`Lords of the Garden' portrays Korowai's dark image

By Amir Sidharta

JAKARTA (JP): Lords of the Garden, a documentary about the Korowai, was aired on July 10 in the United States on the Arts and Entertainment (A&E) cable channel.

The film is based on a research expedition led by Paul Taylor, curator of Asian Ethnology at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C., to the tree house clusters of the Korowai in Irian Jaya.

The documentary focuses on aspects of the Korowai's way of life that revolves around the tree house and its surrounding environment. However, instead of presenting the film as a definitive volume on the Korowai, it is a work-in-progress of a scientist who is still trying to unravel the intricacies of their lifestyle.

As Taylor collects the data, he immediately shares his analysis and findings with the audience. The inclusion of the researcher within the film demystifies the role of the anthropologist. This method of communicating ethnographic information is more easily understood than that used in conventional anthropological documentaries.

Unfortunately, it seems that the producers insisted on stressing an exotic aspect of the Korowai, cannibalism, which according to Taylor's research was indeed practiced by the Korowai in the recent past.

Mysterious

The film's introduction portrays New Guinea as "a mysterious and dangerous place - a place of head-hunting and cannibalism." It presents the histories of lost explorers from the sixteenth century to Michael Rockefeller who disappeared in the Asmat region as recently as 1961. He was believed to have drowned or have been eaten by either crocodiles or cannibals.

Cannibalism takes up approximately twenty-five percent of the film but is mostly discussed near the end. Although Taylor would have preferred to downplay cannibalism in the film, he felt that it was based on reliable scientific research and therefore worthy of discussion. He says that "the exaggerated importance given to institutions like cannibalism and head-hunting... just encourages the idea that these people are so exotic, so different, so fierce, so inhuman, that we don't spend the time trying to understand why they are the way they are." His findings enable the audience to better understand the place of cannibalism in the life of the Korowai.

The expedition starts at Jayapura, the modern capital of Irian Jaya. On board two chartered airplanes, the members of the expedition reach Yaniruma, a tiny settlement established by Dutch missionaries in 1980 in the middle of the rain forest. From Yaniruma, they travel up the Eilanden River in dugout canoes for several days into the Korowai territory. Then, they leave the dugouts and trek into the interior to the Dayo clan tree house clusters.

Penthouse suite

They arrive at the down-river Dayo tree house cluster and Taylor climbs up a forty foot notched pole to reach the home of Yakob, the owner of the house. Reaching the top, he describes the atmosphere as, "comfortable. Lots of light. Lots of ventilation. It's a penthouse suite."

The tree house is the epitome of Korowai patrimony. Taylor emphasizes that Yakob always speaks of the children replacing their parents in the tree house cluster. "Our sons replace us," Yakob says, "when they grow up, they substitute and become Tuan Dusun (the Lords of the Garden)."

For the Korowai, the tree house symbolizes "the good life".

Yakob talks about the atmosphere and the views he experiences in the tree house. It's distance from the ground allows light to enter the house, reduces the damp cold, and offers better visibility compared to the forest floor.

The tree house is also a kind of fortress where they hide and defend themselves from their enemies. Yakob really wants his kids to live the tree house life.

One of the main goals of the expedition is to document the building of a Korowai tree house which are known to be among the highest in the world. Assured that the crew had no intention to move in, and that he would be able to live in it, Yakob willingly agreed to build a house in his garden. Because a tree house only lasts three to four years, it is frequently rebuilt.

During the construction process, Taylor was able to observe the Korowai's perception of the forest, and how they use it. When the crew inquired about the placement of the new tree house, one of the children said, "This soil is terrible. You'll never plant anything here," making it evident that the Korowai were not merely concerned about the location of the house itself, but also about the garden and the environment around it.

It takes nine days to build the tree house. As it is being constructed, the film shows the participation of the community; a crew of sixty-six men, women and children, all adept at their specific chores. Every Korowai is a master-builder of tree houses "that can soar as high as a six-story building." The magnificence of this house building endeavor is portrayed by using a vertical dolly camera ascending into the tree house through specially made openings.

