41 research outputs found
Un chapelet sur le caducée: tentatives d’évangélisation catholique et protestante des Asmat (Papouasie occidentale)
No full textThis article compares the missionization methods applied by representatives of Christian churches - the Roman Catholic Church and The Evangelical Alliance Mission - in their efforts to motivate conversion among the Asmat of West Papua (Indonesia). The author particularly focuses on the missionaries' understanding of the compatibility of local traditions with their brand of Christianity, and how missionaries view medical health care within the context of missionization. Catholic missionaries encourage the integration of traditional cultural expression as well as traditional health care into Christian practice, while the evangelical missionaries enforce a radical distinction of their Christian beliefs and rituals. The author further documents to what degree these methods shape the life of Asmat Christians and their worldview, concluding that missionization causes people to live in two worlds: one shaped by the traditional Asmat worldview and one fashioned by the new Christian worldview.SCOPUS: ed.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe
Two studies on Asmat and social transformation in the past and the present
No full textReview of:
Jan Pouwer, Gender, ritual and social formation in West Papua: A configurational analysis comparing Kamoro and Asmat.
Astrid de Hontheim, Chasseurs de diables et collecteurs d’art: Tentatives de conversion des Asmat par les missionnaires pionniers protestants et catholiques.URN:NBN:NL:UI:10-1-101392
AULINE VAN DER ZEE
Two studies on Asmat and social
transformation in the past and the present
Jan Pouwer, Gender, ritual and social formation in West Papua:
A configurational analysis comparing Kamoro and Asmat. Leiden:
KITLV Press, 2010, x + 300 pp. [Verhandelingen 258.] ISBN
9789067183253. Price: EUR 34.90 (paperback).
Astrid de Hontheim, Chasseurs de diables et collecteurs d’art:
Tentatives de conversion des Asmat par les missionnaires pionniers
protestants et catholiques. Bruxelles: P.I.E. Peter Lang, 2008 + 317
pp. [Dieux, Hommes et Religions 12.] ISBN 9789052013800.
Price: EUR 34.95 (print on demand).
Etnografische Verzamelingen van de Universiteit Gent
[email protected]
Two studies feature the Asmat of West Papua, New Guinea: Jan Pouwer compares
their rituals with those of their western neighbours, the Kamoro, and
Astrid de Hontheim examines the impact of religious missionaries. In the
1950s, Pouwer was a government anthropologist who lived among and studied
the social structures of the Kamoro (then known as Mimika). He became
so familiar with them that they called him Mister Pen and Paper, a title of honour.
Pouwer wrote his dissertation in 1955, but, as it was published in Dutch,
it never got the international recognition it deserved. Therefore it is fortunate
that he was able to finish Gender, ritual and social formation in West Papua, which
may be regarded as his magnum opus.
Through interviews, Astrid de Hontheim compares the strategies and methods
of Catholic and Protestant missionaries. At the beginning of the book the
pioneering Dutch priest Gerard Zegwaard is introduced. In 1953, he started
converting the Asmat to Christianity. He settled in the region, thus forcing the
Dutch colonial government to establish Agats station, which has today become
the largest town. For the description of this very first period the author has to
rely on documents, and as these observations are written in Dutch and usually
were not translated in English, the book blurs the contours at this point. But
between 2001 and 2006 De Hontheim interviewed 23 retired priests and preachers
and three missionaries still in the field, as well as 22 Asmat, including three clergy-men, who offered independent opinions. She draws attention to the
problems of Catholic and Protestant missionaries in the field, their adaptation
to the territory, their perception of reality and their tolerance with respect to
the Asmat people and their influence on the culture. These interviews complement
ethnographic observations which are the core of cultural anthropology.
Over the trajectory of De Hontheim’s fieldwork, the strange gradually becomes
familiar and perhaps as well, the familiar strange. De Hontheim also applies
this anthropological approach to the history of conversion in West Papua into
the framework of specialist literature on Christianity in Oceania.
