G. Stürzenhofecker Border crossings; Papua New Guinea models in Irian Jaya In: Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 147 (1991), no: 2/3, Leiden, 298-325 This PDF-file was downloaded from http://www.kitlv-journals.nl Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 01:00:42PM via free access GABRIELE STURZENHOFECKER BORDER CROSSINGS: PAPUA NEW GUINEA MODELS IN IRIAN JAYA* I. INTRODUCTION The aim of this paper is to examine a corpus of ethnographic writings on the Province of Irian Jaya in Indonesia, dating from the 1960s, and to bring these writings, hitherto not scrutinized closely, into the context of contem- porary critical debate. The specific Irian Jaya ethnographies considered are those by L. N. Serpenti on the Kimam, G. Oosterwal on the people of the Tor, K.-F. Koch on the Yale, and D. Hayward on the Dani. Work done on Irian Jaya has for historical reasons been much less discussed than that on the culturally related societies across the border in Papua New Guinea. By utilizing ideas from these discussions in the Papua New Guinea litera- ture the paper seeks to identify ways in which these Irian Jaya ethnogra- phies can be reanalyzed and reinterpreted. For example, conceptual and ethnographic ambiguities in the account of kinship and group structure among the Kimam given by Serpenti can be at least partially resolved by the use of concepts developed to handle similar problems in the discussion of Papua New Guinea highlands societies. Similarly Koch's description of social control, marriage, and exchange among the Yale can be modified by paying more attention to the active role of women in the social structure, as R. Lederman has done for the Mendi people in Papua New Guinea (Lederman 1986). The purpose of this paper is, therefore, not merely negative, but also positive. A further aim is to emphasize the indigenous peoples' capacities for cultural change, a factor which can be obscured by looking at them as the passive recipients of change imposed from outside, whether by government or mission authorities. The paper also identifies * Thanks are due to Rubie Watson, Bob Hayden and Keith Brown for their comments on an earlier draft of this paper. I also gratefully acknowledge the comments made and the discussion provided by Andrew Strathern in the course of writing this piece, particularly concerning section II, and by Anton Ploeg and Jelle Miedema in the process of final revision. GABRIELE STURZENHOFECKER is a doctoral student of anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh, whose field of interest includes gender relations and cognatic systems, with particular reference to New Guinea. She is co-editor of the English translation of H. Strauss, Die Mi-Kultur der Hagenberg Stdmme in ostlich Zentral Neuguinea. She may be reached at the Department of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA 15260, USA. Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 01:00:42PM via free access Border Crossings: Papua New Guinea Models in Irian Jaya 299 KILOMETRES Map of Irian Jaya Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 01:00:42PM via free access 300 Gabriek Sturzenhofecker theocentrism as a tendency in the writings of missionary anthropologists, which supports the viewpoint of the missions that their historical role is simply to meet the needs of the people, who are depicted, again, as passive and unable to meet these needs for themselves. II. CULTURE CHANGE AND COLONIAL ETHNOGRAPHY During the years of Dutch control over Netherlands New Guinea a number of ethnographers trained in general socio-cultural anthropology made field studies with the permission of the Dutch government. These studies were generally cast in the idiom of structural-functional theory, with some addition of ideas from French structuralism. They revolved around the concepts of descent and marriage, often centering on systems of sister- exchange or cousin-marriage. Although change is usually not a major focus in these studies, the authors display attitudes towards local changes which are strongly conditioned by their own background identities as members of the colonial society. This can be illustrated with reference to the study by Oosterwal on the Tor. A brief contrast will be made with Serpenti's on the Kimam. 1. The Tor 'Tor' is the name of a river running from the mountainous interior to the coastal plains of northern Irian Jaya (see map). The people living in the environs of this river number about a thousand and have access to a territory of some 2,200 square kilometres (Oosterwal 1961a:9-15). Oos- terwal identifies a series of groups he calls 'tribes' within the whole of the population, and below the tribe he finds villages. Sets of tribes may be combined under a single name and these names in turn may denote language groups. Migrations were common, being occasioned by internal quarrels and sorcery accusations, and in this way new villages were formed. At the time of Oosterwal's fieldwork, in 1957-59, the Dutch colonial government had enforced a cessation of overt warfare (p. 30). Tribes afraid of each other's sorcery still traded with each other for valued goods (Oosterwal 1961a:30). 