Kwoma
Encyclopedia
The Kwoma are a people of northwestern New Guinea
who live in the Peilungua mountains north of the Sepik River.
s, an important food. Birds are abundant, but feral pigs are the only large mammals. Coconut
and areca palms, pawpaw
, breadfruit
, and paper mulberry
trees are planted near housesites, and yam
s, taro
, and greens are grown as the first crop in swidden gardens, with banana
s and plantain
s as the second crop.
Each subtribe consists of several hamlets, containing households with hereditary property rights in the hamlet's land. Each hamlet contains a male ceremonial house as its focal point. All of the adult males in a hamlet are members of the same patrilineal sib, but the hamlets of each sib are not contiguous, so that the sibs are scattered about in each subtribe territory. Each sib claims descent from a mythical totem
ancestor, and each sib is further subdivided into lineages claiming descent from a legendary hero. Within a hamlet, members of the same lineage will typically build their houses adjacent to each other. Within a lineage, descendants of a common paternal grandfather will be especially close, and sons will live adjacent to or with their father.
The Kwoma language is in the Middle Sepik
stock, and their kinship system is of the Omaha
type. The political system is acephalous and relatively egalitarian, though prestige is accorded senior men who have taken a head in warfare; these men hold high positions in religious cults and often have more than one wife. In the resolution of legal disputes, however, all males past puberty preside and have an equal voice in the final decision. The sexual division of labor is such that both males and females work in the extraction of sago flour, and each sex has specified tasks in the gardens, but only males hunt and build houses, and only females fish. Most fish is obtained through trade, with females exchanging sago flour for fish with members of river tribes on periodic market days, occurring once or twice a week.
John Whiting's ethnography of the Kwoma, based on fieldwork conducted in 1936, was a groundbreaking effort to describe the socialization
of children in a traditional, non-Western culture.
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
who live in the Peilungua mountains north of the Sepik River.
Land
The climate is warm and humid, with rain falling almost every day, so that crops may be planted at any time of the year. The Kwoma territory consists of ridges with precipitous sides, nowhere rising above 1,500 feet, covered by a very dense forest canopy, as well as adjacent lowland swamps full of sago palmMetroxylon sagu
Metroxylon sagu is a species of palm in the genus Metroxylon, native to tropical southeastern Asia in Indonesia , Papua New Guinea, Malaysia and possibly also the Philippines .It is a monocarpic palm growing to 10 m tall or more, with pinnate leaves up to 7 m...
s, an important food. Birds are abundant, but feral pigs are the only large mammals. Coconut
Coconut
The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...
and areca palms, pawpaw
Papaya
The papaya , papaw, or pawpaw is the fruit of the plant Carica papaya, the sole species in the genus Carica of the plant family Caricaceae...
, breadfruit
Breadfruit
Breadfruit is a species of flowering tree in the mulberry family, Moraceae, growing throughout Southeast Asia and most Pacific Ocean islands...
, and paper mulberry
Paper Mulberry
The Paper Mulberry is a tree in the family Moraceae, native to eastern Asia. Other names include Dak, Halibun, Kalivon, Kozo, and Tapacloth tree.It is a deciduous tree growing to tall...
trees are planted near housesites, and yam
Yam (vegetable)
Yam is the common name for some species in the genus Dioscorea . These are perennial herbaceous vines cultivated for the consumption of their starchy tubers in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania...
s, taro
Taro
Taro is a common name for the corms and tubers of several plants in the family Araceae . Of these, Colocasia esculenta is the most widely cultivated, and is the subject of this article. More specifically, this article describes the 'dasheen' form of taro; another variety is called eddoe.Taro is...
, and greens are grown as the first crop in swidden gardens, with banana
Banana
Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....
s and plantain
Plantain
Plantain is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa. The fruit they produce is generally used for cooking, in contrast to the soft, sweet banana...
s as the second crop.
People
The total population in 1936, the year in which the Kwoma were studied by ethnographers, was less than a thousand (in 2003, three thousand). They are surrounded by other peoples, most with even smaller populations, who speak unrelated languages. The Kwoma will speak in their own language to these outsiders, who will respond in their own language, so that intertribal communication relies upon understanding other languages, not speaking them. Relations with outsiders are often hostile, and even relations among the four Kwoma subtribes can be violent, with members of one subtribe setting out on head-hunting expeditions against another.Each subtribe consists of several hamlets, containing households with hereditary property rights in the hamlet's land. Each hamlet contains a male ceremonial house as its focal point. All of the adult males in a hamlet are members of the same patrilineal sib, but the hamlets of each sib are not contiguous, so that the sibs are scattered about in each subtribe territory. Each sib claims descent from a mythical totem
Totem
A totem is a stipulated ancestor of a group of people, such as a family, clan, group, lineage, or tribe.Totems support larger groups than the individual person. In kinship and descent, if the apical ancestor of a clan is nonhuman, it is called a totem...
ancestor, and each sib is further subdivided into lineages claiming descent from a legendary hero. Within a hamlet, members of the same lineage will typically build their houses adjacent to each other. Within a lineage, descendants of a common paternal grandfather will be especially close, and sons will live adjacent to or with their father.
The Kwoma language is in the Middle Sepik
Nukuma languages
The Nukuma languages are a small family of clearly related languages, Kwoma, Kwanga, and Seim. They are generally classified among the Sepik languages of northern Papua New Guinea; Malcolm Ross places them in an Middle Sepik branch of that family....
stock, and their kinship system is of the Omaha
Omaha kinship
Omaha kinship is the system of terms and relationships used to define family in Omaha tribal culture. Identified by Lewis Henry Morgan in his 1871 work Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family, the Omaha system is one of the six major kinship systems which he identified...
type. The political system is acephalous and relatively egalitarian, though prestige is accorded senior men who have taken a head in warfare; these men hold high positions in religious cults and often have more than one wife. In the resolution of legal disputes, however, all males past puberty preside and have an equal voice in the final decision. The sexual division of labor is such that both males and females work in the extraction of sago flour, and each sex has specified tasks in the gardens, but only males hunt and build houses, and only females fish. Most fish is obtained through trade, with females exchanging sago flour for fish with members of river tribes on periodic market days, occurring once or twice a week.
John Whiting's ethnography of the Kwoma, based on fieldwork conducted in 1936, was a groundbreaking effort to describe the socialization
Socialization
Socialization is a term used by sociologists, social psychologists, anthropologists, political scientists and educationalists to refer to the process of inheriting and disseminating norms, customs and ideologies...
of children in a traditional, non-Western culture.