The Amungme of West New Guinea

Aside from the Dani of the Baliem Valley, the Amungme are the best-known highlands tribe in West New Guinea. This is largely due to some of their lands having been taken by the mining company Freeport Indonesia for the development of their mining complex, first around the Ertsberg, then the Grasberg. This second ore body holds the world’s largest gold deposit and the third largest concentration of copper.

The Amungme, live to the south of the steep central mountains, while their linguistic brothers, the Damal, spread just to the north of this range. During the early years of the Freeport mine operations, the company paid little attention to the Amungme. Their lands were used with scant compensation as the company paid its taxes to the central government, with no obligation to start any social programs for the Amungme.

The various chapters cover the essential aspects of the Amungme culture, including their origins, their distinctive language, the kinship structure, social organisation, the importance of cowry shells, and females in exchanges, leadership, and the various ways of subsisting: hunting, farming, and gathering. The results of the contacts with the outside world begin with the section on Christianity and the pre-contact mystical concept of ‘h’ai’, and early paradise that can be attained without first expiring. The effects of the large-scale mining operations are described from the early history of Freeport Indonesia and the effects of the discovery of the huge ore body in Grasberg (Grass Mountain). The concluding section describes the current improvements in the treatment of the Amungme by Freeport, including education, health programs, and job training.

1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………………1
2. Papuan origins: historical and linguistic…………………………………………………………………………11
The ‘Amungkal’ language (‘kal’ = language)…………………………………………………………………………15
3. Geography: the Amungme valleys…………………………………………………………………………19
4. Kinship and confederacy …………………………………………………………………………27
5. Currencies: shells, pigs, women, and death
payments…………………………………………………………………………33
6. Trade routes and exchange items…………………………………………………………………………41
7. The bride price: cowrie shells, pigs,
and cash…………………………………………………………………………47
8.  The importance of pigs…………………………………………………………………………53
9. Leadership…………………………………………………………………………59
10.  Land Ownership…………………………………………………………………………69
11.  Making a living: farming, hunting, and
gathering …………………………………………………………………………77
Farming…………………………………………………………………………79
Hunting …………………………………………………………………………89
Gathering …………………………………………………………………………92
CONTENTS
12.  Christianity and traditional beliefs:
myths of origin,‘ailim’, cosmology,‘h’ai’,
and cargo cults………………………………………………………………………… 95
Amungme cosmology …………………………………………………………………………101
Evolution in practices and the beliefs in spirits…………………………………………………………………………106
Problems with the courtship ritual called ‘tem’…………………………………………………………………………108
‘Ha’i’ as Paradise…………………………………………………………………………109
Myths of origins…………………………………………………………………………111
Christianity stops some ‘unacceptable’ practices…………………………………………………………………………114
13.  History: to the early 1970s…………………………………………………………………………117
The first decade of sustained contact:
1950 to the early 1960s…………………………………………………………………………121
The move to Agimuga …………………………………………………………………………126
Catholics move out, the Protestant religion moves in …………………………………………………………………………128
14.  Defining the highlands…………………………………………………………………………135
West New Guinea comes under Indonesian
administration…………………………………………………………………………138
Rebellion in West New Guinea …………………………………………………………………………139
15.  The Amungme and Freeport: the first phase…………………………………………………………………………141
Drill crews and hex sticks…………………………………………………………………………145
Problems mounting …………………………………………………………………………147
The 1974 Agreement…………………………………………………………………………150
Institutional memory and Amungme memory …………………………………………………………………………153
16.  Population shifts: the development of
the Timika lowlands.………………………………………………………………………..157
17.  From 1980 to 1996: transmigration and Grasberg …………………………………………………………………………163
Grasberg and its long-term implications for
the Amungme…………………………………………………………………………169
From 1990 to the 1996 …………………………………………………………………………171
The 1996 riots: the mine shuts down…………………………………………………………………………174
APPENDIX ………………………………………………………………………… 177
BIBLIOGRAPHY …………………………………………………………………………18