Grand Valley Dani: Peaceful WarriorsThis case study examines an isolated tribe in Indonesia, West New Guinea, when tribe members were still using stone axes, bows, arrows and spears, up to more present times spanning 34 years (1961-1995). The author's long engagement with the Dani results in a wide range of engaging topics as well as coverage of the ethical dilemma he faced as an anthropologist. One immediately acquires a sense of the limitations and strengths of the anthropologist's role in the field. Heider's 1995 visit to the Dugnm Dani left him less optimistic about the future of the Dani than his 1988 visit. Indonesian Independence Day was celebrated during Heider's stay. The Dani presence was barely acknowledged, while the Indonesian presence was colorfully represented. The past mistakes of foreign occupation of indigenous territory, committed mostly by Western powers, now seem repeated by the Indonesian authorities. |
Contents
Acknowledgments | 1 |
Studying the Dani | 12 |
The Fieldwork | 19 |
Copyright | |
6 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
adze Aikhe River anthropologist arrows Balim River battle boys brine pool Broekhuijse bundle called ceremony compound cluster confederation conflict cook house Dani culture Dani warfare deaths Diagram Dogolik Dugum Neighborhood Dutch edai edai-egen enemy ethnographic exogamy expedition fallow father fieldwork fighting film Dead Birds fingers forests funeral Gardner ghosts girls Grand Valley Dani groups Guinea Gutelu Alliance hearth Heider highlands horticulture important Indonesian Jalé Jibiga killed kilometers kinship terms land leaders live Mabel married Michael Rockefeller missionaries moiety months move Netherlands New Guinea no-man's-land Papuan pattern of Dani penis gourds photographs Pig Feast placate polygyny population population density raids ritual phase Robert Gardner secular phase seems sexual abstinence shouting skirt social sort spears square kilometers stone sweet potato sweet potato gardens talk things tion Um'ue Um'ue's usually valley floor Waija Wamena Watabaka watchtower wedding Western Dani Wida Widaia Wilihiman-Walalua Wubakainma wusa