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Description
INTRODUCTION
This article is concerned with examining some of the complex reasons why Gogodala men in Western Province do not consider themselves emasculated by the process of colonialism. While experiences and understandings of colonial contact, pacification, Christian conversion and development vary considerably from place to place, a discourse has emerged that emphasises the dramatic, and often abrupt, ways in which local masculine capacities were challenged during this time. Although in most cases local men actively participated in these changes, and there is evidence of continuities in 'traditional' activities, colonial changes have compromised and diminished, if not replaced, the efficacy of many past male beliefs and practices. For many men in Papua New Guinea, therefore, colonialism and modernity have been discussed in terms of emasculation and a range of negative experiences including feelings of inferiority, subordination, bodily detumescence and dependency (see Herdt 1981, 1987; Clark 1992; Brison 1995; Kulick 1993; Lattas 1992; Tuzin 1997; Knauft 2002). (1)
In what she calls 'the malaise of modernity', Jolly (2001:195) discusses the concern that colonialism and conversion to Christianity, including the end of male cults, diminished and disrupted local practices and gendered relations and that many Melanesian traditionalists consider this as 'having undesirable corporeal effects'. After a patrol post was established among the Wiru of the Southern Highlands, for example, men were made to feel inferior. As a result, Wiru men came to believe their bodies were 'physically shrinking' leaving them 'lacking in ways to socially constitute their masculinity' (Clark 1989:19). In East Sepik Province, Tuzin (1997) writes about the complexities that confronted the Ilahita community as they accepted Christianity and rejected the male Tambaran cult. He laments the 'death of masculinity' for the Arapesh-speaking Ilahita village, when the Tambaran ideology was dramatically exposed and, consequently, died; '[t]he traditional grounds of male solidarity and association were obliterated', and 'masculine identity, purpose, and agency died with it' (Tuzin 1997:33). (2) At different times, and in different ways, Christian missions played significant roles in many of these experiences. As Clark (1989:121) notes for the Wiru, in addition to pacification and administrative changes, the area was subject to an intense program of proselytization from a range of mainline, fundamentalist and evangelical missions, groups and sects (Clark 1989:121).
In contributing to this discourse, of what I call the 'malaise of masculinity', this article argues that the Gogodala experience of colonial contact and missionisation did not diminish men's bodily and social capacities. In 1890, the administrator of British New Guinea, Sir William MacGregor, convened a conference of Methodist, Anglican and London Missionary Society (LMS) representatives where a 'gentlemen's agreement' was reached, to avoid conflict, and the Papuan area divided into respective 'spheres of influence'. (3) Although the LMS were responsible for the south coast region they struggled to establish a presence in what is now Western Province, and, in 1931, the Unevangelized Fields Mission (UFM) became the first 'faith mission' to enter Papua and begin work in the lower Fly River area. Unlike the main Christian denominations, '[t]he principle behind faith missions was to live without appeals for funds, relying on self-support and the power of prayer for God to supply all needs' (Garrett 1997:38). In their historical study of South African missionisation, Comaroff and Comaroff (1991:54) write 'that the missionary encounter must be regarded as a two-sided historical process; as a dialectic that takes into account the social and cultural endowments of, and the consequences for, all the actors--missionaries no less than Africans'. (4) Acknowledging this, I discuss some of the specific qualities of the early UFM missionaries, analysing the importance of their working-class backgrounds and ascetic and austere approach to evangelisation. I demonstrate that it was their favouring of physical strength over theological knowledge, a practice commonly known as muscular Christianity, which appealed to Gogodala ideas about work, strength and dala ela gi, the male way of life.
In 2003, the last missionaries were tearfully farewelled from Balimo after seventy years of commitment. Despite a disgruntled element in the community concerned about the leadership of the mission-established Evangelical Church of Papua New Guinea (ECPNG), over ninety percent of the 25000 Gogodala called themselves Christian at that time (see Dundon 2002a). From the beginning, the mission plan was to leave after the local church became established and, after nearly forty years, the ECPNG was inaugurated in 1966. When the mission departed, they left educated and experienced Gogodala men in all levels of leadership in the church, and many community leaders credit the mission, and particularly the education system, for their success. For example, the current Governor of Western Province, Dr Bob Tawa Danaya, is the son of the most revered pastor ever to lead the ECPNG. One of the most celebrated aspects of the mission's relationship with the Gogodala, however, was the establishment of a Bible school and the defining role played by Gogodala men and women who served as missionaries to other areas of PNG. These local missionaries were respected for teaching the Gogodala way of life, ela gi, to other people as part of the process of introducing them to Christianity. Through an analysis of the UFM approach to evangelism, I propose that it was the attributes of the predominantly Australian staffed mission, and their uniqueness as the first faith based organization in PNG, that enabled Gogodala men to engage their project and actively participate in the decision making process.
