This text is copyright 1995, Harry S. Pariser. All rights reserved. Contact the author for reprint or other rights. (Photos are also available). It is purposely written in easy English and was originally intended for a Japanese audience.
by Harry S. Pariser
Each generation passes on its accomplishments and refinements on to the next. This is the process of human achievement, generally termed "progress"--one stretching back tens of thousands of years. Even though Japanese once lived in holes in the earth, today's young Japanese can no longer remember a time--only a few decades back--when their home bath was heated with wood or charcoal and personal cars were a luxury few could afford.
Imagine, however, if the ancestors of today's Japanese had settled in the interior of the world's second largest island, a place so remote that it is accessible only by a month's steamy walk through thick jungle. They would never have been influenced by Southeast Asia, Polynesia, Korea, and China, and today's Japanese would have progressed little from their forebears.
In the Pacific, many of the peoples of the New Guinea highlands bear this history. The world's largest island, New Guinea has thousands of tribes, each with their own language and distinct culture. It has been split into two parts: While Papua New Guinea gained its independence from Australia in 1975, control over Irian Jaya, the western half, was transferred from Holland to Indonesia in 1969.
One of the most famous of Irian Jaya's ethnic groups, tribesmen popularly known as "the Dani," live in the isolated Baliem Valley, an area accessible only by small planes; this valley was first brought to the world's view by an American pilot searching for possibile airfield sites during World War II. The next Western contact was by a Texas missionary, and the missionaries built an airstrip next to what would become the Dutch governmental headquarters of Wamena in 1958. The well meaning but culturally destructive activities of the missionaries have continued up until the present day.
When "discovered," the Dani wore no cloth clothes, did not work metal, and raised pigs and cultivated sweet potatoes. Although the Dani remain comparatively isolated from the outside world, its impact has nevertheless been enormous. Their stone axes have been supplanted (replaced) by steel ones; many men and women--especially converts to Christianity--have abandoned the traditional clothing (penis gourds for men and grass skirts for women) for shorts and skirts which are expensive for them to buy; and one their currencies, the cowrie shell, has been so devalued by imports that it has passed out of usage. They have been pacified (calmed down) and no longer fight their traditional war battles--which were really a form of sport. While, with some exceptions, they can no longer be said to be living in the "Stone Age," the Dani still retain much of their culture. They still eat chiefly sweet potatoes which are baked on heated stones, still weave string bags from shrubs, and still speak their language. At present, they are stuck in between two worlds. Lacking economic resources, they can neither advance nor can they forget about the modern world and go back.
Indonesia is a multiracial, multicultural archipelago whose economic and political locus (center) is the island of Java which contains the capital of Jakarta. With some 100 million people--well over half of the nation's population--packed into a small area, the Javanese depend upon the outer islands for both cheap raw materials and as a captive market for their exports. Many trumpet (proclaim loudly) their cultural superiority, and they project (exhibit) these attitudes everywhere they go. In the Baliem, they have tried in the past to force the locals to abandon their penis gourds for Western clothing but without success.
Although a road from the Baliem valley to the coast is under construction and roads have been built within the valley itself, the only route in is by air. Leaving the mainland's major airport at Sentani on the coast, one quickly ascends and travels over steep, thickly rainforested peaks before descending to the interior. A land of thick muddy rivers with checkerboard-square countryside surrounding a combination of traditonal thatch huts and tin roofed buildings, the valley itself has been largely deforested. On a recent visit to Indonesia, I and a companion got a firsthand look at the situation in the Baliem Valley. Landing at the small terminal, we are required to check in at the police desk and show our travel permit: Because the government wishes to monitor the activities of foreigners, a travel permit is mandatory (absolutely required) for most places in Irian Jaya. Hearing that we were headed towards the outlying village of Jiwika, a Dani named Daby approaches us and offers to let us stay in his hotel. We walk over to the bustling market and find a shared taxi to the village. In the company of Daby, we register at the sleepy police station and then reurn to settle in. His "hotel" has no running water (you bathe in the muddy stream), and the toilet is a hole in the ground inside a fenced-in area. There is no electricity. The thatched roof hotel is of wood, and the room is very simple. It's not finished yet because Daby doesn't have all of the money he needs. The village of Jiwika is one main road with another one leading past the school and government offices to the market. Soon after we arrive, it begins to rain, as it will nearly every afternoon of our stay in the interior. That evening, Daby plays guitar and sings lively traditional songs in the cooking hut as his wife bakes sweet potatoes.
