Dobu
E415504
Dobu is a small island society in Papua New Guinea, often cited in anthropology for its portrayal in Ruth Benedict’s "Patterns of Culture" as an example of a culture organized around suspicion, magic, and competitive individualism.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Dobu canonical | 2 |
| Dobu Island | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T4119247 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Dobu Context triple: [Patterns of Culture, caseStudy, Dobu]
-
A.
Kolombangara
Kolombangara is a volcanic island in the Solomon Islands' Western Province, notable for its circular shape, central peak, and role in World War II Pacific battles.
-
B.
Atafu
Atafu is one of the three main atolls of Tokelau in the South Pacific Ocean, serving as a key population and administrative center for the territory.
-
C.
Tanna
Tanna is a volcanic island in southern Vanuatu known for its active Mount Yasur volcano and traditional kastom villages.
-
D.
Vella Lavella
Vella Lavella is an Oceanic language spoken on Vella Lavella Island in the Solomon Islands, belonging to the Meso-Melanesian branch of the Austronesian language family.
-
E.
Buka Island
Buka Island is a small island in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea, known for its close proximity to Bougainville Island and its distinctive limestone cliffs and coastal villages.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Dobu Target entity description: Dobu is a small island society in Papua New Guinea, often cited in anthropology for its portrayal in Ruth Benedict’s "Patterns of Culture" as an example of a culture organized around suspicion, magic, and competitive individualism.
-
A.
Kolombangara
Kolombangara is a volcanic island in the Solomon Islands' Western Province, notable for its circular shape, central peak, and role in World War II Pacific battles.
-
B.
Atafu
Atafu is one of the three main atolls of Tokelau in the South Pacific Ocean, serving as a key population and administrative center for the territory.
-
C.
Tanna
Tanna is a volcanic island in southern Vanuatu known for its active Mount Yasur volcano and traditional kastom villages.
-
D.
Vella Lavella
Vella Lavella is an Oceanic language spoken on Vella Lavella Island in the Solomon Islands, belonging to the Meso-Melanesian branch of the Austronesian language family.
-
E.
Buka Island
Buka Island is a small island in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea, known for its close proximity to Bougainville Island and its distinctive limestone cliffs and coastal villages.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
human settlement
ⓘ
island society ⓘ |
| country | Papua New Guinea ⓘ |
| describedBy | Ruth Benedict ⓘ |
| fieldOfStudy | cultural anthropology ⓘ |
| hasAnthropologicalTheme |
aggression and conflict
ⓘ
competition within kin groups ⓘ ethnographic comparison with Zuni and Kwakiutl ⓘ exchange and reciprocity ⓘ magic and social control ⓘ norms of suspicion ⓘ sorcery accusations ⓘ |
| hasCulturalValue |
competitive acquisition of resources
ⓘ
mistrust of others ⓘ |
| hasEconomicActivity |
fishing
ⓘ
horticulture ⓘ subsistence agriculture ⓘ |
| hasLanguage | Dobu language ⓘ |
| hasPopulationType | small-scale island community ⓘ |
| hasReligion | traditional Melanesian beliefs ⓘ |
| hasReputationInLiterature |
envy and rivalry
ⓘ
hostile interpersonal relations ⓘ sorcery fears ⓘ |
| hasSocialOrganization |
kin-based groups
ⓘ
small-scale society ⓘ |
| hasTraditionalBelief |
danger of sorcerers
ⓘ
efficacy of magic in everyday life ⓘ |
| knownFor |
anthropological case study
ⓘ
competitive individualism ⓘ culture of suspicion ⓘ emphasis on magic ⓘ |
| languageFamily | Austronesian languages ⓘ |
| languageSubgroup | Oceanic languages ⓘ |
| locatedIn |
D'Entrecasteaux Islands
ⓘ
Melanesia ⓘ Milne Bay Province ⓘ Southwestern Pacific Ocean ⓘ
linked to:
southwest Pacific Ocean
|
| near |
Fergusson Island
ⓘ
Normanby Island ⓘ |
| referencedIn |
culture and personality literature
ⓘ
introductory anthropology textbooks ⓘ |
| region |
Trobriand–Dobu area
ⓘ
linked to:
Trobriand Islands
|
| studiedIn | Patterns of Culture ⓘ |
| traditionalCrop |
banana
ⓘ
coconut ⓘ taro ⓘ yam ⓘ |
| usedAsExampleOf |
cultural relativism
ⓘ
culture and personality theory ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Dobu Description of subject: Dobu is a small island society in Papua New Guinea, often cited in anthropology for its portrayal in Ruth Benedict’s "Patterns of Culture" as an example of a culture organized around suspicion, magic, and competitive individualism.
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: Dobu