Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 2 - Oceania - W pps

Thus the total Wamiran ulationin PapuaNew Guinea today is about 1,200, only one-third ofwhom live in thevillage.The remainder of theWami-ranslive in othervillagesandmany now live in town

364 Uvea

tarocultivators werenucleatedalongcoastalareaswhile the

settlements were scatteredinthemore arid uplands

Uvea is a well-watered, fertile island Yams, taro, and

breadfruit werethe traditionalstaples, complemented byfish,

pigs and chickens.Seaturtleswere eatenonly bythechiefs,

who could alsoplaceconservationtaboos on certaincrops

Therewereirrigation works for tarointhelowlands.Artisans

specialized in the three respected trades ofcanoe making,

house building, and dye preparation Households and line,

agesengagedinritualfeastingandpropertyexchanges with

each other

Important kin groups included patrilineages, ramages,

and broadbilateralkingroups.Individualshadsomefreedom

inthe choiceofaspouse Residencewasusually patrilocal,

but could have been matrilocal ifspecific advantages

war-ranted the deviation Chiefswereformerly polygynous. The

peopleof a common residencegroup (api) occupiedseveral

dwellings and shared a single cook house Uvean families

were ranked according togenealogicalprestige Both noble

and commoner ramages held land and comprised several

households.Thechiefs tendednot toplayacentral rolein

ei-ther economy orritual.Thefirst paramount chief(aliki) was

evidently installed by the Tui Tonga of Tonga Succession to

this office was from oldestto younger brothers and then to

the son of theoldest(deceased)brother.Greatdeference was

shown theparamountchief,whowasverypowerfuland could

put his subjects todeath

Uveanreligious beliefs centeredontheconcept of tapu

orsacredness,aqualitygreatly revered andfeared.Therewere

originally three typesof gods, hierarchically ordered by

de-greesofpower.The more important deities had associated

maraes, which were administeredbythe priests

See also Futuna, Rotuma, Tonga

BibliographyBurrows, E G (1937) The Ethnology of Uvea Bernice P

Bishop Museum Bulletin no 145 Honolulu

Wamira

ETHNONYMS: Bartle Bay, Wedau

OrientationIdentification 'Wamira" isthenameforboth thevillageand its residents, and it is usedby Wamirans as well as byoutsiders

Location Wamira lies in Milne Bay Province, the mostsoutheastern province of Papua New Guinea, at10°1'Sand150°2' E The village is located directly on the southern shore

of Goodenough Bay, midwaybetween the rounded mouth ofthe bay at Sirisiri and the long spindly tip of East Cape Theresidential areastretchesalong the shore for about 2.5kilom-eters between the Uruam and Wamira rivers Alarge alluvialplain with fertilegarden land lies behind thehamlets and ex-tends intothe foothillsthatrisefarther inland tobecometheOwenStanleypeaks These massive mountains create a rainshadow,andWamira-likethe 30 kilometers ofcoastalland

toitswest-isuncharacteristicallydry and savannalike for atropicallowland environment The region receives an average

ofonly 140centimeters of rainfall a year Seasonal extremes

inrainfall create a dry and a wetseason The dry season is usually long,lasting fromapproximatelyApril to December.During this time it is not unusual for three months to passwithuninterrupted, scorchingsun Thetemperature remainsfairly constant during both seasons The mean annual tem-perature is 27 C;the lowest temperature at night is about17° C, and the highest, around noon, is 350 C

un-Demography. The population, although large compared

tothe surrounding villages,is moderate in size From 1896,when the earliest population figures were recorded, untiltoday, the population within the village has remained rela-tively constant, hovering around 400 Since contact and thefirst recording of population figures, however, there has been

athreefold increase in totalWamiran population The excesspopulation, which has increased exponentially, is drained off

byout-migrationfrom Wamira Thus the total Wamiran ulationin PapuaNew Guinea today is about 1,200, only one-third ofwhom live in thevillage.The remainder of theWami-ranslive in othervillagesandmany now live in towns Due tothe attraction of townlifeandits employment opportunitiesfor young people, both men and women in the 20-30 agebracket are poorly represented within the village

pop-UnguisticAffiliation The language, which is sian, was given the name 'Wedau" by early missionaries.Wedau is the native language of the people who live in theneighboring coastal villages of Wedau, Wamira, Divari, andLavora Wedaulanguage belongs to the largerTaupotaFam-ilyoflanguages, whichincludesthethreelanguagesof Tau-pota, Tawara, and Garuai spoken along the coast to the east

Austrone-of Wamira Asone moves east within the Taupota LanguageFamily, one encounters gradual shifts in vocabulary due tophonological and morphological changes between neighbor-ing villages Inclassicdialect-chain fashion, althoughinter-mediate forms differ only by small steps, the farther away onemoves, the more unintelligible in relation to Wedau thelan-guages become The missionaries mastered Wedau within a

Wamira 365

few years of their arrival in 1891 They then taught the local

people to read and write, so that today nearly all Wedau

speakers are literateintheir own tongue Because Wedau was

the language learned by the missionaries and was used to

preach in churchand teach in school, it soon became the

lin-gua franca of the largergeographical area thatextends along

the coast and into the mountains Today, Wamiran

school-children are taught in English by teachers from other regions

of Papua New Guinea Most younger Wamirans arefairly

flu-ent inEnglish, although theyare often too shy to speak it

History and Cultural Relations

The region in which Wamira lies has hada long history of

contact with Europeans In 1888, Britain annexed the

south-eastern portion of New Guinea, which becamethe

Protector-ate ofBritish New Guinea With the passing of the Papua Act

of 1905, the Protectorate ofBritish New Guinea became the

Australian Territory of Papua First missionary contact with

Wamirans occurred in 1891 when two Anglican missionaries,

Albert Maclaren and Copland King, landed on the shore

be-tween the villages of Wamira andWedau Soon thereafter,

the mission station of Dogura wasbuilt on the plateau above

Wedau Dominating Dogura Plateau, as a majestic landmark

visible from great distances, is the monumentalwhite-walled,

red-roofed Cathedral of St Peter and St Paul which, when

completed in 1936, was the largest cathedral in the Southern

Hemisphere The Anglican mission has had a major effect on

the villages in the immediate area Most Wamirans express

positive feelings toward the mission and demonstrate respect

for most of the changes it has brought cessation ofvillage

warfare, improved health care, and formal education Since

1975, when Papua New Guinea gained independence from

Australia, however, Wamirans have expressed regret that

for-merly the mission, and now the government, have not

brought more in the way of development The area has

nei-ther roads, electricity, running water, nor any means of

earn-ing cash

Settlements

Wamira is bounded on all sides To the west and east lie the

Wamiraand Uruam rivers To the north and south are the sea

and mountains Wamiran land, thus circumscribed,

com-prises a total of about 5 square kilometers and is roughly

square in shape The village is divided into two wards: the

original old village at the western end called Damaladona or

Wadubo (wadubo meaning 'old"); and Rumaruma on the

easternfringe Rumarumaoriginated several generations ago

when the growing population of Damaladona spreadoutand

settled land that formerlyhadbeen used for banana gardens

Damaladona has about one-third of thepopulation, and

Ru-maruma the remaining two-thirds Within eachward,

settle-ments are scattered into seaside hamlets, of which there are a

total of eighteen The larger hamlets arefurtherdivided into

named sections Within these, people live in households of

nuclear, and occasionally extended, families House

con-structionwas traditionally of woven coconut-frond walls and

thatched roofs, although many roofs are being replaced by

corrugated sheets of tin Tin roofs are valued because,

cou-pled with gutters and water tanks, they allow for the

collec-tionof rainwater

EconomySubsistence andCommercialActivities The household

is the main unit of production and consumption, withswidden horticulture as the subsistence base Wamirans di-vide their food world into two categories: tia (animal foods)and lam (vegetable foods) Although seasonal differencesexist in thefood supply, there is no annual "lean" time.Thecategory of tia, whichconstitutes about 3 percent of thetotalcalories consumed, hasfish as its most stable ingredient Thisterm includes saltwater fish, freshwater fish, and shellfish.Wild animals, which used to be caught by communal firedrives, trapping, and spearing, are nowprimarilyhunted withshotguns Although fishing is still practiced extensively,hunting is dwindling in importance The maindomesticatedanimals are pigs, of which there are about 200 inthevillage.Every major feast includes pork Twogovernment cattle proj-ects were established inWamira in the early 1970s, and beef