Pouwer’s work similarly contributes to the literature of the region. His
book offers a valuable supplement to the cross-cultural analysis of South Coast
New Guinea cultures: History, comparison, dialectic (1993), which overlooked the
Kamoro, as author Knauft could not read Dutch. Pouwer makes a comparative
analysis by means of a configuration: ‘a process that turns elements into
components arranged and imbued with meaning by a central orientation’
(pp. 7-8). Of course, here is a man who devoted his lifelong career to structuralism,
and to systematic comparisons. Because Pouwer is willing to interpret
the fundamental differences and the remarkable similarities of Kamoro and
Asmat, he gives the reader something to hold on to; he offers a clear insight
into society, culture and beliefs, and into the ways in which they go together
or interact. In this way, he contributes to a deeper understanding of their
cultures. Pouwer emphasises that their world view is based on two concepts:
reciprocity or balance, and duality, which in turn are an expression of the
principle of complementarity.
According to Pouwer, the principle of complementarity structures the
world – and thus myths, rituals and art, into basic binaries: the duality of
man and woman, on a cosmic level, the division of upper world and under
world, and on a spiritual level, ancestors and the living. Reciprocity is called
ao pao by the Kamoro. Women still have a powerful position in the gathering
of food, and Kamoro tend to focus in a symbolic way on female aspects, and
according to Pouwer, therefore the way they strive for balance is far more
peaceable than their neighbours. Even at the time of his fieldwork, Asmat
exhibited a strong obsession with headhunting and revenge; their men
were rewarded for their warfare. While Kamoro focus on female fertility,
the Asmat believe that spiritual life stems from death, the male antithesis of
continuity. This is the most important difference between the two cultures.
Strong similarities are to be found in their cosmology, their narratives, their
art, as well as in their rituals and cult of the dead. Pouwer expands upon the
traditional religion of both Kamoro and Asmat, which still determines their
way of thinking, even if they are converted to Christianity.
A different sort of duality exists in the religious strategies for conversion.
The title of De Hontheim’s work hints at the most salient discrepancy
between the Protestant and Catholic missions. The Protestants were not so
much concerned about the culture of the Asmat Papuans, but present God’s
Word and take an objective to pursue ‘Satan in the swamps’. The Catholics
assert that the goal of policy is not conversion but the wellbeing of the Asmat,
and to keep their culture alive by stimulating and collecting Asmat woodcarving.
The Protestant clergymen focus on medical care next to pastoral care;
Catholic missionaries fix their attention more on schooling, hygiene, and the
emancipation of women. The book merely sets these approaches beside one
another without analysis or commentary about their similarities and differences,
and little or no judgement of their overall project
The one thing De Hontheim is clear about is that her informants have
trouble understanding ‘the Other.’ Most striking is that in their work missionaries
mostly depart from their own convictions and theories. It appears
difficult for missionaries to enter into the Asmat’s way of thinking. The same
goes for the reader, as published interviews do not provide enough opportunity
to gain a real insight into the worldview of the Asmat. De Hontheim
shows the approach of the missionaries and related problems. They see it
as a difficult task to introduce what they regard as the achievements of the
Western welfare state as schooling, medical care, hygiene and women’s lib,
or the rejection of polygamy, especially when the result often fails to achieve
the desired effect. It came to pass that girls going to mixed schools later
became pregnant. It also happened that they did not apply their knowledge
of hygiene on their return to the village. According to Virgil Petermeyer OSC,
an introduction of these concepts is more successful if it is in accord with
elements already existing in Asmat culture; for example making use of the
pre-existing stories and symbols in teaching. He states that, during initiation,
knowledge is passed on to the young men via mythology and also via works
of art that conceal privileged information. However, on occasion Petermeyer
also meets fathers who withdraw their sons from school on the grounds that
school learning shouldn’t interfere with traditional, sacred and secret knowledge.
But for those critical of missionary work, this methodological advice is
beside the point, since it merely offers ways for Catholic or Protestant institutions
to more effectively and efficiently achieve their goals.
When Pouwer discusses the modern marketed carvings, and the revival
of the accompanying rituals as supported by the Crosiers Asmat Project,
he shows clearly how it converges in a reification of culture limited to art.
