The Kapauku Traditional Culture

Kapauku

Nancy Gratton and Ian Skoggard

ETHNONYMS Ekari, Ekagi, Tapiro.

ORIENTATION

IDENTIFICATION AND LOCATION The Kapauku live in the Central Highlands of western

New Guinea, now Irian Jaya, Indonesia. Although they are generally treated as a single cultural

group, there are variations in dialect and in social and cultural practice across Kapauku territory.

The name "Kapauku" was given them by neighboring groups to the south, and the Moni

Papuans, their neighbors to the north, call them Ekari, but they call themselves ME, which means

"the people." The Kapauku occupy an ecologically diverse region of the west-central Highlands,

between 135.25 and 137 degrees east longitude and 3.25 and 4.10 degrees south latitude. Most of

the region is above 1,500 meters, with 3 large lakes (Paniai, Tage, and Tigi), and 5 vegetation

zones, including much tropical rain forest. Rainfall is plentiful and the average daily temperature

ranges from 6 to 20 degrees Celsius.

DEMOGRAPHY In the 1960s, the Kapauku population was estimated at about 45,000. In 1990

the estimate is around 100,000.

LINGUISTIC AFFILIATION The Kapauku language (Ekagi) is classified within the Ekagi-

Wodani-Moni Family of Papuan languages.

HISTORY AND CULTURAL RELATIONS There is little information available regarding the

history of the Kapauku prior to European contact, but they have long been horticulturists (both

intensive and extensive) and traders in the region. An important intertribal trade network linking

the south coast of New Guinea to the interior ran directly through Kapauku territory, bringing the

people of the region into contact with peoples and goods from far beyond their own territorial

borders. European contact with the Kapauku did not occur until 1938, when a Dutch government

post was established at Paniai Lake. It was quickly abandoned with the Japanese invasion of

New Guinea. In 1946 the post was reestablished, and a few Catholic and Protestant missionaries

returned to the area.

SETTLEMENTS The Kapauku village settlement is a loose cluster of about 15 dwellings,

typically housing about 120 people. Houses are not oriented to one another in any formal plan, as

individuals are free to build where ever they please, as long as proper title or lease is held to the

piece of land upon which the house is to be built. Dwellings consist, minimally, a large house

(OWA), an elevated structure with a space beneath in which to shelter domesticated pigs. This

building is divided into 2 halves separated by a plank partition. The front half is the EMAAGE,

or men's dormitory. The back section is subdivided into KUGU, or individual "apartments," one

for each women and her children. If the OWA is insufficient to provide space for wives and

children, out-buildings, called TONE, are added.

ECONOMY

SUBSISTENCE Leopold Pospisil, the leading authority on the Kapauku, labels their economy

as "primitive capitalism" characterized by the pursuit of wealth in the form of cowry shell

money; status distinctions based on such wealth; and an ethic of individualism. Kapauku

subsistence is based on the sweet potato, to which about 90 percent of cultivated land is devoted,

and pig husbandry. Sweet potatoes are grown both for human consumption and to feed the pigs

that, through sales, are a basic source of income and wealth. Commonly grown, but constituting

a far smaller portion of the diet, are a spinach-like green (IDAJA), sugar cane, banana, and taro.

In the densely populated AMU Valley, hunting is of small importance due to a paucity of large

game animals, but it is indulged in by men as sport. Edible fish are absent from the lakes, but

crayfish, dragonfly larvae, certain types of beetles, and frogs augment the diet, as do rats and

bats. Farming is done both on the mountain slopes and in the valleys. Upland gardens are given

over to the extensive cultivation of sweet potato, with long fallow periods between plantings. In

the valleys an intensive method is followed, using raised beds, mixed cropping and crop rotation.

Households will generally cultivate at least one of each type of garden.

INDUSTRIAL ARTS Kapauku manufacture is limited and, for the most part, not specialized.

Net bags, for utilitarian and for decorative purposes, are made from woven tree bark, as are the

arm-bands and necklaces worn by both men and women. Also made from this bark are women's

skirts and loin wraps. Kapauku also manufacture stone axes and knives, flint chips, and grinding

stones. From bamboo they make knives for the carving of pork and for surgical use. Other

carving tools are fashioned from rat teeth and bird claws, and agricultural tools include weeding,

planting, and harvesting sticks. Weaponry consists of bows and arrows, the latter of which may

be tipped with long blades of bamboo, hardwood tips or bird beaks.