is also prized now Lammake up about 97 percent of the totalcalories in the Wamiran diet There arenumerouswild vege-tablefoods, such as wild yams, arrowroot, pandanus fruit, lic-orice root, Cycas palm fruit, wild chestnuts, and numerousvarieties of green leaves and seaweed Many large leafy treesstand within the village and produce coconuts, breadfruit,chestnuts, Java almonds, Malay apples, and mangoes Allother fruit and vegetable crops arecultivated in one of twotypes of family gardens: banana gardensortarogardens Themost common garden foods includebananas, plantains,taro,yams, sweet potatoes, tapioca, pitpit, sugarcane, squashes,corn, papayas, and numerous varieties of beans, peas, andgreens Taro predominates as thestaplecrop ofritualsignifi-cance To enable the year-roundcultivation of taro, which re-quires much water, the Wamirans, as well as the people inseveral of the neighboring coastalvillages to the west,devised

a means of irrigating their taro TheWamiran irrigation tem consists of some 12 kilometers of unlined earth canalsand subsidiary canals At the sites ofthecanalsources (one atthe Wamira River and two at the Uruam River), stone damsapproximately 15 meters long andI meter high are packedacross theriver to direct the water into the canals Moreover,

sys-in precontact times, the Wamiransalonecreated alog aqueduct as part of their irrigation system to transportriver water from the Uruam River across a dry riverbed andonto the plain behind the village Each aqueduct is used foronly four to five years, by which time itbreaks and lies dor-mant until another one is constructed In the past century,new aqueducts were built in 1892, 1904, 1914, 1928, 1948,and 1977 The 1977 aqueduct was financed by the PapuaNew Guinean government and constructedofmetal pipe Inaddition to the traditional foods mentioned above, intro-duced foods, such as oranges, lemons,limes,pineapples, wa-termelons, tomatoes, scallions, andpeanuts, are grown now

hollowed-as well and are usually sold in themarket Due to the dry mate, the introductionofcash crops has been unsuccessful.IndustrialArts Utilitarian goodsproduced byWamiransinclude houses, canoes, clothing, mats, wooden bowls,coconut-shell drinkingcups,lime spatulas, baskets, fish nets,net bags, drums, rattles, headdresses,variousdanceparapher-nalia, and weapons The aqueduct,ofcourse, is a majortech-nological accomplishment and adistinguishingfeature of thevillage Itis flanked by carvedwoodenfigures who are said to

cli-be its guardians

366 Wamira

Trade In the past, intervillage trade was common

Coastal goodssuch ascoconutsand fish movedinland,while

areca nuts and certain hardwoods used for digging sticks

moved to the coast Trade also occurred alongthe coast,

where items such as pottery, barkcloth,and foodwere

ex-changedamongvillages Today,themainformofexchange

occursbetween Wamira andtownslikeAlotau, Lae,andPort

Moresby Wamirans sendpeopletoworkin towns.Inreturn,

moneyand purchasedgoods, such as food, tools, clothing,

and constructionmaterialsforhouses,enterthevillage.The

moneyisusedtopurchase kerosene, matches, tobacco, and

foodfrom thetradestores inWamira andDogura

Division ofLabor Thevillage asawhole unitestowork

foronlyoneactivity, the erection and maintenance of the

aq-ueduct that feeds the large, fertile plotof landbehind the

hamlets This event occurseveryten totwenty years,and it

re-sults in suspicionandantagonism when men from thetwo

wards workside byside Withineachward, peoplecooperate

for women's communal riverinefishingandmen'shuntingof

wildanimals.Hamlet members cooperateon anumber of

ac-tivities Residents of each hamletgardenadjacenttaroplots

andcooperation exists among the menwhentheyrepair the

irrigationcanals andturn the sod tomakenewgardens The

women ofeach hamlet work together to maintainthe taro

gardens, digging hollowsaround theplantstoallow the

irriga-tionwater to seep in andweeding around the young shoots

Otherwise, peopleworkcooperatively mainlybyhousehold,

with sex defining whodoes whichtask Menbuild houses,

hunt, make gardens and tools, and climb coconut trees

Women carry foods to the market at Dogura, collect

fire-wood,cook,clean thehouse,washdishes, wash clothes, and

sweepthe hamletarea Bothmen andwomenfish,although

only women do so communally Nowadays, women's clubs

are activeandeachward has its own clubthatworkson

vari-ousincome-generatingprojects These projectsinclude

mak-ing sweetpotatogardens, sewing uniforms forthe hospital,

and bakingandselling bread

LandTenure Rights to both residential andhorticultural

land are passed down from father to son Althoughcertain

food trees are owned by individuals, anyone who walks by

may pick fruit from the tree Rights to trees do notinclude

rights to the landon whichtheystand

Kinship

KinGroupsandDescent AWamiran is born into his or

hermother'slineage Allmembersof alineageclaimcommon

descentfrom anancestor, althoughthey cannot necessarily

tracethelinks.Therearetwenty namedlineages,each

distin-guishingitselffromtheothersbyitsgeographicalplace of

ori-gin Eachmatrilineagehas its owngroup of animals, usually

birds,lizards,snakes,orfish, which are taboo to its members

In the past, each had its prescribed exchange partner at

revenge-deathfeasts, but these feasts have not been practiced

fordecades

Kinship Terminology Kinship terminology is of the

Iroquoistype.

Marriage and Family

Marriage. Lineageexcgamyis prescribed Because women

move to their husband's land after marriage, matrilineal

groups are geographically dispersed throughoutthe village.Marriage ceremonies nowoften consist of two events-a tra-ditionalwedding, with the appropriateexchangeoftaroandpork, and achurch ceremony followed by a European-stylefeast that includes such things as bread, butter, and jam.Adulterywas,andstill is, fairly common Divorce may be ini-tiatedby either spouse andusuallyoccurswhenonesimplymoves awayfrom the other

Domestic Unit The domestic unit usually consists ofahusbandand wife withtheir offspring Occasionally aneld-erly parent or anunmarried sibling of the husband or wifelives with thenuclearfamily

Inheritance Inheritance is through the father and themother.Residential and horticultural land and some types ofgardenmagic arepassedfrom father to son Other forms ofmagic are passed down from mother todaughter

Socialization Cultural virtues valued by Wamirans clude empathy, respect, politeness, and generosity, all ofwhich are taught to children at an early age From the turn ofthe century untilthe 1960s,schooling was through the mis-sion,but it is now runby thegovernment It is not uncom-mon for large families to keep one or two children out ofschool to teach them "village ways."

in-Sociopolitical OrganizationSocialOrganization. Marriage andmatrilineal affiliationare theonlysocial links that crosscut thegeographicallysepa-rateunitsof patrilocal residence andhorticultural productionandpatrilineal politicalorganization Althoughlineage affili-ation is theprimary link acrossthese otherwise separate andoftenantagonisticunits, the links formed atmarriages,whicharerekindled and redefined atdeath,areneither strong nornumerous enough tobond thevillagetogetherpermanently

asone unit Thisisfor two reasons First, once a woman ries,she severs most ties to hernatal family,includingthose

mar-to residential andhorticulturalland She remains on her band'slandeven after hisdeath, returning to her natal landafter his deathonly if she bore no sons toanchor herto herhusband's land The second reason isthat about 82 percent

hus-of Wamiran womenmarrywithin theirward Thus, evenriages and deaths, with their accompanying rituals, ex-changes, andfeasts,fail to bringtogether peopleof thetwowards very often

mar-Political Organization. Leadership is hereditary, passingfrom a man to his firstbornson Leaders commandthe re-spect ofWamiransbased uponobservedqualities ofwisdom,diligence, generosity, horticultural prowess, ceremonial skill,andtheirability to organize their group to work There is onetraditional leaderfor thevillage asawhole,as wellasone ineach ward Each of the eighteenpatrilocalhamlets also hasoneacknowledgedleader The hamlet leader'sprimarypower,which restsin(butis notguaranteedby) hisgenealogical sta-tus ofpatrilineal primogeniture, must be continuallyrecon-firmed He achieves respect through his ability toorganizeandunify hisgroups and expresses hisleadershipthrough themanipulationof food at feasts His group consists of smallerantagonistichamlet sections,each ofwhich also has its owngenealogicallyascribedleader of slightly lesser status than thehamlet leader The presence ofthese aspiring competitorschallenges a leader's powers and makes his task ofunifying

Wantoat 367

thegroupdifficult Rivalries and conflictsamong minor

lead-ersusually threatentoeruptduringtheprocessoftaro

culti-vationandharvest,whenmalepowersareespeciallyatstake

Social Control Laughterat anindividual'snonconformity

andostracismformoreseriousbreaches of conduct function

asthemainformsof socialcontrol.Inextreme cases, an

indi-vidual maybebanishedtohisorherbananagardenbecause

ofmisconduct Since 1964, local governmentcouncils have

been established, which also settlemajordisputes.

