The Yalaku : history and warfare in the middle Sepik / Ross Bowden
- Bib ID:
- 10015905
- Format:
- Book
- Author:
- Bowden, Ross, author
- Description:
-
- Canon Pyon : Sean Kingston Publishing, 2023
- ©2022
- 222 pages : illustrations (some colour), genealogical tables, map, portraits ; 24 cm
- ISBN:
-
- 1912385511 ((hardcover))
- 9781912385515 ((hardcover))
- Summary:
-
This ground-breaking and beautifully illustrated ethnography of the Kaunga-speaking Yalaku provides the first detailed history of any of the 200 language groups in the Sepik River region of Papua New Guinea. The story of this society, recorded by Ross Bowden at their request, is told by the people themselves, and contains by far the most complete account of traditional warfare in this region. The history begins around 1800, the limit of Yalaku cultural memory. It describes the flashpoints that ignited tribal fighting (from the theft of a hunting dog to accusations of sorcery), the strategic thinking of warriors, the use of alliances, the building of structural defences, and even the actual blows of notable battles. It includes songs recounting the reversals of fortunes a warrior can experience and the laments of women over their loved ones, relaying the perspectives of both war-parties and attacked communities. This gripping narrative, performed in a men's house with both men and women present, is both a feat of memory and a communal endeavour. Bowden's deft ethnographic analyses of the social structure and myths of the Yalaku provide the essential context to understand this society once locked into warfare with their neighbours, adversaries who knew each other's names, spoke each other's languages, intermarried, and during peacetime took part together in rituals at which their shared history was sung.
- Full contents:
-
- Pt.I. Background and social organization. ch1. The Yalaku ; ch.2. Yelogu village ; ch.3. Clan histories and the spirit world ; ch.4. Marriage alliances
- pt.II. History and warfare. ch.5. Yalaku history and warfare: an overview ; ch.6. Earliest remembered warfare: the Nowiniyen and the Apukili ; ch.7. The beginnings of conflict with the Tongwinjamb Kwoma and warfare with other groups ; ch.8. Continuing warfare with neighbours, and the rise of Kapay as a military leader ; ch.9. The destruction of the Awokapa tribe and the death of Kapay ; ch.10. Warfare with Avatip village and the destruction of the Apukili tribe ; ch.11. Entering the modern world
- pt.III. Myths. ch.12. Introduction to Yalaku myth ; ch.13. The brothers Wantan and Mbapan and the origin of trade with river peoples ; ch.14. The origin of tobacco and other stories.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 210-213) and index.
- Subject:
-
- Yalaku (Papua New Guinean people) -- History
- Yalaku (Papua New Guinean people) -- Social life and customs
- Yalaku (Papua New Guinean people) -- Rites and ceremonies
- Kwoma (Papua New Guinean people) -- History
- Kwoma (Papua New Guinean people) -- Social life and customs
- Kwoma (Papua New Guinean people) -- Rites and ceremonies
- Legends -- Sepik River Valley (Indonesia and Papua New Guinea)
- Ethnology -- Sepik River Valley (Indonesia and Papua New Guinea)
- Sepik River Valley (Indonesia and Papua New Guinea) -- Social life and customs
- Australian
- Copyright:
-
In Copyright
You may copy under some circumstances, for example you may copy a portion for research or study. Order a copy through Copies Direct to the extent allowed under fair dealing. Contact us for further information about copying.
Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Literary Dramatic Musical
- Published status:
- Published
- Publication date:
- 2023
Copyright status may not be correct if data in the record is incomplete or inaccurate. Other access conditions may also apply. For more information please see: Copyright in library collections.
Request this item
Request this item to view in the Library’s reading room.
Feedback
Similar items
- Art and creativity in a New Guinea society : the Kwoma in cross-cultural perspective / Ross Bowden
- Yena : art and ceremony in a Sepik society / Ross Bowden ; with a foreword by Rodney Needham
- Becoming a Kwoma : teaching and learning in a New Guinea tribe / by John W.M. Whiting ; with a foreword by John Dollard
- Becoming a Kwoma : teaching and learning in a New Guinea tribe / by John W. M. Whiting ; with a foreword by John Dollard
- Das Topferhandwerk der Kwoma in Nord-Neuguinea : Beitrage zur Systematik primarer Topfereiverfahren / [von] Christian Kauffman