TRADE Trade is carried out intra- and inter-regionally, and inter- tribally with trade links

extending to the Mimika people of the coast. The two most important trade commodities are pigs

and salt. Trade is generally conducted in shell currency, pigs, or extensions of credit, and the

bulk of trading occurs during pig feasts and at the pig markets. Barter is a relatively unimportant

means by which goods may be transferred. All distributions of food incur a debt on the part of

each recipient to repay in kind to the giver. Pospisil notes that the Kapauku are lively participants

in the selling of pigs and pork. Shell money (and sometimes an obligation to provide pork) is

required to pay for services rendered by shamans, surgeons, and hired labor.

DIVISION OF LABOR There is a sexual division of labor. Tasks held to be the exclusive

province of men include the planning of agricultural production, digging ditches, making garden

beds, felling trees, building fences, planting and harvesting bananas, tobacco, chili peppers, and

APUU (a particular variety of yam), while the burning of gardens, planting sugar cane, manioc,

squash, and maize, as well as the harvesting of sugar cane, manioc, and ginger, are preferentially

but not necessarily done by males. Exclusively female tasks include the planting of sweet

potatoes and JATU, and weeding. Other tasks, such as planting and weeding taro, and harvesting

sweet potatoes, are usually done by women. All other tasks relating to agriculture are carried out

by members of both sexes. The gathering of crayfish, water beetles, tadpoles, dragonfly larvae,

and frogs is largely the task of women; the hunting of large game is an infrequent enterprise and

is done only by men. Small game is trapped and hunted by young men and boys. Pigs and

chickens while usually owned by males, are tended by women or adolescent children, but only

males are allowed to kill and butcher them. The weaving of utilitarian net- bags is a woman's job,

while the production of the more ornate and colorful decorative bags is the province of males.

LAND TENURE A particular piece of land is the property of the house- owner, always male,

with use-rights accorded to members of his household. Sons inherit land from their fathers.

Ownership implies rights of alienation of the land as well as usufruct rights. Even tracts of the

forest are owned individually.

KINSHIP

KIN GROUPS AND DESCENT Kapauku reckon kinship along both maternal and paternal

lines, but lineages are patrilineal and exogamous, with post-marital residence generally

patrilocal. The basic Kapauku descent group is the sib, a named, ideally exogamous, totemic,

patrilineal group whose members share a belief in a common apical ancestor. Two or more sibs

group into loosely united phratries which have common totemic taboos but which are not

exogamous. Many of the sibs are further split into moieties. The most important Kapauku

descent group is the lineage, a subdivision of the patrilineal sib. Kinship ties with other lineages

(through affines) gives rise to larger, political amalgamations known as "confederations."

KINSHIP TERMINOLOGY Kapauku kinship terminology is of the Iroquois type, the parallel

and cross cousins are differentiated by the sex of the first and last link connecting the individual

to his/her cousin, thus determining cross- or parallel-cousin status. Kapauku kinship terms

differentiate among sex, generation, relative age, paternal and maternal relatives, affinal and

consanguineal relatives, lineal and collateral relatives, and parallel and cross cousins.

MARRIAGE AND FAMILY

MARRIAGE Marriage is ideally arranged between the families of the prospective groom and

brothers and mother of the prospective bride. The preferences of the woman are considered

secondary to the possibility of collecting a high bride-price but, in practice, her mother may set a

forbiddingly high bride-price to discourage an unacceptable suitor. Elopements, while considered

improper, occur with some frequency. In such cases the families of the eloping couple will likely

accept the union by negotiating a bride-price after the fact. Courtship is often conducted in the

context of the pig feast, when young men and women arrive at the host village from neighboring

villages to dance, and to be seen by members of the opposite sex. Pre-marital sex, while not

approved of because of its possible negative effect on a woman's bride-price, is generally not

punished. Premarital pregnancy, however, is disapproved. Divorce involves the return of bride-

price, and the children generally remain with their mother until they reach the age of about 7, at

which time they join their father's village. Polygyny, as an indicator of the husband's ability to

pay multiple bride-prices, is the ideal. A widow is expected to remarry within a suitable period

following the death of her husband, unless she is quite old or very sick, but the levirate is not

assumed.

DOMESTIC UNIT The household consists, minimally, of a nuclear family, but more

commonly includes consanguineal or affinal kinsmen and their wives and children as well. In the

case of wealthy and prestigious men, there may also be apprentices or political supporters and

their wives and children. The household is the basic Kapauku unit of residence and, to a large

extent, production and consumption. Within the household, the house-owner is titular head, to

whom falls the responsibility of organizing production activities and maintaining cooperation

among the male household members. However, each married male has sole authority over the

affairs of his wife or wives and his offspring, which even the head of household cannot usurp.