Conflict Priorto contactwith Europeans and the

cessa-tion of village warfare, intervillage fights often resulted in

cannibal raids Today, conflict and competition surface

mainly duringhorticultural activities,feasts, dances, and

or-ganized sportscompetitions

Religion and Expressive Culture

Religious Belie&s Indigenous religioustenets arerootedin

animism and beliefs in spirits and spiritlike beings. These

spiritsreside in numerous forms: humanbeings, plants,

ani-mals,rocks,rivers,etc.Sincecontactandexposuretothe

An-glican mission, many Wamirans have become Christian

They are nowbaptized,take Christian names, andregularly

gotochurchinthevillageor atthemission station.Thetwo

typesofbeliefs,animismandChristianity, todayexistsideby

side

Religious Practitioners Traditional village healers

per-form magic to help the sick, bring rain, and entice taro to

grow Black magic is practiced in the form ofsorcery and

witchcraft Menperformsorceryagainstoneanother, usually

in their taro gardens. Women practice witchcraft, usually

aiming itat members of theirownmatrilineage suchas

sib-lings or children

Ceremonies Feasts are held to celebrate marriages,

deaths, andvarious stages of thecultivation oftaro.

Nowa-days, celebrations for clubbirthdays (women's clubs, men's

clubs, boys' clubs, etc.) are also common.

Arts In the past, utilitarian objects, such as wooden

bowls,coconut-shelldrinkingcups,limespatulas,anddrums,

wereembellished withcarvings.The figures flankingthe

aq-ueduct are elaborately carved and decorated with shells

Wamirans engage in competitive dancing and perform

buffoonery.

Medicine Traditional medicines weremade from plants.

Many villagers go to St Barnabas Hospital at Dogura for

medications.Themost commonillness for which medicineis

sought is malaria Other commonly occurring illnesses are

respiratory infections and infected wounds

Death and Afterlife Wamirans believe that upon death

thehuman soul isreleased, crosses abodyofwater, and

be-comes aspirit of the dead.Initially,thesespiritsroamthe

vil-lage,butultimately they departtospecial placesof the dead

Theyreturn toadvise and haunttheliving, chastisingerrant

kin by bringing misfortune, illness, and even death upon

them Deathisusuallybelievedtobe the result of

supernat-ural causes.

Bibliography

Kahn, Miriam (1986) Always Hungry, Never Greedy: Foodand the Expression ofGender in a Melanesian Society. Cam-bridge: Cambridge University Press

Ker,Annie(1910) Papuan FaityTales London:Macmillan.King, Copland (1899).AHistory oftheNewGuinea Mission.Sydney: W A Pepperday.

Newton, Henry (1914). In FarNew Guinea Philadelphia,

MIRIAM KAHN

Wantoat

ETHNONYMS: Awara,Wapu, Wopu

OrientationIdetifcaton.Like many ethnic groups in Papua NewGuinea the people ofthe Wantoat Valley had no need to namethemselves.Theyknewtheir territorial boundaries andwhowere theirenemies. Expatriatesnamedthem after theirprincipal locality, thevalleyof the WantoatRiver,atributary

of the Leron River whichflows into the Markham River.Location Thepeoplelivealongtherugged,southernfoot-hills of the Finisterre Mountains inthe Morobe ProvinceofPapua NewGuinea, around6-S and 146030' E ataltitudesfrom 360 to 1.800 meters. As thealtitude increases thecli-

mate becomes more temperate

Demography. In 1980 the population was estimated at

5,500 for theCentraldialect, 1,500 forAwara, and 300forWapu.

Linguistic Affiliation The language is a member of theWantoatFamily,Finisterre-HuonStock,Trans-NewGuineaPhylumofPapuan languages. Ithas three dialects: theCen-tral; the Awara inthe west;and the Wapu inthe south

History and Cultural RelationsTheWantoathomelandis inwhatwasoriginallythe GermancolonyofKaiserWilhelmrsland.AlthoughAustraliawasgiventheadministration of theareabytheLeagueof Nationsfol-

lowingWorldWar1,thepeoplewerefirst contactedin 1927

byapatrolledbyGermanmissionaries. In1929the

mission-ariesbegan evangelizationwithnationalevangelistsusingthe

368 Wantoat

Kotte (Kite) languageas achurchlinguafranca Rival

evan-gelists from the nearby Kaiapit mission station in the

MarkhamValley to the south chargedthemwith

encroach-ment, and clashes followed Subsequentlythe Wantoat

peo-ple weredivided into two circuits,one having Kotte (Kate)

and the other having the Yabem language as the lingua

franca The results of the Australian administration

estab-lishing control and bringing peace to the area following

World War IIwereincreasedmobility,marriagebetween

peo-ple ofmore distantvillages, the blending ofminordialectal

differences,greaterlongevityformen,and lesspolygamy.

Ad-ministrative control also allowed for the introduction of a

limited casheconomyandfor theyoungmen toleave for

em-ploymentin townsandplantations.These trendswere

accel-erated with thecompletionof the centralWantoatairstripin

1956, the opening of a government patrol post with an

English-language school, the arrival of trading companies,

and the residency ofan expatriate Lutheran missionary in

1960 With theconnectionof theWantoat stationtothe

na-tional roadsystem viathe LeronValleyin 1985,one can

ex-pectever greater changes.

Settlements

In precontact timesthe people lived in small, relatively

iso-lated hamlets ofthirtytoeightypersonslocatedindefensible

positions, usually on mountain ridges Generally, several

re-lated hamletswerelocated withintwo tothree hourswalking

time ofone another, butit often took aday to walkto the

next complex of related hamlets Mutual hostility between

these groups led to considerable linguistic variation; more

thantwenty-fiveminordialectshave beenreported.To aidin

administration the government required related hamlets to

combineintolarger villages, thereby reducingthenumber of

settlements substantially. This policy, however, caused the

gardenareas tobesituated fartherfromthevillageandhence

morevulnerabletodestructionbyenemies;italso overloaded

the capacity forvillage hygiene, thereby contributing tothe

more rapid spread ofdisease; andit renewed latent

antago-nisms sothatvillagelifegenerallybecame undesirable

Con-sequently, manypeopleliveinsheltersinthegardensand

re-turn tothevillagesto meetgovernmentalofficers and attend

church Currentlythere are aboutsixty settlements with an

average population of 120, but ranging from 43 to 318

Economy

Subsistence and Commercial Activities Thepeople are

horticulturalists,with themaincropsbeingvarietiesofsweet

potatoes, taro,yams,pandanus,sugarcane,andbananas

Tra-ditionally, adeficiency inanimal proteinwas partiallyoffset

by hunting marsupials in the forest; today, canned fish and

meat arepurchased.Therewerefewwildpigsinthearea,and

thepeople practicedlittlepighusbandry Consequently,both

the Lutheran missionaries and the government agricultural

workers hadlimitedsuccess inintroducing Europeanpigsfor

breeding Attemptstointroducesheepanddonkeysalsomet

with little interest.TheintroductionofEuropean vegetables

for cashcroppingfailed because of theinaccessibilityof

mar-kets Someof the vegetables, such as maize, tomatoes, and

cabbages, are still grown for local consumption More

suc-cessfulwastheintroduction of theSingapore (Chinese) taro,

which isnowpreferred over localvarieties. The government

introducedthe cultivation ofcoffee, and with the

construc-tionofairstripsintheWantoatandAwaravalleys,coffee hasbecomeaviable cashcrop.The recently completedroad link

to the coast should increasethe marketability of all locallygrown produce.

