FIELDWORK IN IRIAN JAYA: TWO REPORTS

After their fieldwork preparation, Ien Courtens and Louise Thoonen travelled to Irian Jaya, where they arrived in the research village at the end of July 1994. This village, Ayawasi, is located in the West Ayfat area in the interior of the Bird's Head, and is the centre of the Catholic mission in the region. The researchers stayed in the field for almost a year, not only in Ayawasi but also in another village (located in the North Ayfat) and in the cities of Sorong and Manokwari, where they conducted archival research and interviewed Catholic missionaries.

 
Female initiation: changing religious experience and identity of women in the North-West Ayfat area

Report by Louise Thoonen

In 1949 the Catholic mission was established in the Ayfat. Although in the beginning the process of conversion was laborious, in the present society the Catholic church has gained an important place among the inhabitants of Ayawasi and surrounding villages. Nearly all adults are baptized and most of them experience the membership of the Catholic church as an important part of their identity. This also applies to some of the oldest inhabitants, although the contents of this Christian religion have almost no meaning to them. They participate because of a sense of belonging. At the same time, indigenous religious notions and customs are also important, especially concerning the spirits of ancestors and people who recently died, who can influence the lives of their relatives profoundly. Indigenous rituals such as ancestor worship are usually mingled with Christian elements.

The majority of the women (and men) whom I interviewed felt that under missionary influences (and other processes) their lives have become more secure than they were before, mainly because of the abolishment of hongi (head-hunting). But most of them also stated that they had lost important elements of their 'traditional' culture, such as the houses of initiation. Especially in the 1970s, missions and the government aimed at abolishing those houses, on the assumption that what took place in the houses was opposed to Christian and governmental rules. Missionary reports and interviewing showed that the priests and sisters at the time were unfamiliar with the meanings of initiation rituals. Furthermore, missionaries regarded the practice of initiation as undesirable, because it was supposed to restrain children from participation in the schools which had been established by the mission.

In the village of Ayawasi and the areas immediately surrounding it, initiation rituals for women have not been practised for some decades, and only a few women who were initiated in their childhood are still alive. Nonetheless, Ayfat women refer to initiation rituals for women (fenia meroh) as the main feature of the indigenous culture and identity of women, since it is in the houses of initiation that the ancestral laws and secret powers are transmitted from generation to generation. Partly for this reason, I decided to alter my initial, rather broad research theme concerning women, Christianization and religious experience, and to focus the research on female initiation against the background of missionary processes. In addition, the study of initiation could provide insights into the construction of gender identity, since in the adat houses girls were prepared for adulthood, marriage and motherhood. This change of focus in my research was also motivated by the lack of anthropological knowledge about initiation rituals in Irian Jaya.

In the beginning I collected information about initiation experiences and the changes of fenia meroh in the process of Christianization by means of interviews and life histories. After five months in the field I had the opportunity to study contemporary female initiation in another region, the North Ayfat. Five girls had been in a house of initiation for several months and were now ready to end their period in the house. Due to the efforts of my best key informant who originates from this area, I participated in the house of initiation during two days and a night. I was initiated myself and in this process I learned about the secrets, which are only revealed to initiates, which gave me a unique possibility to gain deeper insights in fenia meroh. Afterwards I attended the final three day ceremony.

Studying fenia meroh and the experiences of initiated women provided insights into the indigenous cultures of women and the process of identity construction. Additionally, placed against the background of Christianization, it also gave me the possibility to study continuity and change as well as the contribution of women to the missionary process within one, clearly defined theme. Among other things I learned about Catholic ideas and practices which women incorporated into fenia meroh, about indigenous elements they changed or omitted, the underlying notions, and the meanings for female and ethnic identity.

* Louise Thoonen is a Ph.D. student (AiO) at the Centre for Pacific Studies of the University of Nijmegen. Her research is carried out in co-operation with the Centre for Women's Studies of the University of Nijmegen, and ISIR (Irian Jaya Studies Project). The Netherlands Foundation for the Advancement of Tropical Research (WOTRO) provided financial support during the period of fieldwork.

