Gender, ritual Pouwer Jan and social formation Gender, ritual in West Papua and social formation A configurational analysis comparing Kamoro and Asmat Gender,in West Papua ritual and social Gender, ritual and social formation in West Papua in West ritual and social formation Gender, This study, based on a lifelong involvement with New Guinea, compares the formation in West Papua culture of the Kamoro (18,000 people) with that of their eastern neighbours, the Asmat (40,000), both living on the south coast of West Papua, Indonesia. The comparison, showing substantial differences as well as striking similarities, contributes to a deeper understanding of both cultures. Part I looks at Kamoro society and culture through the window of its ritual cycle, framed by gender. Part II widens the view, offering in a comparative fashion a more detailed analysis of the socio-political and cosmo-mythological setting of the Kamoro and the Asmat rituals. These are closely linked with their social formations: matrilineally oriented for the Kamoro, patrilineally for the Asmat. Next is a systematic comparison of the rituals. Kamoro culture revolves around cosmological connections, ritual and play, whereas the Asmat central focus is on warfare and headhunting. Because of this difference in cultural orientation, similar, even identical, ritual acts and myths differ in meaning. The comparison includes a cross-cultural, structural analysis of relevant myths. This publication is of interest to scholars and students in Oceanic studies and those drawn to the comparative study of cultures. Jan Pouwer (1924) started his career as a government anthropologist in West New Guinea in the 1950s and 1960s, with periods of intensive fieldwork, in particular among the Kamoro. He obtained a PhD at Leiden University in 1955. He was Professor at the Department of Anthropology of Amsterdam University (1962-1966), Head of the Department of Anthropology of Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand (1966-1976), and a Reader at the Department of Anthropology of Nijmegen University (1976-1986). A configurational analysis comparing Kamoro and Asmat Jan Pouwer GENDER, RITUAL AND SOCIAL FORMATION IN WEST PAPUA In memory of Ingrid, my courageous companion in Papua Cover: The dignitary Galus Mauria enacts the final stage of the Kaware ritual: while throwing lime-powder to mark the accasion he stabs an evil spirit with his ceremonial lance (apoko) in the sand of Paripia beach, West Mimika. From Pickell 2002: front cover. Photograph by Kal Muller. VERHANDELINGEN VAN HET KONINKLIJK INSTITUUT VOOR TAAL-, LAND- EN VOLKENKUNDE 258 jan pouwer GENDER, RITUAL AND SOCIAL FORMATION IN WEST PAPUA A configurational analysis comparing Kamoro and Asmat KITLV Press Leiden 2010 Published by: KITLV Press Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde (Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies) P.O. Box 9515 2300 RA Leiden The Netherlands website: www.kitlv.nl e-mail: [email protected] KITLV is an institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) Cover: Creja ontwerpen, Leiderdorp ISBN 978 90 6718 325 3 © 2010 Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the copyright owner. Printed in the Netherlands Contents Acknowledgements ix Notes on spelling xi Abbreviations xiii Part One Gender and the ritual cycle in Mimika I Prologue 3 The structure of this book 7 Duality and reciprocity: two core concepts of Kamoro culture 11 General rituals and ceremonies of the individual life cycle 15 II The ‘female’ contribution to life Ema Kame rituals 19 Occurrence and main functions 19 The structure of the ceremonial house 20 Prelude: the python ceremony 22 Erecting the ceremonial house 25 The framework 25 The rattan ceremony 26 Ore and Tama ceremonies 28 Carved attributes: ceremonial shields 31 Carved attributes: sacred oval boards 32 The ancestress ritual 34 Unveiling ceremonial shields and ceremonial boards 35 Secluding initiates: move and counter-move in gender antagonism 36 The bat ritual 38 The glorious return of the initiates: the hornbill ceremony 40 Postlude 44 III The ‘male’ contribution to life Kaware ritual 47 Kaware ritual and myth 47 Myth 1: Muanuru-from-above and Muanuru-from-below 48 Myth 2: The culture hero Mamirima 49 Myth 3: A widower and his daughters 49 vi Contents Male secrets versus female power 50 Clearing the ground 51 Erecting roof support poles 51 Erecting the poles 52 Enacting the death and resurrection of the mythical hero 52 The house-building ceremony 53 Making and erecting spirit poles 54 The sago grub ritual 55 The festival of canoes 56 The grand finale of Kaware 57 IV The initiation of male adolescents 61 Making and erecting spirit poles; collecting the food 65 Sago magic 67 Pig ritual and hunt 68 Tree lizard ritual 70 Shellfish for the initiation ceremony 71 Sago supply for the initiation ceremony 72 The sun dance 73 The final ceremony: nose piercing 74 