Method and Ethics

Where these stories come from

Every story in this series comes from seven field interviews recorded in several villages in Merauke Regency, South Papua Province.

The seven narrators are Dominus Bakap as head of Wasur village, Alexander Kaize as customary head of Wasur village from the Marori Menggey people, Yulius Romeo Mahuze as customary head of the Sosom territory in Buti village, Marthen Ndiken as customary adviser of the Kanum people in Sota village, Mama Norce Mahuze as a tradition bearer of the Kanum people, Frederikus Mahuze as chairman of the Customary Community Institution of the Malind Anim in Merauke Regency, and Agustinus Ndiken as head of Baad village.

What the compiler did, and did not do

The raw material is conversation transcripts. A conversation is not yet a tidy story. It contains interrupted questions, answers that turn elsewhere, explanations repeated, and parts a narrator deliberately left unfinished.

Compiling this series was a work of arranging, not inventing. Every event, place name, clan name, ritual sequence, and explanation of meaning comes from what a narrator said. No new characters, no added scenes, and no customary meaning invented by the compiler.

The compiler did only four things: grouped scattered statements into one whole story, reordered them so they read from beginning to end, rendered spoken sentences into clear written sentences while keeping how each narrator named things, and openly marked every place where data is incomplete or where narrators gave differing accounts.

Boundaries not crossed

Four matters are declared closed by the owners of that knowledge, and all four are fully respected.

First, the origin of the cassowary totem of the Kaize clan. Alexander Kaize stated that it may not be told.

Second, the portion of knowledge that Dominus Bakap called a private and sacred space.

Third, the customary songs of the Kanum people, which according to Mama Norce Mahuze may only be sung while a customary ceremony is taking place.

Fourth, the culture of villages other than Baad, which according to Agustinus Ndiken is not his to explain.

That refusal is not erased from this series. It is presented as part of the story, because it carries knowledge about how a customary community governs who has the right to speak about what. A boundary is data, not a gap in the data.

Material left out

Two groups of material were excluded by program decision: the part concerning a national strategic project, and the part concerning investors, land control, and relations with present-day religious institutions.

This is stated openly so readers know this series is the result of a selection.

Differences deliberately left unresolved

Some accounts differ between narrators, and the compiler did not choose one over another.

The most consequential concerns the standing of the Kanum people. Mama Norce Mahuze insists the Kanum are a people in their own right and not a sub-group of the Malind, while Frederikus Mahuze states that the Malind are the parent group of all. Both accounts are presented side by side in the third story.

Other differences concern the list of totems, the identification of the Ndiken clan's totem bird, the timing of the kumbili harvest, the clan symbol for pigs, and the standing of dema. All are recorded as given.

Spelling not yet final

The spelling of clan names and narrator names in this series is working orthography. Some place names, dance names, and lyrics are still written as they sound in the recordings.

Their final form awaits confirmation from the narrators and review by expert speakers of the Marori and Kanum languages.

Relation to the anthology manuscript

This series is a web version of the anthology manuscript Rumah di Batang Nibun. The anthology manuscript contains more detailed source notes, a glossary, a list of narrators with citation terms, and an appendix of data limitations.

For academic and archival purposes, refer to the anthology manuscript. For general readers, use this series.