Industry" Arts For the most part, each local group ofpeoplewas self-sufficient and able toproduce all the neces- sary tools and utensils from local resources. From bambootheymadecontainersforcarryingwaterandbaking byknock-ing out all but the last node Men carved basins and war

shields fromwood,usedtheinnerbark ofa treefor loinclothsand protective cloaks, carved bows of blackpalm, and used

cane for arrow shafts with points made ofbamboo, blackpalm, oranimal bones Womenwove stringbagsfromtwine

rolled from the leaves of an indigenous shrub They madeskirts from the fibers found on the inside ofbanana plantsandplaited armbands from rattan.

Trade What was not available from local resources was

imported throughtrade contacts. Shells and othersea

prod-ucts camefrom the Raicoast tothe northviatheneighboring

Nankina andYupna peoples. Pandanus leafmats cameeitherfrom the coast orfrom the Atzera people ofthe MarkhamValleyto the south

Division ofLabor Members ofeachsexmanufacturetheartifacts concerned with their roles.Menmake theloincloths, drums, ornamental frames for thedances, itemsforhuntingand warfare, lime gourds, andspatulas. Women makegrassskirts and stringbags. Whereas the men clear the land, the

women prepare the gardens and care for mostcropsexceptbananas,sugarcane,pandanus,andyams.Womencarryfood,

firewood,babies, and almostanythingthatcanfitinastring

bag. Mencarrythe heavier itemssuchasbeamsandplanks.The introduction of European material culture has not af-fected this dichotomy ofsexroles

Land Tenure There is noconceptofprivate

landowner-ship,andapartfrom the limitedamountof landpurchased bythe government to establish offices and schools, all landin

the Wantoat areabelongs to patrilinealclans

Kinship

KinGroupsand Descent Thelargest functioningunitin

Wantoat society is the patrilineal, exogamous clan, whosemembers claim descent from a common mythical founder.The clanwasthecontext forreligiousactivities In timesofconflictor stressthe individual turnedtotheclan forrefugeand support Today the clan still functions in thisway, al-though increased individualism has weakened the authority

of the elders

KinshipTerminology. Thesystemischaracterizedby furcate-merging terms for aunts and uncles and Iroquois

bi-terms for cousins.

Marriage and the FamilyMarriage Marriages are generally arranged between par-

ticipating clans to maintain a balance in the exchange of

women.The preferred exchangewasbymen exchanging

sis-ters.Althoughmarriageswereoftenarrangedpriortothegirl reaching puberty, the patternwas for postpubescent girlsto

marry menwhowereseveralyearsolder Ifaperiodof

premar-Wantoat 369

ital residence of the woman with the man's clanprovedher

acceptability, the families exchanged gifts Then thecouple

entered a newhouse, ceremoniallyrekindled afire, andthe

wifecooked her first meal for her husband Divorce was rare

Polygamy used to be common, but with the increase of

avail-able men duetothecessationofwarfare and theprohibition

ofpolygamybythe missionaries, ithas largelygiven wayto

monogamy.Arrangedmarriagesarelessfrequentbecause the

youth meet potential mates atschool,andtheyoung menare

able to earn their own bride-payment through outside

em-ployment Suchindependence has resulted in an increase in

divorce

Domestic Unit The men and the initiated male youth

used to livetogether in a men'shouse,while the women and

children lived in separateresidences Menwho were

polyga-mousmaintained separate houses for their wives,daughters,

and uninitiated sons When not staying with one of their

wives,theywould join theinitiated young men in the men's

house Withthe trend to monogamy the primary unit has

be-come the nuclear family, and the married men only

infre-quently move inwith the youngmen

Inheritance Since land rights belonged to the clan and

the people did not manufacture durable goods, there was

lit-tlepersonal inheritance.Shells,pigtusks,and otherpersonal

adornments and utensils,however, didhavethepotentialof

embodying the power of previous owners As such these

heir-looms were inherited by a man's offspring, primarily his sons

Socialization Parents werepermissive in raising their

chil-dren, particularinthe caseofboys. Children learned their

rolesbyworkingwiththeir parents Girlshelped their

moth-erswith gardening, child care, and domestic chores Of all the

rites of passage, the most complex was that of male initiation

Boys were initiated by their maternal uncles who explained

the religious beliefs and gave them their first taste of yams

andpandanus.Thereaftertheyworked withthe menin

clear-ing brush, buildclear-ing structures, andhunting.Adulthood came

with marriage.Whenthe missionaries arrived, the initiation

ceremonies were replaced with confirmationclasses,and the

responsibility of teaching was transferred to pastors from

out-side the Wantoat area Inmodemtimesthe maternal uncles

often provide for the educational expenses of their sororal

nephews and nieces

Sociopolitical Organization

SocialOrganization. Prior toEuropean contact Wantoat

societyhadnoclassdistinctions, althoughthe most

success-ful warrior was the most influential person A man's strength

was considered to be evident in the number of his children, so

nearly one-third of the households were polygamous With

European influence and the growth of individualism, a

per-son's statusisfrequentlydeterminedbymaterialpossessions,

particularly motor vehicles

PoliticalOrganization The clans are thelargestpolitical

units, each led by an elderwho, in the past, demonstrated

prowess in battle and successfully performed the religious

rites Marital connections betweenclansentailed mutual

sup-port in times ofconflict Prior toEuropean contact,villages

were small with clan membersgenerally livingin more than

one village As a result, there were occasional alliances

be-tween villages for ceremonial purposesorfor battle With the

trend tolarger settlements,modem villagesusuallyconsistoftwosuch clans that cooperate in economic ventures.Politicalcontrol isexercisedbya committeeofthe mostrespected clanelders

Social Control The responsibilities of kin relationshipsand thedependenceof membersupon their clan for supportentailed an acceptance of the clan's values and social con-straints Mentraditionally kepttheirculticritual secret, andtoday men readily admitthatbythis secrecythey were able tocontrol the women With the arrival of the Europeans camethe cessation of hostilities, greater mobility, private wageearnings, and the demise of theculticreligion-changes thathave made individuals moreindependent and less responsive

to the wishes of other clan members

Conflict Loyalty was primarily to one's clan, so thattoatsociety washeavily fragmented An externally imposedpeace has resulted in much latent hostility, particularly inmatters oflandownership

Wan-Religion and Expressive CultureReligious Belie" A complex mythology, comprised ofthree majortenets, accounts for the origin of the people andtheir culture First, the center ofcreation for all the peoples ofthe world, including the morerecently encounteredEurope-ans and Japanese, is the Wantoat Valley Second, at the time

ofcreation the gods provided the people with all thesary plant and animal life, all the elements of culture, and,most importantly, all the knowledge necessary for their use

neces-No cultural trait orartifact,or theknowledgeof its use, has ahuman origin Included were sacred stones from which onecould through ritual draw power forfertility,healing, andsuc-cess.Third, because all the other peoples migrated out of thevalley, the Wantoat people alone became the chosen peopleand the repository of theknowledgeand rituals by which onemaintained life and enjoyed its material benefits This beliefsystem, however, was somewhat shaken by contact withWestern peoples When the Europeans arrived with anobvi-ously superior material culture, the Wantoat people wished toacquire theknowledge bywhich theycould enjoy the samematerial culture and standard of living Whentheyfailed tograsp the concepts that the Europeans attempted to teachthem, they assumed that the Europeans were withholdingknowledge of the secret rituals that accounted for theirwealth Life became centered on the quest for these secrets Acreator god retreated to the sun and maintained contact viainsects Yam gardens were dedicated to it and rats weresacri-ficed Cultureheroes supplied the people with their culture,and whenthey died, various useful and edible plants grewfrom their bodies Today malevolent spirits inhabit springs,deep pools, and other unusual physical features

Religious Practitioners The men formed a male cult fromwhich the women were excluded Ritualknowledgewas rele-gated to the men, and the more successful cult members be-came the practitioners who performed sorcery as well asfertil-ity and curative rites When missionaries introduced theChristian religion, it was readily assumed that it would be themen who would be educated to perform the new rituals andlearn the secrets

Ceremonies Manyceremoniesrelatedtotheproductivity

of the gardens which were planted on steeply terraced slopes

370 Wantoat

and sowerealwaysindangerofbeingwashed awaybyheavy

rains Everyfew years,asmanyas3,000peoplewouldgather

to witness adistinctiveWantoat ceremony, thebreachingof

the dams The men would build more than thirty shallow

damsalonganascendingmountainridgefor several hundred

feet,andwithprecise timingtheywouldbreach the damsin

sequencetoform acascade ofwater. Otherfertility

ceremo-niesinvolvingtheuseof sacredstonesand thereenactment

ofcreationlegends were performedwhen the gardens were

planted

Arts Traditionally,therewaslittleartapartfrom the

elab-orately paintedbark-covered bamboo framescarried onthe

backsofmeninthe cultic dances.Theseworksofarteither

decayedorweredestroyed whentheceremonies wereover,so

that new oneshadto bebuilteachyear.Today, musical

in-struments arefew Thecadencefor thedancesismaintained

bythemenwithhand-helddrums.Panpipesusedtobeblown

during thehorticultural rituals

Medicine Majorillnesswasthoughttobe causedbyeither

sorcery orby offended malevolent spirits Sorcery was

ren-deredharmlessby the practitionerperforming the

appropri-ate ritual Evil spirits could be either tricked or placated.