The next day, one of the places we visit is the small weekly market, one of many scattered over the highlands. Sales begin after church at around 11 and include a variety of fruit and vegetables--bananas, sugar cane, carrots, tomatoes, and sweet potatoes. Most items cost 100 rupiah or about seven yen. That evening we talk with our host and a visitor, who has come to confer with Daby about the political rally scheduled for the next day. The setting is in an unfinished hotel room with a dirt floor on which we have just finished cooking dinner. We are illuminated only by candlelight. I ask Daby questions in Indonesian, and he translates for his guest.
I ask Daby about the mummies, which have become something of a freak show item for tourists. Conferring with his guest, he lists the the steps involved in making a mummy. First, the corpse is hauled up to the ceiling, and then the blood is drained by making cuts all over the body. The body is smoked by fires underneath. For two months the men dine only on baked sweet potatoes and a type of sauce made with ginger. After completion, there's a large ceremony and many pigs are slaughtered. Daby maintains that the motivation behind embalming is so a rich man can allow his descendants to see him. Most villages are grouped around an extended family with a mummy. Although most are known, some mummies are still a secret There once was a mummy in Jiwika, but the house burned in a war.
I ask Daby about the vegetables sold in the market which many Dani don't appear to eat. He tells me that some older folks will actually leave the room if you cook them. Some of the ones living in the bush actually shun the main road!
Daby believes the Dani could not be independent. "We haven't had anyone graduate as yet from a university. In Daby's opnion "Papua New Guinea is a dominion of Australia, and they give them a lot of help." Asking about the Dani's cosmology (religious view of creation), I'm told that religious knowledge--who created the world--is only passed down from father to son at a certain age. The transmission is marked by a ceremony. Women are kept cosmologically ignorant. Daby himself doesn't know, and his friend isn't permitted to tell him. Although Danis find little contradiction between their religion and Christianity in Catholic Ywika, there is conflict between Protestants and Catholics who intermarry.
I ask about the women I've seen who are missing one or more joints of their fingers. This is a custom common in the past, but one which is fading. It is usually performed to mourn the death of a male relative. Daby's guest shows us where a corner of his earlobe has been cut off which is the corresponding practice for males. Before we retire, Daby gives us the details about the political rally set for the next day. The elections are June 9th, and Daby is an organizer for Golongan Karya (Golkar), Indonesia's ruling political party. Trucks will leave at around 7 am, he tells us, and the party in support of the party will take place in Wamena. The next morning we encounter Daby in the road at 8, but there are still no trucks. All of the "warriors" assemble and dance behind his house (in front of our "hotel") and dance-- singing while prancing in a circle. While there are some small homemade guitars, musical accompaniment is by a small white Japanese-made boom box (cassette recorder with attached speakers) playing a cassette with jew's harp.
The most popular garment for men are numbered soccer shorts with red and white stripes--red and white being the colors of the Indonesian national flag. A few men sport penis gourds, some wear plumed feathers, others sport ornate rectangular ties embroidered with cowrie shells (which once served as currency), and a few carry large spears. Westernized ones wear yellow Golkar tee shirts, jeans, and shoes. One man even has eyeglasses. While some women wear brassieres, the bare breasts of others flop on their bellies. Many of the women wear the traditional straw skirts. Most of the participants sport daubs of lime-based white paint. Some even have a number "two" (for Golkar, the second party on the ballot) written on them.
Set in the playing field, the rally is very strange. Pop singers are performing onstage in yellow Golkar tee shirts while feathered warriors jump up and down in a group in front. Other groups, oblivious to the stage performance, are dancing loudly in circles. One group--from Akima which is famous for its mummy--are sitting and playing guitar.
We stayed in the area for another week--taking a twin otter plane to the village of Kelila and hiking back. Our impression was that this far away valley is fast changing and will soon be completely transformed. As warfare has declined, health care has improved and people are living longer; the increase in population is generating widespread deforestation. Tradition is being abandoned for Christianity and a Western lifestyle. Since the people can't afford to live in a true Western style, they end up living poorly and without their traditional culture. The Dani are very friendly to outsiders. But they are also confused -- torn between the 20th century and Stone Age lifestyle and beliefs.
This page last updated: Tue, Jun 18, 1996