Before I discuss the UFM's role from 1934, however, I examine contemporary accounts of Gogodala 'first contact' with the colonial administration in 1900 to both contextualise the arrival of the mission and to explain how current definitions of dala ela gi, the male way of life, are intimately associated with events of that time. The events and stories surrounding 'first contact' experiences between indigenous people and Europeans have been the subject of anthropological inquiry for some time. (5) First contact encounters in PNG were mostly instigated, controlled and policed by Europeans, particularly in their role as explorers and patrol officers. (6) Although James Chalmers of the LMS established contact with some Gogodala on the lower Fly River in 1898, colonial contact with the majority of villages 40 kms inland, near the Aramia River, did not occur until late August 1900. Unlike most PNG first encounter experiences, however, the Gogodala issued an invitation to the colonial administration to visit the area. Contemporary narratives tell of a tall and powerful man called Sosola, the leader from Balimo village, who invited Murray to visit in 1900. In the following section, I analyse colonial reports of this event and discuss contemporary accounts that articulate the place that Sosola has within local conceptualisations of dala ela gi.
A POWERFUL AND RENOWNED CHIEF
There are approximately 25000 Gogodala living in 33 villages and town areas located along the Aramia River and extending forty kilometres south to the lower Fly River, near the south coast of Western Province. Rivers, swamps, lagoons and creeks define the floodplain environment and dugout canoes are a crucial part of life. While the Fly River area became part of the British New Guinea protectorate in 1884, due to its remoteness from Port Moresby and difficult environment, it received limited development opportunities and little contact with government patrols and missionaries. The first European contact for the Gogodala came in the form of Reverend James Chalmers of the London Missionary Society (LMS), when he began holding church services at Gaima on the lower Fly River in 1898. Due to Chalmers' death at Goaribari Island in 1901, however, a LMS station was never established at Gaima. First contact for several Gogodala villages inland near the Aramia River did not occur until 1900 when the Resident Magistrate of Western Division, C. G. Murray, made contact with several Gogodala villages, including Mida, Baia, Waligi, Balimo and Dogono. A colonial account, however, reports that Murray 'heard of many villagers living inland from the Fly, and received through the medium of the Daumiri chief a message from a powerful and renowned chief named Sosora [Sosola] that he heard much of the Government and would like to receive a visit from it' (Beaver 1920:190).
Sosola's authority in bringing the colonial administration to the area is still remembered and celebrated throughout the Gogodala area. After receiving a message from Sosola, C. G. Murray made a trip to the area with officers of the colonial administration of British New Guinea. The following colonial report describes the event.
At Barimo [Balimo], over twenty miles inland he met Sosora [Sosola] the chief who sent him the message, a fine, tall middle-aged man with a keen-looking face. Sosora, of course, received the party hospitably, but there was much excitement at the first. Murray was anxious to proceed still further inland, but everybody swore that this was the last village in the district ... Murray, however, persisted in his inquiries, and at last Sosora [Sosola] taking pity on him remarked that he had just remembered that there was one more village called Dogona [Dogono], but it was a very long distance away. A march of two hours brought the party to the place. The people were taken by surprise and at once prepared for a fight. For a time the position looked doubtful. The Government party consisted of but seven or eight, two men having been left with the camp and carriers at Barimo, while the population of Dogono must have been six or seven hundred. Sosora, however, stalked up to the door of the great-house, and striking on the post with a new tomahawk just given to him evidently harangued the people to some good purpose, for men, women and children came tumbling out in their eagerness to make friends with the police and to shake hands ... There was no doubt about the good impression produced by the trip. All the people faithfully promised to refrain from fighting and to obey the Government (Beaver 1920:190-191). (7)
In this colonial narrative, Sosola is characterized as a 'powerful and renowned chief', capable of mediating between the colonial administration and Gogodala... |
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