WhenChristianity wasintroduced, peopleoftenregarded

ill-nessas punishmentbyGod

DeathandAfterlife According to traditionalbeliefs, at

birtheveryperson receivesashisorherpersonalityaparticle

of creative force from a generalreservoir Afterdeath, this

particlebecomesanancestral spirit, thenaspirit of thedead,

andthen it returns tothe reservoir to be directedtoanother

person as another personality To increase the potency of

their own particles, aperson's survivingrelatives usedto

ex-hume theskullofthe deceased andkeepit on ashelfatthe

back of thehouse Underthe influenceofChristianity, the

people now bury their dead in cemeteries

BibliographySchmitz, Carl A (1955) 'Zur Ethnographie der Huon-

Halbinsel, Nordost Neuguinea." Zeitschrift fuir Ethnologie

80:298-312

Schmitz, CarlA (1960).BeitragezurEthnographiedes

Wan-toatTales, Nordost Neuguinea Kolner ethnologische

Mittei-lungen K5ln: K6lner UniversititsVerlag

Schmitz, Carl A (1963) Wantoat: Art and Religion of the

northeastNew GuineaPapuans.DenHaag:Mouton.Reprint

1967 Melbourne: PaulFlesch

KENNETH A MCELHANON

Wape

ETHNONYMS: Olo, Wapei, Wape,Wapi

OrientationIdentification CWape" is a designation given byWestern-ers to theculturally similar Olo-speaking people on the in-land side of theTorricelli Mountains of Papua New Guinea.Thetermisderivedfrommetenewape,whichmeans ahumanbeingin contrast to a spiritbeing

Location TheWapearelocatedat 1423' Eand3°30'S,

in the northwesternsection ofPapuaNewGuinea indaun (orWest Sepik) Province on the leeward side of theTorricelli Mountains in the Lumi Local, Somoro, and WestWape censusdivisions They live infifty-fivevillages between

San-390 toabout840metersabovesealevel The terrain,brokenandrugged, iscovered with tropical rain forests drainedbymany streams and small rivers Earth tremors are common-place Thehumidity is high, there is little change in tempera-turesthroughoutthe year, and rainfallisgenerallyheavy, with

an intense wetseason occurringbetween October and April.Demography. TheWape number about 10,000 with ap-proximately19people per squarekilometer There are noreli-able early population estimates

LinguisticAffiliation Olo, the Wape language, is one oftheforty-sevenlanguages of the TorricelliPhylum These lan-guages are divided into thirteen families and seven stocks,with Olo classified as being in the Wapei family (23,378speakers) and theWapei-Palei Stock (31,770speakers) It is

acomplexlanguage with six vowels, seven diphthongs, twelveconsonants, six classes of nouns, four classes of verbs, andtwotenses.Tok Pisin,thelingua francs, is spoken by most ofthe men, many children, and some of the women Rudimen-tary English is spoken by those attending grammar school,while high school students are more fluent

History and Cultural RelationsThelinguistic and limited cultural data suggest that the Wapemigrated fromthe north coast over the Torricelli Mountains

totheir present inland home several thousand years ago Thearea was firstclaimed in 1885 by the Germans who were veryactive onthe coast, but there is no evidence that they visitedthe Wape.After World War11, the Wape area became a part

of the League of NationsMandated Territory of New Guineaadministered by Australia; the first government patrols intothe area were probably in the early 1920s The first knownmaterial on the Wape was collected in 1926 by E A Briggs, azoologist fromtheUniversity of Sidney In the late 1920s and1930s, labor recruiters and explorers for oil and gold also vis-itedthe Wape, who received thempeacefully The Wape wererelatively undisturbed by Western intervention until WorldWar 11 when a small military airstrip and base were estab-lished near Lumivillage This post wasabandoned after thewar;then, in 1947, twoFranciscan priests opened a missionstationby the Lumi airstrip, and shortly afterward the govern-mentestablishedapatrolstation nearby.Christian Brethrenmissionaries also have been active in the area and in the1980s anindigenous evangelical church began winning some

Wape 3 71

adherents Nevertheless, mostWapecontinue tofollow the

rituals of the ancestors.Althoughvarioussmall-scale

devel-opmentalschemes have beenattempted bythemissionsand

government, none have been verysuccessful and the people

remain subsistence farmers Toobtain cashtobuyWestern

commodities, Wape menhavereliedonworkasindentured

laborers in other parts of the country With this source of

work nolonger available, someWapevillages arebeing

de-populatedasfamiliesmove tocoastaltowns tofind work.In

the 1980s anunpaved road reached Lumifrom the coastal

town ofWewak, but heavy rains and occasional blockades

erected by angry landowners along the route make its use

problematical

SettlementsVillages are usually situated onridges and before contact were

stockaded Villagesarecomprisedoftwo ormorehamletsand

clans withanoverall populationofseveral hundred Houses

arestillmade offorest materials andareeither situatedon the

ground as traditionally orelevated a few feet on posts The

in-teriorofthe houseisrestricted tofamily and close relatives

while the veranda is used to socialize with neighbors and

friends.Each house contains several small fires with sleeping

benches on either side Babies andtoddlerssleep with their

parents and sexualintercourse usually occurs inthe garden

areas.Menstruatingfamilymembersremainwithinthehouse

but sleepat aseparatefire.Ifamancontinues to eathiswife's

cookingwhile she is menstruating, he will nothunt In the

center of thevillageis adirtplazawhere childrenplayand

vil-lagers assemble for ritual dancingandceremonials Each

vil-lagealso has a men's house for sacredobjects andoneor two

other houses where unmarried males live Traditionally,

Wape menwere nakedand women wore a string skirt foreand

aft; today men wear shortsand shirts and women skirts and

blouses purchased from the missionand private tradestores

EconomySubsistence and Commercial Activities Although the

sago palm is notindigenoustothe Torricelli Mountains, the

Wape plant itin wetareasand process the pith of the trunk

intoastarchthatistheir majorstaple Sagoisextremely low

in nutritional value and is eaten with various greens from

theirslash-and-bumgardens inwhich root crops likesweet

potatoes and yam are also grown aswell asbananas,

coco-nuts, sugarcane, and tobacco The Wape also forage for

grubs,mushrooms, frogs, and bush eggs Small fish areocca

sionallyspearedby youthsbutare insignificantin'theWape

diet A few domesticated pigs are kept for ceremonial

pur-posesand,increasingly, a fewchickens.Hunting for wild pigs,

cassowaries, marsupials,andbirds isof great ritual andsocial

importance to men Unfortunately, the introduction ofthe

shotgun has further decimated the animal breeding

popula-tions, and so most Wape meals are very low in protein;this

diet hasadversely affected their rate of maturation and size

Most villages now haveindigenously run trade storesbutthey

are usually padlocked and containlittle orno stock

Industrial Arts Wape men traditionally made wooden

shields painted black with carved designs, woodenbowls, and

shell decorations; they still make large wooden slit gongs,

small dance drums,and bows and arrows Womenally made their string skirtsandstill makestring

tradition-Trade Traditional trade was primarily with the coastalpeople on the other sideof the Torricelli Mountains, with im-ported and exported items usually being passed throughnearbyvillages The Wape traded sago, black-palm bows, andbirdfeathers, including those of the bird ofparadise, for pot-tery and theshells that Wapementhenfabricated into orna-mentsusedasbride-wealth andaspersonaland mask decora-tionsintheirlarge curing festivals.Thistrade has ceased andtoday the Wape are part ofthe international commoditiesmarket using scarcecashtopurchase essentials

