1.11 Dokiayn, a senior woman of the Yibihilu community. In 1980-82, women were not ashamed to appear bare-breasted in the village. |
2.3 Longhouse floor plan, showing rooms and the areas of the house used by men and women. Families cook and eat communally in the lower house, but the rest of the dwelling is sex segregated. Men and women sleep separately - intimate relations between husbands and wives take place in the forest. The central corridor, mens sleeping area, and large veranda of the house are the exclusive space of men. The womens collective sleeping quarters, which are small and cramped, are normally the only part of the house used by women except for the cooking area. On special occasions such as ritual feasts, women are allowed to sit in the mens sleeping area and sing. |
2.5 A young married woman stands next to the small opening to the low and narrow women’s sleeping section, which lines one side of the longhouse |
2.11 A woman pounds pith from a stripped sago palm trunk with a stone adze. The white pith is then put in a trough hollowed from one of the larger lower branches of the sago palm, shown in the background of the photo. Then the pith is pounded further. |
2.12 A woman stands holding a thin stick used to beat sago pith in a trough. The large base of the felled sago palm can be seen in the background. The pith in the trough is leached with water until the starch dissolves and sediments to form sago flour, which is then dried into flaky chunks and tightly wrapped in special leaves. In its final form, sago flour is almost pure starch and can be stored for many weeks. |
2.24 A woman’s “carrying capacity”: A woman, Sefomay, comes back to Yibihilu from the forest in late afternoon. She is loaded with two net bags on top of which sits her young son, Mako, who wears his own small net bag. Leaves on Sefomay’s forehead and a bark cape on her back help cushion the weight of her heavy load. Net bags that women weave from forest fibers are a prime element of Gebusi material culture |
2.25 Three women of Yibihilu carry net bags and forest materials. |
2.30 Fieldwork: Eileen socializes with Gebusi women |
2.31 Fieldwork: Eileen’s collects a life history from Walab, an adult woman |
3.2 A woman named Mus mourns the death of her younger brother, Halia. |
3.3 Daguwa, sitting on the longhouse porch shortly before he committed suicide. |
3.19 Saliam sits forlorn as Daguwa’s death is discussed. |
3.25 Saliam in a happier state. [Note: Sasaga never married. He died from a snake bite from a death adder in the late 1980s.] |
4.3 Sorcery case: Tosipi, an elderly widow of Yibihilu and Yuway’s father’s sister. Tosipi was accused by Swiman’s spirits of killing Halia through parcel sorcery (bogay). Since Halia’s brother, Salip, had previously married and then divorced Tosipi’s daughter, the old woman was implicitly thought to have resented the failed marriage and taken revenge by killing Salip’s brother through sorcery. |
4.4 Sorcery case: Tosipi is forced to cook a divination sago. A fish placed inside the large mound of wet sago and wrapped with leaves must be fully cooked to prove Tosipi’s innocence. In the photo, Tosipi is tending the fires, but it is very difficult to ensure a positive result. The suspect can also be found guilty if the sago or the fish inside are overcooked. |
4.9 Sorcery case: Tosipi sits deferentially while Halia’s sister, Mus, eats a piece of the divination sago. Though Tosipi was not formally found guilty of sorcery, she remained under a cloud of suspicion. She and her relatives moved out of Yibihilu shortly after the divination was completed. They founded their own small hamlet settlement about thirty minutes walk from Yibihilu. Tosipi was not killed but died a natural death in the late 1980s. |
5.9 Nolop, married woman, mother of Damya, husband of Wosip -- and illicit partner of Modiay in 1981 |
5.11 Women of Yibihilu joking during a major feast (clothes given as gifts by Eileen). |
5.12 This young woman, named Toym, was said by the men of Yibihilu to be a human approximation of a beautiful spirit woman. On first seeing this photo, men turned away mockingly, saying they were too overpowered and frustrated by the sight of Toym’s beauty to look at her image. Ironically, the woman’s name, Toym, also means “taboo” in Gebusi. |
6.14 Initiation dance, with selected young women dancing in costume opposite male dancers. In the photograph, note that the man on the right wearing blue shorts is smiling and joking with the women standing to the left of the dancer along the sago thatch wall. Joking between Gebusi men and women parallels the dance of seduction between the male and female costumed performers and between men and women in the spirit world |
6.15 In a rare display, a line of three women dance during the night of the main initiation ceremonies. Each holds a rattle which she thrusts up and down in front of her, symbolizing the action of sexual intercourse. |
6.31 Final initiation twist: Closeup of the two young women who dressed and lined up similar to male initiates at the end of the ceremonies. |
9.1 The Nomad market, 1998 |
9.3 A young girl from Gasumi Corners waits long hours in hopes of selling he sweet potatoes and pineapples at the Nomad market |
9.4 A young girl looks over a new garden of sweet potatoes on the outskirts of Gasumi Corners. |
9.5 Large piles of unsold food at the Nomad market. Items left unsold are carried back to Gasumi Corners or given away at the Nomad Station. |
9.6 A pile of food bought for the equivalent of about two dollars U.S. at the Nomad market: sago flour, bamboo shoots, starchy bananas, sweet bananas, peanuts, taro, cassava, sweet potatoes, papayas, squash, and coconuts |
9.7 Nolop, sitting with pride in her house, surrounded by some of her market money, 1998 |
9.10 Shy schoolgirls on the Nomad school ground |
9.24 Schoolgirl aspiration #2: A girl draws a picture of herself as a teacher in the future |
9.25 Schoolgirl aspiration #3: A girl draws a picture of herself as a teacher in the future |
9.26 Schoolgirl aspiration #4: A girl draws a picture of herself as a nurse in the future |
9.27 Schoolgirl aspiration #5: A girl draws a picture of herself as a nurse in the future |
9.28 Schoolgirl aspiration #6: A girl draws a picture of herself as ascending to heaven in the future. Note to viewers: This drawing closely parallels the poster of Christian conversion shown in photo in the eleventh web-photo of chapter 8. |
11.24 Hybrid costuming at a remote village, 1998: woman with “red bird-of-paradise” face paint and a black bra |
11.27 Hybrid costuming at a remote village, 1998: two women blend modern and traditional styles of dress |
11.28 Hybrid costuming at a remote village, 1998: woman with a long noseplug and a black dress, partly worn, holding her child |
11.42 A Christian skit of the Second Coming at the Nomad “dramas” for Independence Day. Jesus, in a white crown, is flanked by the Angel Gabriel (just to his right, holding a trumpet). To the right, maidens who have been singing and dancing bare-breasted tremble, die, and are damned to hell for their heathen practices. |
11.67 Neo-traditional and modern dancing at Nomad on Independence Day, 1998: Bare-breasted, middle-aged woman with a flower headdress and body paint dances to disco music from a boombox in the performance competition. The man from her village explained to the crowd, "We have nothing developed in our village, so we can only present you our women for your entertainment." | |
