Indonesian New Guinea Adventure Guide - David Pickell Periplus Adventure Guides

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Many common West Papuans ethnic designations come from other groups, for the simple reason that many languages do not have a term for "we" or "us" that is not non-exclusive of members of other groups, or that refers to a group larger than the immediate political community or confederation. For example, the Dani have a word for "people," but this is in contrast to "ghost" or "spirit," and is not exclusive of any other people. The word "yali" has a cognate in the Yali language that also means "east," and the Yali will use it to refer to people living east of their territory. It is perhaps important to note also that this "east" is not a compass point per se; it really refers to a specific end of the common trade route, which, in this case, is east. Many of the terms coined by western anthropologists for ethnic identifications have gained currency among the highland West Papuans, through the bi-or tri-lingual guides around Wamena. For example, "koteka," an Ekari word for a penis gourd, is universally understood in the Baliem Valley, even though a Dani word (horim) exists. Some people call this bahasa baru, the "new language."]

      The Yali are immediately distinguished by their dress, which consists of a kind of tunic constructed of numerous rattan hoops, with a long penis gourd sticking out from underneath. They maintain separate men's and ritual houses, which unlike Dani huts are sometimes painted with motifs reminiscent of Asmat art. The Yali are farmers, growing sweet potatoes and other highlands crops in walled gardens.

      The terrain of Yali-mo is formidable, which delayed the arrival of both missionaries and the government. Though contacted in the late 1950s by the Brongersma Expedition, the first permanent outside presence was a Protestant mission established in the Yali-mo Valley in 1961.

      When the first airstrip was built at the mission, one or two cowrie shells was still an acceptable daily wage and most of the Yali had only heard rumors of steel axes. The missionaries traded axes to acquire land and pigs, introducing the metal tool's widespread use. The Protestants began a school and offered medical aid including a cure for frambesia or yaws, a virulent rash caused by the spirochete Treponema pertenue. This disfiguring disease was eradicated in 1964.

      Also in 1964, anthropologist Klaus Friedrich Koch arrived in Yali-mo, where he learned the language and conducted anthropological research that led to the book War and Peace in Jalemo. Like the Dani, the Yali are farmer-warriors, but they live in a much more hostile environment. The Yali responded eagerly to the mission-sponsored introduction of new plants such as peanuts, cabbage and maize, as well as to animal husbandry—placing great demands on the first imported stud hog.

      By the time Koch left the field in 1966, there were already six landing strips in Yali-mo, opening this area to the outside world.

      In 1974, a mission station established by the Netherlands Reformed Congregation was destroyed and all their Yali helpers were killed and eaten. The massacre was possibly the culmination of misunderstandings by the Nipsan people of the new cultures brought in by the missionaries and their Yali helpers.

      Four years later the mission renewed their efforts to set up their station. This time the Nipsan people received the mission more favorably, and there are now about 3,000 followers spread over 25 congregations in the area.

      A Moni man from the highlands near the Kemandoga Valley.

      The Kimyal

      The 20,000 Kimyal were one of the last major groups to take their place on the ethnographic map. Robert Mitton, writing in The Lost World of Irian Jaya in the 1970s, called their territory "True cannibal country." In 1968, two Protestant missionaries, Australian Stan Dale and American Phil Masters, were killed and eaten while hiking from Korupun to Ninia (see "Missionaries," page 46). In the same area several years later, anxiously awaiting their helicopter amidst hostile natives, Mitton writes: "we could have been eaten and defecated by the time it got to us." When they were finally rescued, the Kimyal shot farewell arrows at the helicopter.

      Linguistically and culturally related to the Kimyal are the Eipomek, or simply Mek, living around Eipomek, east of Nalca. (Older texts refer to this group with the silly, and unflattering moniker "Goliath pygmies.")

      The Eipomek are short-statured mountain people, and dress in rattan hoops. Many of the men wear nosepieces of bone and feather headdresses. Unlike many highlanders, the Eipomek play long, thin drums, decorated in motifs much like Asmat drums.

      The Ekari: born capitalists

      Furthest to the west of West Papua's highlands, in the fertile Paniai Lakes and Kamu Valley region, live the 100,000 Ekari. The Ekari (in some texts, called Kapauku) have been among the most successful of West Papua's ethnic groups in making the transition to modern ways of life. One anthropologist, Leopold Pospisil, has called them "primitive capitalists" for their acquisitiveness and culture based around property ownership.

      [Note: as of this writing, the Paniai Lakes region is off limits to tourists.]

      Of all highland groups, the Ekari have proved the most responsive to government programs such as improved animal husbandry and agricultural techniques. The first contact with the West came in 1938. One subdivision of the group came under strong Roman Catholic influence after 1948 while others hosted Protestant missionaries.

      Many groups in Melanesia are led by non-hereditary chiefs called "Big Men" who achieve their status through personal initiative. In West Papua, such Big Men rise to their position through skills in war, oratory and trade, in varying combinations. The Ekari chiefs are an extreme example of wealth-accumulating Big Men, depending on successful pig breeding, which in turn requires a large, polygamous household. This enables the leader to extend credit by lending pigs and to show his generosity to his followers.

      The Ekari have no concept of a gift—everything is leased, rented or loaned with elaborate calculations of credit and interest. Just about everything can be settled with suitable payments, including crimes such as rape, adultery and murder. A fee was even charged for raising a child.

      After Dr. Pospisil gave the tribe a lecture on agriculture, he was given several chickens—the Ekari remembered what he had told them earlier about being paid to lecture to students in the United States.

      The Ekari, who keep all accounts in their heads, work with a highly developed decimal system, which repeats at 60. Numbers are crucial. When Pospisil showed them a photo of a pretty smiling girl, the Ekari counted teeth. In a photo of a skyscraper, it was the number of windows. Boys considered it a special favor to be allowed to count the white man's "money," a collection of various shells and beads. The anthropologist was kept well advised, ahead of time, when his cash flow was getting behind. Not surprisingly, the Ekari became experts at mathematics when schools opened in their homeland.

      Most unusual for a traditional culture, the Ekari have no communal property. Everything is owned, including each section of an irrigation ditch, a part of a road or footpath, even a wood-and-liana suspension bridge.

      Conspicuous consumption is taboo: the most valuable shell necklaces are loaned or rented for ceremonies. Persistent stinginess can lead to capital punishment—execution by a kinsman's arrow.

      The Paniai Lakes region is fertile when properly cultivated. In addition to the three existing lakes, Paniai, Tage and Tigi, there is another that began to dry out some 15 centuries ago, leaving behind the swampy Kamu Valley. Lake products are harvested exclusively by women, who collect crayfish, dragonfly larvae, tadpoles, waterbugs, frogs, lizards, birds' eggs, vegetables and fruits.

      Traditional Ekari religion

      The Ekari creator was omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and... nonexistent. Only after missionaries arrived did the Ekari name their creator, Ugatame. They believed that since all good and evil came from this being, man had no free will—a most Calvinist philosophy. But religion occupied little of the people's attention. Of the 121 tenets of Ekari belief compiled by Pospisil, only 14 dealt with the supernatural.

      Christian missionary efforts ran into problems. The Ekari refused to come to church after one of the missionaries stopped giving out free tobacco upon attendance. "No tobacco, no heleluju," said the men. And

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