Division of Labor Menhunt, prepare gardens foring, cut down the sago palms, buildhouses, perform curingrituals, and make their tools, ceremonial ornaments, anddrums Women forage, fetchwaterand firewood, make string,sell produce at thegovernment market in Lumi, and cook.Menand women both participateinchildcare, garden weed-ing, and harvesting

plant-Land Tenure Landisidentifiedwith lineages and mittedpatrilineally with the eldest brother generally havingthe most authority Therightto usegardenland is sometimesgiven to others who come tolive in the village Men oftenplant a few food trees on another person's land, especiallythatoftheirmothers'brothers,and these trees are inheritedpatrilineally

trans-Kinship

KinGroupsandDescent Every Wapechildisborninto a

namedpatrilineage thatisidentifiedby a special slit-gong nal Its membersusuallylivein asinglevillage These lineagesare the most importanteconomic and social units in Wapesociety Patrilineagesarecombined into muchlarger namedpatricians whosemembers reside in a number of different vil-lages These clan tiesprovide access to others in time of hard-ship, althoughfellow clan members are not bound to assist aslineage mates are

sig-Kinship Terminology Kin termsare of the Omaha type

Marriage and Family

Marriage Aperson never marries amember of his or herpatrilineage Although marriage within thepatrician also isnotallowed,this restriction is sometimesviolated Even tradi-tionally,womenusually were given some say in their marriagechoice Bride-wealthisstillrequired, but money is now usedinstead of shell wealth.Plural marriages are permitted but un-usual Postmarital residence is virilocal Most marriages areamicable andwife abuse is very rare Inthe unlikely event ofdivorce, thewomanreturns toher villagewhile the childrenstay with thefather's kin If a woman's husbanddies, she usu-ally remarries a manof hislineage

Domestic Unit A husband and wife live in a separatehouse with their children At ornear puberty, boys move to aseparate dwelling but usuallytake their meals with the family.Because the majority of men and women die of disease intheir forties, it is unusual for a child to know her or hisgrandparents

Inheritance Inheritance of land and food trees plantedelsewhereispatrilineal

372 Waoe.

Socialization Children are gently scolded and rarely

struck.Atempertantrum issimplyignored.Todaymost

chil-dren haveaccess togovernmentprimaryschools with

instruc-tion inEnglish but,asthetuition isexpensiveby Wape

stan-dards,somechildren-especially girls-donot attend

Sociopolitical Organization

SocialOrganization. The visible socialunits are the

nu-clear familyand the village Kinship ties to a father's and

mother'slineages and clans-and,by marriage, to those of

one's spouseand one's children's spouses-are still of

para-mountimportancein termsof mutualobligations throughout

one's life The strictexchangeobligations ofthese

relation-ships,supplemented byageneralpassionforgamblingamong

men, make it almost impossible for aman, even today, to

amass wealth and poweroverothers

Political Organization Traditionally, eachvillage was a

mininationcomposedofanumber ofpatrilineages belonging

toseveral differentclans and, althoughsome men were more

influential than others, there was no custom of a village

headmanor chief.Ties toothervillageswereviatheseclan

ties and thekinship ties ofin-marryingwomen These ties

continue tobe importantalthoughtodaythenationhas

im-posedotherpolitical institutions includingelected regional

councils,thepolice, andcourts.The Wape also participatein

elections to send representativestothe House ofAssembly,

thenation's highestlaw-makingbody

SocialControl Ancestralghostsandthe demons resident

on one's land are perceived as being very active forces in

everydaylife Since these spiritsareomniscient,a person

of-fends them at her or hisperil Lineagematesalsokeepclose

track of one anotherandany socialinfractionsare metwith

disapproval Fear of sorceryas areprisalforoffendingothers

isalso still an active concern

Conflict The Wapegenerallyare apacific peoplewho

dis-likeconflict and work hardtopreventit.Whenavillageris

deeply offended they gotothe offender's houseand, standing

outside, give a haranguing lecture Ifaproblem escalates,the

village is called togethertohashoutthedisputeandreacha

consensusdecision.Villagersgenerally avoid using the courts

for recourse whenpossible Traditionally, pay-back killings

with enemyvillagesdid occur, butsometimestherewere

in-tervals of several years between killings Some villageshad

abandoned feuding even before visitations by government

patrols

Religion and Expressive Culture

Religious Beliefs AUthingsarebelievedtohaveaspirit

When in distress,one calls to astrong ancestor, oftenadead

father, for help.Thespiritsof therecently dead and demons

are especially dangerous The introduced Western religions

have manynominal adherents but, because theindigenous

religious beliefs are anchoredin an extensiveexchange system

that establishes one'sworth,thetwobelief systems

comfort-ably coexist in the thinking of most Wape While belief in an

omnipotentChristian Godmightbeacknowledged, he seems

far removed and irrelevant to mostWape crises

Religious Practitioners Indigenous curers are known as

numoinand wobif.Theformeris afeared shaman-witch with

magicalpowerstoboth kill and cure, whoissaid alsotohavethe power tobecomeinvisibleand tofly.Although no longertrainedby theWape, thenumoin sometimes usesthe services

of those who live in the societies south of the Wape Thewobif, whose powers are morebenign, isexpert atmassageand sucking out bad blood and bits of tabooed food thatcauseillness Theglasman,aTokPisinword,is a morerecenttype of practitioner whois clairvoyant, adiagnostician withsecondsight butwithnocuringskills All three types of prac-titioners receivenominal payments

Ceremonies There are no important puberty or maritalritesbut curingfestivalsareof greatsocialsignificance,some-times bringing together many hundreds ofpeople from di-versevillages The spiritfish-curingfestivalisthelargest andmostimportant of these It is heldinstagesby each villageevery few years and involves an extensive network ofeco-nomicexchanges amongthe relatives of the hostvillage.Themani festival issecond in social importance and is held either

to treat disease ortopromote successfulhunting

Arts Dancing andmostmusic areassociated with curingfestivals Dancing, restrictedtofemales and youths, is mostly

ashuffling step circling the dance plazato the beat of thebooming slit gongs and hand-held dancedrums Chantsaremelodically restrictedto afewnotesand sungby both sexes atthe curingfestivals andbymen athunting festivals.Masksofvarious shapes areconstructed and painted with designs forcuringandhunting festivals Women also compose words to atraditional chantlamenting theirdeparture from their natalvillage at marriage, and these songs are later sung by bothmenand womenwhen they are relaxing or at work.Medicine Variousplants-for example, ginger and sting-ingnettles-are usedinthe Wapepharmacopoeia;however,

asall serious illness has a supernatural cause-frequently, theintrusionof demons-exorcism is of greater importance in ef-fecting a cure Western medicine and procedures adminis-tered at medicalaide posts and the hospital in Lumi also arepopular astreatments,but they are mostly utilized after indig-enous exorcisms or other procedures have been performedand are rarelygiven credit for a cure

Death and Afterlife At death, the spirit leaves the bodyvia the anus and becomes a rapacious ghost who eventuallyretires to hislineage lands as a protective vengeful spirit Tra-ditionally thebody was smoked in the village for many dayswhile attended by mourners night and day, then finally bur-ied Today, bygovernment law, the body is buried the day ofthe death butrelativesstillcomefromsurrounding villages tomourn

See alsoGnau

BibliographyMcGregor, Donald E (1982) The Fish and the Cross.Goroko: Melanesian Institute

McGregor, Donald E., and Aileen R F McGregor (1982).Olo LanguageMaterials Pacific Linguistics, Series D, no 42.Canberra: Australian National University

Mitchell, William E Mitchell (1973) 'ANew Weapon Stirs

Up OldGhosts." Natural History 82:74-84

Warlpiri 373

Mitchell,WilliamE.Mitchell(1987).The BambooFire:Field

WorkwiththeNew GuineaWape.2nd ed Prospect Heights,

Ill.:Waveland Press

Mitchell, WilliamE.Mitchell(1988)."TheDefeat of

Hierar-chy: Gambling as Exchange in aSepik Society." American

Ethnologist 15:638-657

Wark, Lynette, andL A.Malcolm (1969).'Growthand

De-velopment of the LumiChildin the Sepik District ofNew

Guinea." Medical JournalofAustralia2:129-136

WILLIAM E MITCHELL

Warlpiri

ETHNONYMS:Ilpirra, Wailpiri, Walbiri, Walpiri

OrientationIdentification Warlpiri country lies incentral Australia,

with its center about 180 kilometers northwest of Alice

Springs

Location Traditionally the Warlpiri-speaking people

oc-cupiedthe TanamiDesert; today they livemainlyin various

towns and on theAboriginally-owned cattlestationof

Wil-lowra.Anumber ofWarlpiriliveinAliceSpringsand others

canbefoundscatteredacross thetopof northernAustralia

and the Kimberlyregion.

