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|
Kolufo-yanop, Klufo-fyumanop | |
|---|---|
 A Korowai man | |
| Total population | |
| 4000–4400[1][2] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Indonesia (South Papua,Highland Papua) | |
| Languages | |
| Korowai,Indonesian | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Kombai people |
TheKorowai, also called theKolufo, live in southeasternPapua in theIndonesian provinces ofSouth Papua andHighland Papua. Their tribal area is split by the borders ofBoven Digoel Regency,Mappi Regency,Asmat Regency,Pegunungan Bintang Regency, andYahukimo Regency. They number about 4000 to 4400 people.[3][1][2]
The Korowai call themselvesKlufo-fyumanop orKolufo-yanop, from the wordKolufo (variations:Klufwo, Klufo, Karufo), meaning "people", andfyumanop, meaning "walking on leg bone", to distinguish themselves from the Citak and the Auyu that use boats to travel.[4]
TheKorowai language belongs to theAwyu–Dumut family (southeastern Papua) and is part of theTrans–New Guinea phylum. A dictionary and grammar book have been produced by a Dutch missionary linguist.
The majority of the Korowai clans live intree houses on their isolated forested territory.[5]
Since 1980, some have moved into the recently opened villages of Yaniruma at the Becking River banks (Kombai–Korowai area), Mu, and Mbasman (Korowai–Citak area). In 1987, a village was opened in Manggél, in Yafufla (1988), Mabül at the banks of theEilanden River (1989), and Khaiflambolüp (1998).
The villageabsenteeism rate is still high, because of the relatively long distance between the settlements and the food (sago) resources.
The Korowai traditionally smoke tobacco but do not drink alcohol.[6][7][8][9][10][11] They use a traditional smoking pipe calleddepon nagel, made from bamboo with diameter of 3-4 cm. Sago shoots shavings calledfiop is used as the filter.[12]
The Korowai arehunter-gatherers andhorticulturalists who practiceshifting cultivation. They have excellent hunting and fishing skills.
Information about Korowai trade patterns is scant. The Korowai have a few gender-specific activities, such as the preparation ofsago and the performance of religious ceremonies in which only the male adults are involved.
Since the early 1990s, some Korowai have generated moderate cash income by working with tour companies selling tours into the Korowai region. Within the tourist industry, opportunities are limited to hosting tour groups in villages for tourist-sponsored sago feasts, carrying luggage, and performing traditional displays.
Thepatriclan is the central unit with respect to social, economic, and political organization. Kinship terminology follows theOmaha I pattern (Lounsbury), knowing a central opposition between cross and parallel relationships.
In Korowai society, the forms of institutionallevirate and predominance ofavuncular relationships are found, as well as a kind ofaffinal avoidance relationship. Marriage isexogamous andpolygynous. Preference is given to aconjugal relationship with the (classificatory) mother's mother's brother's daughter.
Leadership structures are based on personal qualities ofbig men, rather than on institution. Interclan warfare occurs mainly because ofwitchcraft andsorcery-related conflicts.
The Korowai universe is filled with a variety of spirits, some more personal of character than others. Reverence is paid especially to the red headed creator god Gimigi. The Korowai ascribe an important role in their daily lives of honoring their "One God" with one being used as the concept of a prime deity from whom all others either descend or to whom all others pay homage.
Once in a lifetime, a Korowai clan must organize asago grub festival in order to stimulate prosperity and fertility in a ritual fashion. In times of trouble they sacrificedomesticated pigs to the spirits of the ancestors.
The Korowai have an extraordinary and rich oral tradition:myths,folktales, (magical) sayings andcharms, andtotem traditions. With respect to death and afterlife the Korowai believe in the existence of a reciprocal type ofreincarnation: those who died can be sent back at any time to the land of the living, by their kinsmen in the land of the dead, in order to reincarnate in a newly born infant of their own clan.
The first documented contact by Western scientists with members of a band of western Korowai (or eastern Citak) took place on 17–18 March 1974. The expedition was co-led by anthropologistPeter Van Arsdale (now at theUniversity of Denver),[13] geographer Robert Mitton, and community developer Mark (Dennis) Grundhoefer. Thirty men were encountered on the south bank of the Upper Eilanden River, approximately 12 miles east of its junction with the Kolff River and 10 miles north of the Becking River. A basic word list was generated and observations were recorded regarding such things as fire making techniques.[14][15]
In the late 1970s, a fewDutch ProtestantChristian missionaries began to live among the Korowai.[16]Dea Sudarman, an Indonesian anthropologist, made several documentary films on the Korowai for Japanese television in the 1980s. In 1993, a film crew documented an anthropological study in the Dayo village area by theSmithsonian Institution of Korowai treehouse construction and the practice ofcannibalism as a form of criminal justice. This resulted in the filmLords of the Garden. In 1996 a local Christian community was established, the members of it mainly originating from the neighbouringKombai people. For a long time the Korowai have been considered exceptionally resistant to religious conversion; however, by the end of the 1990s the first converts to Christianity were baptized. In the autumn of 2003, a small team of Bible translators from Wycliffe/SIL moved to Yaniruma.[17]
In May 2006, tour-guide Paul Raffaele led an Australian60 Minutes crew to report on the people.[18]
The 2007 BBC documentaryFirst Contact, presented byMark Anstice, features footage from his 1999 encounter with members of the Korowai people, and describes how they were disturbed upon seeing a "white ghost", whose presence indicated the end of the world was nigh.
In January–February 2011, the BBC documentaryHuman Planet commissioned the Korowai building of a treehouse 35m high.[5]
In August 2019, the "Best Ever Food Review Show" channel on YouTube made contact with the Korowai people in which they ate various foods of the culture.
In the documentaryMy Year with the Tribe,[19] a film team visits the Korowai area several times over a period of one year. The documentary reveals that an industry has developed around the supposedly traditional lives of many Korowai. Many locals take advantage of the Korowai's reputation for living a particularly original life in order to earn money. It is also reported that houses located at a particular high altitude have been financed by Western film crews.
The Korowai have been reported to practice ritual cannibalism up to the present day. Anthropologists suspect that cannibalism is no longer practiced by the Korowai clans that have had frequent contact with outsiders.[20][non-primary source needed] Recent reports suggest that certain clans have been coaxed into encouraging tourism by perpetuating the myth that cannibalism is still an active practice.[21]
