Big Man, Anthropology of

Referring to achieved leadership (often contrasted with inherited "chiefly" rank), "big man" has come to stand for a type of political organization closely associated with, although not limited to, Melanesia. This article locates the term's early uses, tracks developing analyses, and notes the shifting place of these studies vis-à-vis larger scholarly arguments. Contemporary trends include waning interest in classic comparativist typology building in favor of historically and culturally situated understandings of personhood and social action: attentive to gendered and emergent class relations, to nation-making and governance dilemmas, and to the impacts of international agencies and corporate interests on local communities and environments.