Demography Prior to colonization, it is estimated that

there were around 1,200 Warlpiri By 1976 the estimated

numberwas put at2,700, perhapssomewhatgenerously,but

it canconfidentlybe assumed that thereareupwardsof2,500

speakers today ThesepeopleallhaveWarlpiriastheirfirst

language and English as only their second, third, or even

fourth language

Linguistic Affiliation Warlpiri belongs to the Pama

Nyungan Language Family,which includes thelanguagesof

CapeYork and the southernthree-quartersofthecontinent.

Aswithall other Australian languages,thegenetic

relation-shipwith languages outside the continent is nowlost

Be-causewidows hadtoobservea one-to-two-yearspeechtaboo

following the deathofahusband, theWarlpiriwomenhave

developed a highly elaborated sign language still in use

amongthe older people

History and Cultural Relations

Thereis noarchaeologicalevidenceindicatingwhen thearea

the Warlpiri inhabited at first contact wasoriginally

occu-pied.Otherpartsof central Australiawere,however, sparsely

occupied 22,000years agoandpartsof Australia foratleast

40,000years.European explorers beganpassingthroughtheir

countryfrom 1862onward,but it was thedevelopmentofthe

pastoral industryintheVictoria River District to the north in

the 1880s, and agoldrushatthe sameperiod inthe HallsCreek region, that initiated sustained contactfor some Warl-pid In 1910and again in 1930 there were short-lived goldrushesinthe Tanami Desert; likethepastoralindustry, goldminesutilizedAboriginalpeoplefor laborbut,unlikethepas-toralindustry, onlybriefly Both industriesbrought conflictanddisplacement for those nearest to them From the 1920sonward pastoral settlement in the area northwest of AliceSprings impinged more directly on Warlpiri resulting in,among other things, the 1928 killing ofa station hand atConiston Station This led to majorreprisal expeditions inwhichpolice andstation workers admittedtokilling thirty.onepeople, althoughthey probably killedmany more.Thisoutbreak of violence scattered theWarlpiriinthe area, some

of whom retreatedtoother cattlestationsfor protection In

1946 the government established the settlement of dumu,towhichitmoved manyWarlpiriinthe region, thusendingtheperiodinwhich anyWarlpiriwereliving a com-pletely independent lifeinthebush.Today, with governmentassistance,anumberof small groups have set up outstations

Yuen-orhomelandcenters intheareaoftheirtraditional landests,leadingto alimited recolonization of the remoter desertregions, supported by modemtechnology

inter-SettlementsTraditionally, shelterwasprovidedmainly in the form of lowwindbreaks,butinrainyperiods moresubstantial domed hutswithspinifexthatchwereused.Nowadays, most Warlpiri live

in towns rangingin size from 300 to 1,200 people, most ofwhomareWarlpiri speakers.The core of each townincludes astorefromwhich all day-to-day nutritional and material re-quirementsarebought, a clinic, a primary school, a municipaloffice, aworkshop,usuallyachurchand a police station, and

a numberof European-style houses The professional staff arenearlyallnon-Aborigines;allof themareassisted by Warlpiricoworkers and occupythe Europeanhouses along with alim-itednumberofWarlpiri The remainder of the Warlpiripopu-lation livein awide variety of housing, ranging from"hum-pies" (sheets of corrugated iron arranged in a tentlikestructure),throughone-andtwo-room huts, to variouskinds

of moresubstantial housing.Accesstoimmediately locatedwaterandelectricityispoorfor all but those in good housing;the situation is,however, slowly improving

EconomySubsistence and Commercial Activities Until settle-ment,theWarlpiri lived byhuntingand gathering on adiet ofroots, fruits, grass andtreeseeds,lizards,andsmallmarsupi-als,supplementedfromtimetotime bylarge game in the form

ofkangaroos and emus Until the 1960s, a number ofpiri men workedforsubstantial portions of the year asstock-men onneighboring cattle stations and a few Warlpiri womenworked as domestics in the station homesteads Those re-maining in the settlements performed community mainte-nance and small jobs in return for rations and limitedamounts ofcash.Followingtheintroductionofequalpay inthe cattleindustry in 1968,mostAboriginal people were laidoff, and the majority ofWarlpiriarenowunemployed andliv-ing on transfer payments Afewworkin the schools, hospi-tals, andmunicipaloffices,andsome areinvolved in runningtheirown cattle station Within the lastfiveyears themain

Warl-374 Warlpiri

commercial activity has been painting oftraditionallyderived

designs forthelocal-and, increasingly, the

international-art market

Industrial Arts Traditional technologyincluded asmall

rangeofversatileartifacts,suchasspears, spearthrowers,

dig-gingsticks,dishes, stone-cutting andmaintenancetools,and

hair string The greatestvariety ofobjects made were

reli-gious,tobeusedinmen's and women'spublicandsecret

cer-emonies These items included sacred boards, poles and

crosses,hats, andgroundpaintings,often combinedin

com-plex ways withmounds, pits, and coloreddecorationmadeof

plantorfeather down and ochers

Trade Therewasextensiveexchangeofitemsof material

cultureinthe past,butit wasmainlyinthenatureofgift

ex-change rather than economic necessity Much prized, both

locally andbeyond, wasthered ocher froma mine atMount

Stanley.Itwasexchangedforballsof hairstring,spearshafts,

orshields Incisedpearlshells and dentaliawereexchanged

into the Warlpiri area from the Kimberly range Such

ex-changescontinue today asdo the exchangesofceremonies

withmembers of other linguistic groups in the region

DivisionofLabor Tasksareorganizedalong sex and age

lines within the household Women gather vegetable foods

andsmall game, while themenconcentrate onhuntingsmall

andlarge game

LandTenure Rightsinplacesandtractsofland(estates)

areacquired from one's fatherormother but also on the basis

of one's place of conception,theburial place of a parent, or a

shared ceremonial interest as aresult ofhavinginterests on

the track ofanancestral hero who traveledwidely.The

Warl-pirihaveanideologyofpatrilinealdescent that gives primacy

torightsinherited fromthe father,whichconferanabsolute

righttousetheeverydayresources ofthetractof landor

es-tatewithwhichit isassociated.Thesetractsare notwell

de-fined,buttheytend tofocuson aclusterofsitesand lines of

ancestraltravel (also called mythical, ancestral, or dreaming

tracks) linkingimportantplaces Beinglinkedto aplaceor

es-tatebyaninterest raisesthe expectation thatonewillbe

con-sultedonmattersrelatingtoit;the importance given to one's

opinions will vary with the kind ofrightsheld and, more

im-portandy, the depthof ritualknowledge associated with the

place or estate As a personwith a patrilineal interest, one has

therighttoexpecttobetaught the corpus of religious

knowl-edgeassociatedwith the estate A maternal interest is of

con-siderable importance, too, for when people with such an

in-terest reachmiddle age theymaybe the custodians of their

mother's and mother's brother's patrimony Theyplay a

cru-cial role in the organization oftheir ceremonial life, which

cannot be accomplished without participation from some

peoplewiththiskindof interest.Sincethepassingofthe

Ab-original Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act in 1976 and

subsequent land claims, the Warlpiri now collectively own

mostof their traditional lands in inalienable freehold and

re-ceive royaltypayments from mining activityon their lands

KinshipKin Groups and Descent TheWarlpirihave anArandic

system ofkinship with four terminological lines of descent

butno namedpatrilinealormatrilineal descent groups.They

also havepatrilineal, matrilineal,andgenerational moieties,

semimoieties, and subsections Thesubsection system dividesthepopulationintoeight named categories and provides foradistinctionbetween female and male members of each Thesenamed categoriesaremuch usedinday-to-day speech andintalkingtoEuropeans, but they are not the persuasive organiz-ersof activitythey appeartobe;instead,theyareashorthandway ofreferringtomattersorganized by genealogy, land, reli-gious interests, andother factors