INHERITANCE Intestate inheritance follows the principles of primogeniture and patri-parallel

descent. The main heir is the eldest son of the deceased, or if there are no sons, the eldest living

brother. If there are no brothers, the eldest son of the eldest brother inherits. The main heir has

exclusive right to bows and arrows, net carrying bags, necklaces, charm stones, the main house

and the woman's house, dogs, chickens, all cowry shell money and glass beads, and all pigs. He

has a duty to share some of his inheritance with his siblings such as currencies which were kept

by the deceased's wives or which were left intact as an inheritance for all the deceased's sons.

Iron and stone machetes and stone knives are distributed among the sons. The eldest daughter

inherits from her deceased mother her fishing net and carrying bag.

SOCIALIZATION Children learn adult roles through observation and by specific training.

Boys leave their mother's apartment at the age of about 7 to live in the men's dormitory, at which

time they are explicitly exposed to the expected adult male behaviors. There is no male initiation

ceremony in the AMU Valley. Girls, upon achieving their first menarche, undergo a brief period

(2 days, 2 nights) of semi-seclusion in a menstrual hut during the time of their first 2

menstruations. During this time they are instructed in the responsibilities and skills of adulthood

by close female relatives. After these periods of seclusion, girls put aside the skirt-like apparel of

childhood and begin to wear the inner bark- thong wrap of adulthood.

SOCIOPOLITICAL ORGANIZATION

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION Two or three monogamous or polygynous families form a

patrilocal household. Each nuclear family is an autonomous unit with respect to production,

reproduction, education and social control. The husband has exclusive authority over his family

and any younger unmarried brothers living with him, but not over the family of his married

brothers. A cluster of about 15 households form a village and one or more villages comprise a

localized sublineage or lineage lead by a headman, or TONOWI. Lineages segment into

sublineages which over time grow into lineages. Most day-to-day rights and obligations are

incurred within the localized patrilineal group; it is to members of this group that an individual

will turn for assistance in amassing the bride price necessary for marriage. Lineages are part of

larger more inclusive non-residential kin groups that include sibs, phratries and moieties. Sibs

are the exogamous unit, and the phratry is the unit of totemic identification.

POLITICAL ORGANIZATION Kapauku leadership is based on personal influence, developed

through the accumulation of wealth in shells and pigs, particularly through sponsoring pig feasts.

A headman (TONOWI) uses his prestige and wealth to induce the compliance of others,

particularly through the extension or refusal of credit. Again, the principle of organization is

based upon the tracing of at least putative kinship ties, and the larger the group of individuals

united in a political unit, the more these ties are based on tradition rather than demonstrable

links. The most inclusive politically organized group is the confederacy, which consists of two or

more localized lineages that may or may not belong to the same sib. Such groups unite for

defense as well as for offense against non-member groups. The leader of the strongest lineage is

also the leader of the confederacy, and as such is responsible for adjudicating disputes to avoid

the possibility of intra-confederacy feuding. He is equally responsible for representing the

confederacy in dealings and dispute settlement with outsiders, deciding upon the necessity of

war, and negotiating terms of peace with hostile groups. Leadership is ostensibly the province of

men only, but in practice considerable influence may be wielded by women.

SOCIAL CONTROL Social control is effected in Kapauku local groups by inducement rather

than by force. The primary form of inducement is the extension or withdrawal of credit. Since a

headman's supporters are tied to him through his economic largess, the threat of a withdrawal of

credit, or a premature demand for repayment, provides strong inducement for others to accede to

the headman's wishes. Sanctions such as public scolding, or shooting an arrow into a miscreant's

thigh are common. Kin-based obligations to seek vengeance for the death of a lineage member

are often invoked. Less frequently, to punish sorcerers, ostracism or death may apply. Within the

lineage or confederacy, headmen adjudicate all disputes by referring to a set of legal codes and

past legal cases. Kapauku law is based on nonlegalistic procedure in which the TONOWI has

judicial authority to set precedent for each individual case, often considering the moral character

of the disputants. Legal procedure involves the headman first listening passively to a growing

argument between disputants and their respective relatives and friends. Before the confrontation

becomes violent the headman steps in to question the defendant, plaintiff and witnesses. He may

search for evidence and summon experts. Finally, he evaluates the evidence, reaches a decision

and in a long speech sums up the case. The summation may include a display of emotions such

as weeping and a "mad dance," all part of a final effort to persuade the litigants.

CONFLICT Kapauku do not care for war, but members of a lineage are obligated to avenge the

death of their kin. Warfare never occurs below the level of the confederacy, and is most

frequently occasioned by divorce. Wars are fought exclusively with bows and arrows. At the

more localized level, disputes over economic interests or fictional splits between two powerful

headmen may lead to outbreaks of hostility to the point of violence. Such occasions may require

the intervention of confederacy headmen.

