Y23_0035-0045

Object Type: Folder
In Folder: awiakay-hoenigman-0695

▲

Expand to show object metadata

Y23_0035-0045

Session Information

Session Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/2196/b0bc79bf-bf27-4145-8367-dcbb100f3a09

Title: Bushwalk to Mesia's garden to harvest makayp

Description: This is a recording of Mesia taking the researcher to her garden to show her the way the Awiakay harvest makayp (Derris sp.), a plant whose roots are used for stunning fish. The walk through the bush is very rich and informative: in a casual conversation, Mesia gives names of certain culturally important plants and tells us about their uses. She tells the researcher in what ways the ‘big men’ (Awiakay ancestors) used to use certain plants and lets us know whether they are still being used in the same way today. She tells us who planted certain trees or sago palms and for whom, often adding details such as where the person brought a seedling from, etc. She also tells us who harvested certain plants, adding details such as whether they did it at the right time or not, and explaining how it should be done properly. We pass by plants that can cut your skin or hurt your eyes and Mesia explains it all. On the way, Nagimari and Wapayp surprise us by jumping out of the bush wearing bush spirit masks. When we come to the garden, Mesia’s son Nagimari shows his bandicoot trap and explains how it works. When pulling out Derris roots, Mesia shows and tells how they grow, what makes them grow in a way that is easier to pull out, which ones are of better quality, when they are ready for harvesting, how the ancestors have been replanting and fertilising them, and how the Awiakay still follow this, etc. Plants and animals mentioned: bandicoot (trapping), kalakapoñ (type of ginger), kalas (type of tree that makes eyes sore), kauŋgwiyam (little fish), kaypuŋ (type of parrot who eats pandanus), koŋay (yellow pandanus), mam (used for decoration), mongoy sago, tam imba (a thorny vine that will badly cut your skin).

Date created: 2023-07-05

Location

Continent: Oceania

Country: Papua New Guinea

Region: Sepik

Address: Kanjimei village

Project

ID: MDP0441

Name: 0695-MDP0441

Description: This deposit is a result of a documentation of the traditional ecological knowledge of the Awiakay from Papua New Guinea, funded by ELDP between 2023–2025. The project is a collaborative effort between a linguistic anthropologist and Awiakay people, in collaboration with an ethnobotanist. The data deposited in this collection encompass video-recordings of a wide variety of genres of language use related to TEK; a collection of short observational films about Awiakay speakers’ interaction with their environment, including landscapes, plants, animals and spirits; photographs and a list of identified specimens of the local flora and fauna; and an Awiakay–Tok Pisin–English photo-dictionary of local plants and animals.