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This research examines the status of descent and group formation among the Aekyom people inhabiting the region of the Upper Fly River in Papua New Guinea's Western Province. Its principal aim is to identify and define certain structural and symbolic themes that inform a theoretical and ethnographic interpretation'of descent and group formation, as well as to reveal those principles of organization which are central to the social, cultural and religious order. Consistent with its ethnographic focus, the study develops a broad definition of descent in natural, cultural and supernatural terms and attempts to show how group categories, configurations, representations and interrelations at different levels of society reflect varying expressions of an indigenous theory of descent. Within this context the discussion is brought to'bear on a wider range of topics which includes social classification, kinship and social organization, marriage, ritual, nomination, totemism and myth. In general, ' it is argued that the coherence of the Aekyom theory *of descent is based on principles of bilateral kinship and marriage exchange whose articulation in terms of a' dialectical logic highlights their structural' and ' functional complementarities and underscores the sociological and religious properties of a more inclusive model of societal and group structure In this region of New Guinea.
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