Transcript The Kapauku - Fullerton Union High School

The Kapauku
The New Guinea “Capitalists”.
Location:
• Papua New Guinea
is a country in
Oceania, occupying
the eastern half of
the island of New
Guinea.
• The western portion
of the island is a part
of Indonesian
provinces of Papua
and West Papua.
Geography
• High mountains and deep valleys characterize
the Kapauku country.
• The people live in a tropical rain forest zone.
• There is very little seasonal change in climate,
and the average daily temperature is about
17.5 degrees C of 63.5 degrees F.
• The annual rainfall approximates 2,500
millimeters.
 Colonization
 The Dutch
 Indonesia
 Irian Jaya
 The Christian missionaries
claimed that their goal was “to
see the spiritual welfare of the
people.”
 Their tribe was named
Kapauku by the people of the
south, and their neighbors to
the north called them Ekari.
They called themselves “Me –
the people”
The Beginning
 Ugatame designed the universe – male
and female, sun and moon.
 The sun is light and warm like a ball of
fire
 The Moon is cool like the light of a
firefly
 But because the sun and moon are not
Ugatame, that is proof that there is
Ugatame.
 The world is a flat slab of stone and there
is nothing below it. It does down as far as
there is to go.
 Above the stone is another world in
which Ugatame exists.
Subsistence
• Hunters and gatherers
• Primarily gathering
provides subsistence
– Crayfish, insects,
frogs, rats and bats
that provide
supplements to their
daily diets.
• Gathering is also a
crucial part of their
economy.
Subsistence
• Their subsistence is dependent on
– Potatoes
– Pigs
• They use two different kinds of cultivation
– Shifting cultivation – areas are cleared by
burning
– Harvested daily cultivation.
• The valley is exploited for rotating crops
– The potato, sugarcane, bananas, cucumbers, primarily
the sweet potato which yields 90 percent of their
production
The sweet potato and
the pig are dependent
products
 Both people and pigs
are fed by the sweet
potato
 They are economically
dependent on each
other
 Status is earned through
income, therefore, being
successful in pig
breeding is necessary to
ensure capital

Manufacturing



They have a limited scope of manufacturing
compared to their agricultural industry.
Not specialized in one specific area.
Manufacture tools



Flint chips, stone axes, knives and grinding stones.
Net Bags
 Intricate, woven designs spun from soft inner bark
and decorated with orchid stems.
Their tools demonstrate great artistic skills.
Manufacturing


Their line of weaponry are
bows and arrows, although
mostly used while killing
small game, and not in
combat.
Enemies are challenged with
projectiles tipped with long,
sharp, bamboo blades.
A
village typically
consists of about 120
people.
 Constructed of planks
thatched with reeds or
pandanus leaves.
• Vegetation is also used as
insulation between plank
layers.
 Each
room has a fire,
with the roof left open
for the smoke to
escape.
 The
Kapauku economy rests on money
 Cowrie shells and two types of necklaces
are used as money for both purchase and
exchange
 Money is key to social status and respect.
 Money affords access to:
 Marriage, social status, livelihood and
personal relationships.
 Shells and glass are secured through trade
 Capitalism
 There
are set prices but still fluctuations on
the cost of items because of supply and
demand.
 Most buying and selling occurs between close
relatives
 For example the expression of grief over a
death of one’s relative can be paid in
money.
 And because of this, there is rarely a crime
committed that cannot be erased with
money.
 Credit
has been elaborated as a means of
redistributing money.
 Because there is no mechanism of giving
loans, “interest” on a loan is informal and
may be promised by the lender – it is never
demanded.
 Even without legal intercourse, interest is
usually followed when promised.
 It carries with it the social sanction of
dishonesty and the likelihood of not
receiving a loan again.




Each Kapauku can place other people in
one of three groups
 Acquaintances
 Strangers
 Enemies
They only trust those in the 1st category
because they are close friends and they
offer economic, political and emotional
support.
The 2nd category consists of those they
don’t know. However, “every stranger is
a potential customer.”
The 3rd category does not describe enmity
from the individual but are defined by
group membership or familial conflicts.

Never individual resentment
MARRIAGE
 Occurs
between the families of the
perspective groom and brothers and mothers
of the perspective bride.

A high bride price takes precedence over what
the woman would want in the marriage.
 However,
mothers can also set a bride price
they know cannot be met as a purpose of
terminating the marriage.
MARRIAGE

Elopements are not infrequent, despite the fact
that they are seen as improper.

When this occurs, it is set right by negotiating a bride
price.
Premarital sex is generally not punished
although it is frowned upon for their potential to
diminish a bride price.
 When divorce occurs, the bride price must be
returned which is a serious consequence.


In such an instance the children usually stay with
the mother until they are about seven and then they
are expected to live with their father and integrate
into the village
MARRIAGE
Polygamy is widely practiced
 It provides opportunity for men to gain status
because it is an indicator of the husband’s
ability to pay multiple bride-prices
 It is a display of wealth.
 And if a husband can afford wives, then they
will ultimately help him earn money and
prestige through tending pigs and sweet
potatoes.
 However, even though polygamy is an ideal for
which men strive, it is an expensive venture and
not easily attained.

Family and household
 Consist of the nuclear family
but also includes
consinguineal or affinal kin.
 Whoever owns the house is
considered the head within
the households. And he is
responsible for assuring that
the household members are
adequately fed.
The Tonowi
 Literally means “rich one”
 He offers suggestions which
other others “take into
consideration.” But they
of the characteristic big
have to listen.
man.
 He sets himself apart from  But cannot always do what
he wishes, is he is met with
others with wealth,
generosity and verbal skills. resistance he has to come to
a middle point.
 Has the formal authority to
enforce his will
 Embodies the typical traits
The Kapauku hold a rationalistic and logical
view of the world that resembles scientific
thought.
› Internally consistent and based on logical
perceptions
 The most important ceremonies are
connected with their economy, rather than
being concerned primarily with religion and
the supernatural.


The shaman is associated with Kamu, the
white magic, which can be divided into
many categories
› Curative magic
› Preventive magic
› Counter-sorcery
› War magic.

Any Kapauku individual can perform
these magical rites
The practice of sorcery (kego) is always
done by a specialist.
 The sorcerer is believed to possess his
own supernatural power independent of
any spirit helper.
 The status of a known sorcerer is low, and
he is feared and hated by most people.
 He may be ostracized and even killed by
the kin of his presumed victims.





Death, regardless of the outward cause, is
thought always to be caused by sorcerers or
spirits.
The soul goes to spend its days in the forest, but
it returns to the village at night to assist its
surviving kin or to seek vengeance in the case
of wrongful death. T
here is no concept of an afterworld, in the
sense of some "other" place in which the dead
dwell.
The more beloved or prestigious the deceased,
the greater the care taken, through burial
practices.