Pouwer combines the data of his fieldwork in the 1950s with those of the
recent situation gathered by scholars with whom he maintained a direct
contact. In this way, he also pays attention to the Catholic mission and their
‘cultural diplomacy’. It is also remarkable that he draws not only on his own
investigation, but also on research of Catholic missionaries with a keen interest
in the mythology and worldview of Asmat and Kamoro. In his acknowl
edgements, Pouwer expresses his respect to the dedication of Zegwaard, and
Coenen, his successor in Kokonao, in the Mimika region: ‘They put much
effort into gaining a deeper understanding of Kamoro and Asmat life-ways;
I owe a lot to them’ (p. x).
It will be clear that the anthropologist Pouwer, as a structuralist, has
another goal and another public than De Hontheim. By systematically comparing,
he focuses on cultural orientations, patterns and paradoxes, whilst
De Hontheim gives her informants a voice. Because of this basic difference
in attitude, motivation and methods of the two authors, their understanding
and description of the Asmat world naturally differs as well.
The anthropological method used by De Hontheim is nowadays also
adopted by Western performing artists, filmmakers, and visual artists, due
to the personal and temporal elements in description. They consider many
issues. How great is the responsibility of the author who noted all those
opinions? What choices did she make in giving informants a voice? Opinions
of the interviewer may change during the research process, and those of the
reader may also change over the course of the book. The book starts with a
scattering of voices, building up to a many-voiced choir of informants making
all sorts of sounds and noises; some very distinct voices, striking a completely
different note than others, but everyone seems to be telling a different
story. De Honteheim’s fascination with missionary cultures trying to convert
the Asmat and change their traditional practices provokes general reflection
on similar contemporary efforts at what today are called ‘nation building’
or ‘democracy promotion’. What might readers, whether native or colonial,
religious or secular, make of such practices?
What is documented, how, and for whom? How does the author handle
the answers of her Asmat informants? Often I found that they noted that
Westerners ask those questions which they are unable to grasp, whilst being
expected to give answers which are comprehensible to Westerners. What did
this research mean to the Asmat who contributed to it? How do we evaluate
the status of these time documents? The onus is placed on the reader to
deduce their own analysis or story. The difficulties of suggnomè, the Greek
notion of ‘understanding the same reality’, become readily apparent in this
context
ANALYSIS OF THE CRIMINAL SYSTEM OF THE PRACTICE OF PERSECUTION IN THE CRIMINAL OF THEFT IN THE JURISDICTION OF THE ASMAT RESORT POLICE
No full textThis study aims to determine the punishment system for perpetrators of persecution of perpetrators of criminal acts of theft in the Legal Area of the Asmat Resort Police and to determine the obstacles to law enforcement against perpetrators of practicing persecution of perpetrators of criminal acts of theft in the Legal Area of the Asmat Resort Police. The author analyzes the data using the socio-juridical approach method, that is, in addition to studying law theoretically and normatively in the form of analyzing various laws and regulations, books and articles that have a correlation and are relevant to the problems studied, will also examine the law in its implementation using techniques data collection through interviews and documentation. The criminal system and punishment that can be applied to perpetrators of persecution of perpetrators of criminal acts of theft is only limited to perpetrators of persecution who actually act as movers and provocateurs who influence the practice of persecution for members of the public at the place where the perpetrators of theft were caught, by imposing Article 170 Paragraph (3) and Article 351 of the Criminal Code, if the persecution is carried out until the perpetrator of the theft dies, while other residents who carry out the persecution are not harmed. The obstacles to law enforcement for the perpetrators of the persecution of the perpetrators of the crime of theft include the lack of Investigation Unit personnel and members of the Asmat Police, the absence of operational car facilities that can carry the perpetrators of persecution because there are no cars that can operate in the Asmat Regency area, the lack of members\u27 legal knowledge, and the absence of a district attorney\u27s office or a district court in Asmat District, which made it difficult for the perpetrators of persecution to be detained
Gender, ritual and social formation in West Papua: a configurational analysis comparing Kamoro and Asmat