 
'Traditional' health care, female specialists and cultural change in Irian Jaya

Report by Ien Courtens

As part of the previous anthropological project, the aim of this project is to gain insights into the places that Irianese women hold within the belief system concerning healing. In my research I focussed on continuity and change of the positions of female healers and the related concepts of gender, healing and sickness. Following recent anthropological theories, I approached female healers as mediators. I also paid attention to the practice of initiation, because women 'traditionally' learned about healing methods in the houses of initiation. Together with Louise Thoonen I participated inside one of these houses in the North Ayfat region. Due to this participation, the knowledge I had already gained by means of interviewing came more to life.

The research was carried out against the background of Christianization as it is this process in particular which has influenced healing practices. Before the introduction of Catholicism in the region (1949), the public, ritual 'traditional' healers in the North-West Ayfat area were particularly initiated men. The preparation of the various rituals they conducted were mostly secret (only known by initiated men). The rituals were applied to the benefit of both men and women as well as children, and they covered a wide range of illnesses.

Women also learned about healing in the house of initiation. Most of these healing methods and rituals concerned 'female matters' such as fertility, pregnancy and giving birth. These aspects were reserved for the female part of the population and were not practised in public. Women also learned to cure what they call "light" diseases, such as stomach pains. The "heavy" diseases, such as illness caused by evil spirits, could only be cured by initiated men. The healing methods which were learned by women in the house of initiation concerned (in particular) the application of medicinal leaves. Just like the methods which were used by initiated men, the knowledge about ways of healing possessed by initiated women was secret (only accessible to initiated women).

However there are also non-initiated women who can heal. Many women gained knowledge about healing through dreams in which ancestral spirits showed them which methods they should use to heal other people. In this way many women have their own healing rites which they carry out within their own family. They usually do not reveal the backgrounds and essence of their methods.

Ayfat people also have indigenous healing rituals which are led by both men and women. In those rituals the help of ancestral spirits is requested by means of showing kain pusaka (sacred cloths) and offering them meat (and sometimes sago) to eat for the purpose of satisfying the ancestors and gaining their help to heal sick family members.

In 1963 a small missionary hospital was established in the village of Ayawasi. In the present society most of the inhabitants who become ill usually visit this hospital first. The people generally have high expectations of modern treatment ("you get an injection and you will be cured"). But if the treatment does not work it is very common to call in the help of others. Sometimes they turn to initiated men, who still hold important positions as indigenous healers (although from the approximately 50 ways of healing, only a few are still applied regularly) or to initiated or non-initiated women for indigenous ways of curing. There are also people (mostly older people) who first try indigenous methods and only turn to the hospital when the 'traditional' ways do not work. In addition, in present-day society there is another important group of healers who are is often asked for help in case of sickness.

Under the influence of Christianity new ways of healing have emerged in the Ayfat area: women and men who can cure by means of praying and the use of Christian symbols, such as the crucifix, a statuette of Virgin Mary, a rosary and holy water. They are called upon when inhabitants become ill. Members of this group generally have a high status in society. The group is founded and led by a woman, who is well known for her healing capacities. The healing rituals of the group members are applied to heal men, women as well as children. Just like the indigenous healing rites, the main characteristics of those rites are secret (only known by members who have been initiated in the secret formulas). The members are able to cure a wide scale of diseases, including diseases which are believed to be caused by evil spirits. In this way women (and non-initiated men) enter healing areas which in former times were only reserved for initiated men: Christianity is used by them to gain the capability to heal in public and to cure "heavy" diseases. For them Christianity provides a means to gain important public positions as ritual specialists within (and even beyond) the community. Within these positions they mediate between sickness and health, and between the supernatural and the people.

* Ien Courtens conducted this fieldwork as a Research Associate of the Centre for Pacific Studies at the University of Nijmegen and ISIR (Irian Jaya Studies, a Programme for Interdisciplinary Research). The results will be published in the form of two articles.