'Tribes' were small, ranging from less than 50 to a maximum of 85 individuals. Demographically, 'masculinization' seems to have been taking place, and 47% of the marriageable men at the time of the fieldwork were bachelors. Men sought brides of increasingly lower age, for example in some cases 8-12 years (p. 38). The birth rate overall was low, partly owing to the fact that women bore the brunt of subsistence activities (p. 44). These demographic factors must be taken into account when we consider the patterns of socio-economic change among the people. It is furthermore important to recognize that the whole area has been historically in a state of flux, with much cultural borrowing. Oosterwal in fact generalizes that 'the Tor territory has been an area of expulsion of people and their culture which along the coast clashed and mingled with the Melanesian island-culture' (Oosterwal 1961a:52). Food Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 01:00:42PM via free access Border Crossings: Papua New Guinea Models in Irian Jay a 301 scarcities, dangers of war, and contact with colonial agents have also caused separate tribes to join together (p. 53). Residence within a particular tribal territory was correlated with the search for food. People lived permanently in main villages, typically consisting of 8-12 houses, located close to the river, but also moved freely within clear tribal boundaries in search of food. Branch-villages, consisting of perhaps four small houses, were built in places where people worked sago, a basic source of subsistence, and were also occupied as refuges from the sorcery of enemies and as hunting lodges. Sexual relations took place in these branch-villages, while the main village contained the central cult house (pp. 34-5). Economic relations, then, were dominated by women, while ritual was male-dominated. Rights in sago palms were invested in women alone, while only men hunted (pp. 61-2) and fished (pp. 67 ff.). A few pigs were domesticated and killed at feasts. Both sexes collected forest products and also made gardens. Shortages of food periodically occurred. Oosterwal notes that 'the food-situation greatly affects the choice of the marriage partner and also to a great extent the rule of residence after marriage' (p. 79). This point is again of great significance for discussions of change. Rights to land were held collectively, and individual rights were created by labour and/or kinship. An important factor in the overall economy also was the production and exchange of dammar resin. Marriage generally took place by sister-exchange (p. 101), and most marriages were kept within the tribe, as a means of conserving female labour. Flexibility was achieved by the proviso that in practice cousins, as well as immediate genealogical sisters, might be involved in the exchange. At the same time this could lead to conflicting claims over the same girl. Conflicts could sometimes be dealt with by postponing the return marriage (p. 107), a practice which was on the increase as a result of masculiniza- tion. Until the return marriage had been made, a man was much obligated to his wife's elder brother (p. 108), and had to present gifts to him, for example fish, 'and nowadays especially articles of Western culture' (p. 108). This last piece of information is of the greatest importance for analysing processes of change from an internal standpoint. Oosterwal notes that these Western goods had entered the Tor area by trade well before the direct arrival of Europeans. The goods concerned were axes, bush knives, and clothes, introduced in the first place by Dutch traders. In the eastern coastal area of Sarmi these commodities, and cash, were regularly paid as bridewealth, and the custom was making inroads among certain tribes in Tor also. From one point of view, then, we see an inte- resting case of cultural 'diffusion'; from another, the indigenous 'kernel' of acceptance of a new custom via an existing structural arrangement; and from yet another, we can see the initial stimulus to this change as coming from outside influence, by which new goods entered the economy. The wider context of colonial relations in which the change occurred can now be examined. Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 01:00:42PM via free access 302 Gabriele Sturzenhofecker Dammar is a resin which can be used to provide illumination at feasts and for night journeys back from sago groves. It has also been an object of interest to outside traders, who export it to Europe for use in the chemical industry (p.