The initiation of male adolescents into adulthood 76 The first stage: parting from childhood 76 The second stage: demonstrating skills 77 The third stage: providing the insignia of manhood 77 V Marking death 79 Critical illness, passing away and mourning 79 Disposal of the dead and bereavement 81 Ceremony marking the end of mourning 83 Ritual cleansing and cancellation of food taboos 84 House of the corpse ceremony 85 Spirit platform ritual 88 Lifting the head-covering 93 Part Two The Kamoro in relation to the Asmat VI The theory of comparison and the context of the rituals 97 The theory 97 Languages 102 Sago stands, riverine, marine and horticultural resources 103 Types of kinship and descent 105 Residential aggregates and political affiliations 106 Pervasiveness of dual organization 119 Cosmology 124 Contents vii VII Ema Kame and Emak Cem 129 Ema Kame/Emak Cem and myth 129 Ema Kame/Emak Cem and ritual 142 Comparison 157 VIII Honouring the dead Display and performance 167 The myth 167 The ritual 169 The masquerade 175 Donning the armbands 176 IX Male to female Social opposition versus communal solidarity 179 The myths 179 The rituals 185 Conclusions 191 X Initiating young males and commemorating the dead On nose piercing and spirit poles 193 The myths: a summary 194 The story of Seitakap 194 The story of Mbish, the ideal wife 195 Comments 197 The rituals 200 Comments 202 XI Asmat headhunting and the initiation of male adolescents 207 The myths 207 The ritual 217 Prelude 217 The raid 223 The initiation 225 Identifying with the dead: the first stage of male initiation 227 The ritual recognition of adolescence 229 XII Conclusions 231 XIII Epilogue 241 Continuity in discontinuity: the current situation 241 Contemporary Kamoro ceremonies 256 Glossary 271 Bibliography 279 Index 287 Acknowledgements I wish to extend my sincere thanks to the following persons: ‒ Dr Kal Muller, Freeport Mine, Timika, for making available his reports about the recent celebration by Kamoro of ceremonies, attended by him, and a selection of his magnificent photographs, free of charge, and also to his assistant Mrs Luluk Intarti, for being very helpful in dispatching photo- graphs; ‒ David Pickell for allowing me to use photographs, illustrations and a map published in his highly commendable travelogue (2002) with photographs by Kal Muller; ‒ Dr Karen Jacobs, University of East Anglia, UK for allowing me to quote liberally from her valuable PhD thesis Collecting Kamoro; ‒ Dr Chris Ballard, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, for allowing me to quote from his reports and forthcom- ing papers; ‒ Drs. Dirk Smidt, retired Curator of the Department of Oceania at the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden, and Mrs Monique Koek of the Museum Archives, for assisting in selecting and publishing a number of his and other valuable photographs, free of charge; ‒ Ursula and Gunter Konrad, Asmat Art Gallery, Mönchengladbach, Germany, for allowing me free of charge to include a selection of their outstanding pho- tographs; ‒ Mary E. Braun, American Museum of Asmat Art, Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA, for being very helpful in providing me with copies of issues of Asmat sketch book; ‒ Dr Stuart Robson, retired Associate Professor of Indonesian at Monash University, Australia, for his rapid yet painstaking and creative correction of the English text which required a thorough treatment; ‒ Drs. Han F. Vermeulen, Leiden, for his careful formatting and typing of the first draft presented to KITLV; ‒ Dr Toon van Meyl and Drs. René van der Haar, Centre for Pacific and Asian Studies, Radboud University, Nijmegen, for their generous offer to prepare the final format. René van der Haar put many hours of painstaking x Acknowledgements and enthusiastic work into typing the final draft. We exchanged dozens of emails; ‒ Rita DeCoursey, of KITLV Press, for further revision of terminology, clarity, punctuation, consistency, and sentence structure. Her efforts have rendered the text more accessible; ‒ Dr Klarijn Anderson-Loven, for her precision and clarity in furthering con- sistency in spelling native terms and in efficiency of phrasing; ‒ Finally I wish to express my respect for the dedication of the late Fathers Gerard Zegwaard, MSC, and Julianus Coenen, OFM, to their missionary duties in Mimika and Asmat, often under trying circumstances. They put much effort into gaining a deeper understanding of Kamoro and Asmat life- ways. I owe a lot to them. This publication bears witness to this. Notes on spelling The following conventions on spelling are used in this book. Indonesian, Asmat and Kamoro expressions are in modern spelling except when in quotations from printed sources. Asmat and Kamoro terms are rendered in the main text without diacritical marks (for instance, mbaowooko), whereas in the Glossary diacritical marks are shown on these words (mbaowòòkò).