Humor

As the tree house is being completed, more trees are cut in order to plant crops near the house. The conversations among the Korowai during the forest clearings are humorous. Yakob, afraid that the tree might fall toward the film crew, wants to tell them to move. However, Bilium is certain that "they've seen trees fall before, they should know what to do."

One evening, the sound of wailing announces the death of someone in the tree house cluster. The death of Amodo Dayo leads to a discussion about their beliefs. Yanofare says, "It is like wind. You can't see it... It's like dreaming and in your dream you see a path through the jungle."

If the path in your dream is clear all the way, and you keep going forward and arrive at an afterlife, that is death.

The film continues to follow the construction of the house. Three trees will become the supporting columns for the house while strips of cut sago leaves will become the house's roof shingles. The walls of the house are made of sago spathe, the base of the stem. Flooring is bark from another tree, pried in big sheets, and rolled on the floor. The notched-pole ladder used to reach the house is from a special tree which hardens after it is cut. Once the house is completed, Yakob and his wife move in.

Many aspects of Korowai life are strictly segregated by gender including the house. Consisting of three rooms, two dirt-lined fire pits, and two porches, the house is usually divided into separate equal living quarters. The men sleep in one room, the women in another, while space in the middle is for both sexes.

As a new family moves into a house, they "sound the sago spathes", beating the walls of the house in an enormous emotional release. This ritual is done not only when entering a new home, but also when returning home after a cannibal feast, a time when your home is like new and you go back to it a new person.

Cannibalism

Traveling to the upriver Dayo clan, Taylor manages to slowly gather more information about cannibalism. When talking about cannibalism, the Dayo associate it with what goes on beyond the pacification line, the other side of the Eilanden river, where the Bomwai clan live. However, they also talk about cannibalism as part of their past, "a shadow side of their own, at least, recent past."

Chief of Manggel explains that cannibalism was actually a punishment for those accused of committing serious crimes, such as murder or theft, including wife-stealing. He describes cannibalism as part of their justice system.

A graphic description of the ritual of cannibalism is presented along with a more subtle reenactment. The person indicted to be killed and eaten has his elbows tied behind his back and is brought to a small river. Encircling the convict they shoot him with an arrow. "Shoot him to where he would scream," they say. The victim would then be cut into six pieces, cooked, and later eaten.

Based on the abundance of detailed information from the interviews he conducted, Taylor personally finds it hard to believe that cannibalism has not been practiced here in the recent past. He concludes that the Korowai hesitate to talk about cannibalism, just as Americans would be reluctant to think of America as a death row culture. Similarly, it would be "very simplistic to think of Korowai culture as only cannibalistic, because it's much more than that." However, he says that cannibalism does have its place in Korowai society.

Taylor is excited about the new interpretation of cannibalism he has managed to obtain. "What is new is the aspect of cannibalism as a well-functioning example of how a complete criminal justice system in this area worked. That criminal justice system seems to have been very effective." He believes that it is a very significant discovery and is anxious to obtain more information.

Question

The Smithsonian documentary on the Korowai ends with the question of inevitable change. The narrator questions whether the sons of the Korowai will "be able to substitute for them, as Yakob says, or will this good life be gone by the time their children are grown?"

For Yakob, it is inconceivable that his children would not return to the tree house. He says, "I'd be happy if my children go to America or to Jakarta or anyplace faraway. They'll always come back here. Just look out from the tree house, how far can you see? There is so much light."

The tree house signifies a distinct Korowai identity and Yakob does not expect that to be modified or altered. "He expects his children to follow him as lords of this same garden," Taylor poetically concludes.

The documentary about the Korowai focuses on aspects of their way of life revolving around the tree house and its surrounds. It also stresses cannibalism, another aspect of the Korowai life, considered to help market the film. Nonetheless, the film's discussion, which offers Smithsonian researcher Paul Taylor's new interpretation about cannibalism, is hoped to demystify Irian Jaya's dark image as a mysterious and dangerous land of head- hunting and cannibalism.

Taylor also hopes that an Indonesian version will be prepared. However, this might not be as straight forward as one might think. While the presentation of the Smithsonian scientist as the central figure of the film diminishes the barrier between the exotic land of Irian and the American audience, the presence of the anthropologist may be perceived by some Indonesians as a symbol of foreign hegemony in scientific research.