Session Handle:
http://hdl.handle.net/2196/56b5976d-7217-4b31-aef1-34bdb8887bc8
Title:
Bushwalk along the river: Ambiam to Yambikipangoa
Description:
This is a recording of an ordinary hunting/fishing trip along the river. It is a participatory-observational recording, in which natural interaction between the participants is intertwined with teaching the researcher behind the camera about the environment. It starts with practicalities and conversations upon leaving the camp, and follows a group of young men and teenagers as they proceed along the river and through the bush. While the men and boys go about their business – joking, teaching the younger ones how to spear fish, telling each other of the past events at particular places in the bush, communicating with spirits and constantly reminding each other of what trees belong to whom, who planted certain plants, etc., they occasionally explain things to the researcher, e.g., give names and tell about uses of certain plants they encounter on the way. While it has been known that the Awiakay inform the local spirits when they come to their land or approach their dwelling places, this recording shows how exactly this is done: in a very casual, non-performative way, as part of other activities [telling them we’re here, walking on their land, letting them know who’s there and making noise (singaut bilong hamamas), in order to please them]. This recording also provides insights into passing the TEK to younger ones: they are only being shown or told how to do things, e.g. spear fish, when they can already show some competence – before that children learn by observation and continual trial and error. The younger ones are subjected to joking and humiliation until they can prove themselves by spearing a fish, killing the first game, etc. While walking through the bush, the boys interact with the environment by examining (sometimes in detail) whatever they encounter and commenting on it: areas where pigs dug for earthworms, various footprints, carcases of dead animals, all with an aim to learn where food is to be found. In learning about the trees on the way we also learn about how Awiakay ancestors made rafts and drifted downriver before they gained the knowledge of making dug-out canoes from their downriver neighbours Imanmeri. The video also records bush-calls, a way of communicating in the forest when one cannot see the other party, and a cicada cry that makes Awiakay nostalgic, reminding them of particular trips to the bush. Plants and animals encountered: aibika, kandukay, kandum, kañe, kumbain, kumbaŋ (grubs), kundinamba, mandom, nerut, nilpis, pig, rabamaus, tanblok, tondokom.
Date created:
2023-07-08