RELIGION AND EXPRESSIVE CULTURE

RELIGIOUS BELIEFS The Kapauku believe that the universe was created by Ugatame, who

has predetermined all that occurs or has occurred within it. Ugatame is not, strictly speaking,

anthropomorphized, although a creation myth in which disease and mortality were first brought

to the AMU Valley depicts Ugatame with the combined characters of a young woman and a tall

young man. Ugatame dwells beyond the sky, and is manifested in, but not identical to, the sun

and the moon. It is believed that, along with the physical universe, Ugatame created a number of

spirits. These spirits, essentially incorporeal, frequently appear to Kapauku in the form of

shadows among the trees, which can be heard to make scratching or whistling sounds. Less

commonly, they will appear in dreams or visions, at times assuming human form. They can be

enlisted by the dreamer or visionary as guardians and helpers, for good or for ill. The souls of the

dead can similarly be persuaded to help their surviving kin.

RELIGIOUS PRACTITIONERS Magic-religious practitioners are of two classes: shamans

(who practice magic for good purposes) and sorcerers (who practice "black magic"). Both men

and women can become shamans or sorcerers through the acquisition of spirit helpers in dreams

or visions and through the successful (as gauged by perceived results) use of magic. The shaman

practices curative and preventive magic, while the sorcerer is concerned with causing harm to

others (through illness, death, or economic failure). Ghouls are older women whose souls have

been replaced during sleep by the spirits of rapacious spirits hungry for the taste of human flesh.

The ghoul, by all appearances a normal woman during the day, travels abroad in the night to dig

up the corpses of her possessing spirit's victims and make a feast of their flesh. Women

possessed in this way are not killed, for their death would simply release the possessing spirit to

find a new hostess. It is the sorcerer's magic that must be countered, or the sorcerer must be

killed, to effectively stop the depredations of a ghoul.

CEREMONIES One of the most important Kapauku ceremonies is the JUWO, or pig feast

which occurs infrequently. It begins with a series of rituals associated with the construction of

dance and feasting houses, after which follows a period of nightly dances, attended by people

from villages throughout the area. After about three months a final feast is held wherein the

sponsors slaughter many pigs and pork is distributed or sold. Another ceremony is the TAPA, or

fund-raising ceremony, which is undertaken by a sponsor and cosponsors seeking to raise money

for a specific economic purpose, such as raising money for a bride price or blood reward

payment. The sponsors dance, sing and make long speeches asking relatives and friends to

contribute money. The sponsors also slaughter some pigs and distribute the meat as gifts. A more

secular ceremony is the DEDOMAI, or pig market. The sponsor of this ceremony merely desires

to slaughter several pigs and sell the meat. Friends and relatives are invited. There is no singing

or dancing. All the above ceremonies provide an occasion for the selling of manufactured objects

and contracting of loans.

ARTS Visual arts are not heavily represented in Kapauku culture, apart from the decorative net-

bags made by the men, and the arm-bands and necklaces worn as bodily adornment. Dances, as

part of the pig feast, are frequent. There are two principal dances, the WAITA TAI and the

TUUPE. The UGAA, which is a song that begins with barking cheers, is followed by an

individual's extempore solo composition, in the lyrics of which may be couched gossip, local

complaints, or a proposal of marriage.

MEDICINE Illness is attributed to sorcerers or the spirits. Cures are accomplished by a shaman,

who seek a diagnosis and treatment from a spirit helper. Treatment includes the recitation of

spells or prayers, the manipulation of magical plants, purification through the washing of body

parts in water, and, at times, the extraction of bits of foreign matter from the body of the victim.

Should an individual believe that he or she may be the target of sorcery, a preventive cure may

be sought before the actual onset of illness.

DEATH AND AFTERLIFE 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 returns to the

village at night to assist its surviving kin or to seek vengeance in the case of wrongful death.

There is no concept of an after world, in the sense of some "other" place in which the dead dwell.

A principal concern of Kapauku funerary practices is the enlistment of the soul of the departed as

guardian of its surviving kin. The more beloved or prestigious the deceased, the greater the care

taken, through burial practices, to tempt them to such a role. Women, children and elders who

were loved only by close kin are semi-interred in a squatting position with the head left exposed

and sheltered under a cover of branches. The corpse of a well regarded man is placed in a tree

house made of branches. The corpse of a rich headman is placed in a wooden hut on stilts.

Cremation for fallen and unclaimed enemies, or complete interment for those of little social

status, constitute the lower range of funerary attention. (See also Mimika.)