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I. The Mimika region: Society The traditional way of life is dominated above all by the provision of food, the production of material equipment, and a cycle of feasts and rituals that, among other things, map out the various stages of life, especially coming of age, and death. Kamoro culture consists of small, autonomous groups, with a number of hamlets often forming one extended village. Leadership is informal and diffuse, and depends on personal qualities. Kinship groups have a matrilineal orientation. A central concept in society and culture is that of aopao, the principle of reciprocity. This is expressed, for example, in a complex system of presentations. The meaning of the local term aopao can be regarded in such terms as mutual return of services, exchange of gifts, counterparts, exchange of women, revenge, and satisfaction to others. The oral tradition, including stories about the arrival of strangers, is characterised by the idea of reciprocity. The Dutch anthropologist Jan Pouwer [2] suggests: 'Not progress, but reciprocity, is the guiding principle in the indigenous construction of history'.[3] | |
