Sammlung, Berlin: Museum für Völkerkunde (1982) ("Iniet: Spirits in stone": Iniet figures in the Berlin Collection) from New Britain, PNG. Malingdam, Ethnographische Notizen über ein Siedlungsbereich im oberen Eipomek-Tal, zentrales Bergland von Irian Jaya (West-Neuguinea), Indonesien (Malingdam, Ethnographic Notes on a Settlement in the Higher Eipomek Valley, central Highlands of Irian Jaya [West New Guinea]) was published in 1984 as Volume 15 of the series "Mensch, Kultur und Umwelt im Zentralen Bergland von West-Neuguinea" (Humans, Culture and Environment in the Central Highlands of West-New Guinea). Songs of Tuvalu (translated by Guy Slatter), Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific (2000) .