Images of highlanders at home and abroad

Jenny Munro

Young people from Wamena, the urban centre of the Papuan highlands, frequently find themselves having to sort out how to fit their traditions and aspirations into circumstances that emphasise modernisation and Indonesian nationalism. As there is no road transport to the highlands, it is often assumed that the area and the main indigenous group, the Dani, are isolated from ‘modern’ influences, or are even ‘timeless’. Highlanders feel, on the contrary, that their lives have changed significantly in the last 30 years. Older people see and feel the changes, but young people are more often actively in the middle of things. For example, today’s youth have been to school, and are fluent in the Indonesian language. As a result, they are more expected to portray their support for national Indonesian values, and yet also have more opportunities to pursue their own agendas. Some desire new experiences outside Papua. During 2005-2006 I spent 16 months with young people from Wamena while they were attending universities in North Sulawesi and also while some of them returned home to visit their families. In this photo essay I include some of the more memorable images of this time. Christian faith and Papuan nationalism give Wamena’s youth a strong sense of who they are, while cooking, eating, and celebrating with friends and family helps them manage the complexities of being Papuan highlanders in Indonesia.

01 - Students celebrate the end of examinations in North Sulawesi with a bakar batu (pig feast) in an isolated part of the National University of Manado (Unima) campus. In North Sulawesi there are several thousand Papuan students, approximately 500 of whom are from the Wamena area. Although it may seem unusual to be preparing hot rocks and banana leaves to steam pork, cassava, and vegetables on campus, Wamena students always celebrate their accomplishments this way, and have been doing so in particular spots on campus since the mid-1990s.

02 - Female students and older married women prepare cassava for a graduation feast in North Sulawesi. Although there are not many female students, the gardens they tend in addition to regular campus activities make celebratory feasts possible. Students tend to study economics, administration and engineering, and after graduation they return to Papua to seek employment in the public service.