KinshipTerminology Thekinshipterminology system is

of the bifurcate-merging type, recognizing sex differencesamong primary relatives but ignoring collaterality amongmostcategories ofkin

Marriageand FamilyMarriage In the past all first marriages were arranged,often when the girl was young or even before she was bom.The average agedifferenceatfirst marriagewas 21years,with

agirl ofabout10marryinga man inhisthirties These age ferences are now in sharp decline as are the numbers of ar-ranged marriages.Middle-agedmen atpresentcanstill expect

dif-to have twoor three wives in thenormal course ofevents,which is madepossible by the delay in men's first marriage,but this is changing rapidly Permanent, stable unionsweretheideal and separation and divorcewerecomparativelyrare;however, because of the age differences between husbandsand wives,mostwomencould and can expect to haveseveralhusbandsover alifetime and to have more say in whomtheymarry as they get older Preferred marriage partners in thepast were classificatory second cousins, but more people arenowmarryingfirst cousins, andafew aremarrying classifica-tory mother's mother's daughter's sons In the past, inter-tribalmarriagescould result in the couple's living in the wife'stribal territory, buteventuallyatleastthechildren would betakenback by the father toWarlpiri country

Domestic Unit The domestic unit iscomposed of aman,his wifeor wives, their unmarriedchildren, and often someelderlydependent, usually one of the couple'sparents Todayand inthe past, the widowedmembers of the household willusually sleep in a widows' camp, while the boys age 10 or olderwill sleep in a single men's camp

Inheritance There is little material property to inherit.The seniormother's brother supervises thedistribution of hisnephews' possessions among his own brothers and of hisnieces' possessionsamonghis sisters He also takes steps toarrangethe avenging of thedeath

Socialization While primary socialization takes place inthedomesticunit,mothers spend muchoftheir time withco-wivesandclosefemale kin, all of whom may act as care givers.All children areindulged; male children in particular have agreat deal offreedom The freedom ends with marriage forgirls and atinitiation forboys, which involves seclusionandcircumcision at about 11-13 years ofage

Sociopolitical OrganizationSocial Organization Minor dialect variations amongnorthern, southern, and eastern Warlpiri reflect loose re-gional kin networkssometimes called"communities" in thescholarlyliterature, but these networks have no corporate po-litical orterritorialsignificance Today as in the past, life is

Warlpiri 375

basedon an economyofknowledgethatconfersrespect and

authority onmiddle-agedand older men and women.

Political Organization There are no institutionalized

leadership roles or communitywide political structures, but

seniormembers ofapatrilinehave considerableauthorityin

religious affairs Today therearealsotowncouncil chairmen

and councillors who control large sums of money and

re-sources,whichcan makethemquiteinfluential-butusually

only temporarily, as they eventually succumb to pervasive

egalitarian pressures.

SocialControl Controlwas, and is, exercisedlargely

in-formallyandonthe basisofpublicopinion, fear of sorcery, or

supernatural sanctions for the breach of religious taboos

Older siblings exerciselimitedauthority over their younger

siblings In thecontemporary contextthe lack ofbroad-based

community political structures poses problems in dealing

withissuessuchasalcohol andvandalism,nowusually

han-dled by non-Aboriginal police

Conflict Most conflict in thepast arose out ofdisputes

concerning deaths (almost all of which were relatedto

sor-cery),women, orperceivedbreaches of ritualrights.Conflict

todayisaggravated bytheavailabilityofalcohol,whichcan

makepeoplemorecombative and reduce the effectiveness of

traditional dispute-settling procedures, which included

for-malized dueling and dispute-settlingceremonies.Inthepast,

deathswere sometimesavenged bysmallpartiesofclosely

re-latedkin pursuing the killer

Religion and Expressive Culture

Religious Beliefs The central concept in Warlpiri

reli-giousbeliefsisjukurrpa, usuallytranslatedas'the Dreaming."

Thistermreferstotheperiodwhen the worldwascreated,the

featuresof thelandscape made,and thepre-Europeanrules

forconduct laiddown,allbythe ancestralheroes These

be-ings, at onceboth human andnonhuman, emergedfrom the

subterranean ancestralspiritworld and leda life much like

that of traditional Warlpiri, onlyon agrander scale.The land

surfacewastransformedinto itspresent-dayfeaturesbytheir

activity.Ateachpointwherethey engagedin creative acts are

sourcesofwater,andat someotherplaces theyleft behind life

forceinthe form ofspiritchildren,whichareresponsiblefor

newhumanand nonhuman life The ancestral heroes had

de-signs ontheir bodies,whichcarriedthe lifeforce and which

arethe designsthatmenandwomenreproduce in ceremony

todayto renewthe life forcebyrecreatingthefounding

dra-masof their world In additiontothe ancestralbeings, mildly

malevolentspiritscalledgugu areofteninvokedtokeep

chil-dren closetoadultsatnightor awayfromareaswheremen are

holding ceremonies. Mungamunga, female ancestral spirits,

may appear to either men or women in dreams with new

songs,dances,ordesigns.Largeor permanentbodies ofwater

arethoughttoharborrainbowserpentsthatcanbeoffended

ifproper precautions are nottaken

Religious Practitioners Thereis no separateclass ofrehl

gious practitioners sinceall adultsplayan active part in

reli-giouslife Nevertheless,somepeopleareregardedas

particu-larly knowledgeable about specific bodies of religious

knowledge, usually manifestedinthemasteryofalarge

reper-toireofsongsrelatingto the deeds ofparticular ancestors.

Ceremonies TheWarlpirihavearichreligiouslife withawide variety of ceremonies These include: secular purlapa,based on songsand dance steps broughttopeople indreams

by ancestral spiritsand then fashioned into performances;maturation ceremonies, principally for males; women'syawulyu and men'spanpaceremonies,which are separatelyheld rites for paternalancestraldreamings;community-basedceremonies to resolve conflicts and to celebrate the wintersolstice; important religiousfestivals;andmagical and sorceryritesperformed byanindividualorsmall group for immediatepersonal ends Settlement life has removed many logisticproblems formerly associated with holding ceremonies, lead-ing to anefflorescence ofritual andagreatly increasedcatch-ment area for participationinandexchange of ceremonies.Arts Art iscentral to Warlpiri religious life The designsgiventothepeople bytheancestors areprincipalelements ofreligious property, importantinsubstantiating rights to landand essentialtothereproductionofpeopleand nature Evenmoreimportant than thedesigns are the songs commemorat-ingthe deeds of the heroic ancestors, which often run intothe hundredsforparticular lines of travel Singing is essentialfor turningboysintomen, curingthesick,easingchildbirth,attacking enemies, ensuring fertility, and tapping the powers

of the Dreaming In addition to various styles of dancing,there is ahuge range of religious sculpture that is dismantledimmediately following the ceremony for which it wasconstructed

Medicine Anumber ofolder people, almost all of whomare men, arethought to have healing powers and are calleduponto treatthe sick, especially when the major problem isinternaland has no obvious immediate cause A wide range

ofherbal medicines isknown to people throughout the munityand still used from time to time

com-Death andAfterlife The individual personality dissolveswithdeath but the spirit returns to the ancestral spirit world.Traditional practices surrounding death and disposal of thebody have been modified more than most aspects of Warlpirilife At death the house of the deceased, if of a temporary na-ture, isvacated and destroyed In the past there was platformburial with disposal of the recovered bones in a termitemound.Nowadays people are buried in cemeteries, althoughrecently some people have been buried back in their ownhome territories

See alsoAranda, Mardudjara, Ngatatjara, Pintupi

Bibliography

Dussart, F (1989) "Warlpiri Women's Yawalyu nies." Ph.D dissertation, Australian National University,Canberra

Ceremo-Meggitt, MervynJ (1952) Desert People: AStudy of thebiri Aborigines of Central Australia Sydney: Angus &Robertson

Wal-Meggitt, Mervyn 1 (1966) GadJari among the Australian origines of Central Australia Oceania Monograph no 14.Sydney: Oceania Publications