No full textThis study, based on a lifelong involvement with New Guinea, compares the culture of the Kamoro (18,000 people) with that of their eastern neighbours, the Asmat (40,000), both living on the south coast of West Papua, Indonesia. The comparison, showing substantial differences as well as striking similarities, contributes to a deeper understanding of both cultures. Part I looks at Kamoro society and culture through the window of its ritual cycle, framed by gender. Part II widens the view, offering in a comparative fashion a more detailed analysis of the socio-political and cosmo-mythological setting of the Kamoro and the Asmat rituals. Next is a systematic comparison of the rituals. The comparison includes a cross-cultural, structural analysis of relevant myths. This publication is of interest to scholars and students in Oceanic studies and those drawn to the comparative study of cultures. The author (1924) started his career as a government anthropologist in West New Guinea in the 1950s and 1960s, with periods of intensive fieldwork, in particular among the Kamoro. A distinguished anthropologist, he held professorships at universities around the world
Extension of lower and upper solutions approach for generalized nonlinear fractional boundary value problems
No full text© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group on behalf of the University of Bahrain.Our main concern in this study is to present the generalized results to investigate the existence of solutions to nonlinear fractional boundary value problems (FBVPs) with generalized nonlinear boundary conditions. The framework of the presented results relies on the lower and upper solutions approach which allows us to ensure the existence of solutions in a sector defined by well-ordered coupled lower and upper solutions. It is worth mentioning that the presented results unify the existence criteria of certain problems which were treated on a case-by-case basis in the literature. Two examples are supplied to support the results
Children's human rights in armed conflicts: a legal perspective to its implementation and interpretation
No full textThe last decade received attention on interaction between IHL and IHRL and their possible overlap and implementation. This becomes more difficult when minors are concerned, especially when they are actively or passively involved in armed conflicts. Despite progress, challenges remain. Of the estimated 26 million displaced population, half are children and young people, who continue to become targets of militias, armed groups and result in being combatants, sex slaves, labours, porters or exploited and violated in other ways. This situation is further exacerbated due to the changing nature of contemporary conflicts and armed violence. This leads to the discussion of attainable age of criminal responsibility.Hundreds of thousands of children are in detained places, held by either state authorities or armed groups with varied reasons. An increasing number held in immigration cases raises further questions
A Study of Resistance in Irfan Ahmed Urfi’s Short Stories: عرفان احمد عرفی کے افسانوں میں مزاحمت نگاری:ایک مطالعہ
No full textWhere the invasion of scientific inventions has eased the problems of man, it has introduced new problems as well. The problems of the modern age are also of a new type. These problems are not only limited to the identity crisis of the individual but also include the problems arising under the modern industrial system. Current affairs and contemporary issues have always been made a subject in Urdu fiction. However, the problems of the modern age are such a critical that every fiction writer cannot afford to subject them in writing. Manto and Asmat took in their fictions the critical issues of their era. On the one hand, they had to face resistance by readers and writers due to the violation of traditional themes. On the other hand, they themselves emerged as prominent names of resistance against social problems. In the present era, the example of Irfan Ahmad Urfi can also be taken so. He is not so prominent in the contemporary Urdu fiction scene because the reader has no insight to afford a second recitation after reading his short stories. His fiction is an open resistance against the evils of the modern age. In the article under review, an attempt has been made to present some colors of this resistance from his short stories.
Keywords: scientific inventions, Industrial System, Irfan Ahmed Urfi, Manto, Ismat, Resistanc
Fractional-order boundary value problems solutions using advanced numerical technique
No full textThe main motivation of this study is to extend the use of the operational matrices approach to solve fractional-order two-point boundary value problems (TPBVPs), a method often employed in the literature for solving fractional-order initial value problems. Our proposed approach employs innovative operational matrices, specifically the integral operational matrices based on Chelyshkov polynomials (CPs), a type of orthogonal polynomials. These operational matrices enable us to integrate monomial terms into the algorithm, effectively converting the problem into easily solvable Sylvester-type equations. We provide a comprehensive comparison to demonstrate the accuracy and computational advantages of our proposed approach against existing methods, including the exact solution, the Haar wavelet method (HWM), the Bessel collocation method (BCM), the Pseudo Spectral Method (PSM), the Generalized Adams–Bashforth–Moulton Method (GABMM) and the fractional central difference scheme (FCDS) through numerical examples. Additionally, our proposed approach is well-suited for solving problems with both polynomial and non-polynomial solutions
Determination of haemolytic and non haemolytic genes profiles of Bacillus cereus strains isolated from food samples by polymerase chain reaction (pcr) technique
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