Dani people

The Dani people, also spelled Ndani, and sometimes conflated with the Lani group to the west, are a people from the central highlands of western New Guinea (the Indonesian province of Papua).

Dani people
Ndani people / Parim
Total population
Approximately 220,000
Regions with significant populations
 Indonesia (Papua (province))
Languages
Dani languages, Indonesian language
Religion
Protestant Christian (predominantly), Islam, Animism, Dynamism (metaphysics), Totemism
Related ethnic groups
Damal people, Yali people, Lani people, Moni people

They are one of the most populous tribes in the highlands, and are found spread out through the highlands. The Dani are one of the best-known ethnic groups in Papua, due to the relatively numerous tourists who visit the Baliem Valley area where they predominate. "Ndani" is the name given to the Baliem Valley people by the Moni people, and, while they do not call themselves Dani, they have been known as such since the 1926 Smithsonian Institution-Dutch Colonial Government expedition to New Guinea under Matthew Stirling who visited the Moni.[1]

Language

Linguists identify at least four sub-groupings of Dani languages:

  • Lower-Grand Valley Dani (20,000 speakers)
  • Mid-Grand Valley Dani (50,000 speakers)
  • Upper-Grand Valley Dani (20,000 speakers)
  • and the Lani or Western Dani (180,000 speakers)

The Dani languages differentiate only two basic colours, mili for cool/dark shades such as blue, green, and black, and mola for warm/light colours such as red, yellow, and white. This trait makes it an interesting field of research for language psychologists, e.g. Eleanor Rosch, eager to know whether there is a link between way of thought and language.

First contact

A small fringe group of the Dani, living south of Puncak Trikora and presenting themselves as the Pesegem and the Horip tribes, were met on 29 October 1909, by the Second South New Guinea Expedition led by Hendrikus Albertus Lorentz, who stayed several nights in their village. First contact with the populous Western Dani was made in October 1920 during the Central New Guinea Expedition, which group of explorers stayed for six months with them at their farms in the upper Swart River Valley (now Toli Valley). The Grand Valley Dani were only sighted in the summer of 1938 from an airplane by Richard Archbold.

The Dani people are one of the most populated tribes of West Papua, and today number over 220.000 people. Around 100.000 of these live in the grand Baliem valley, the rest of them to the north, south and west. The Dani people neighbour the Yali, Nduga- and Damal people. There is one city in the Baliem valley, Wamena, that is a strange mix between Papuan and Indonesian society.

The first white people to live among the Dani were John and Helen Dekker,[2] under whose ministry the Christian population among the Dani grew from 0 to 13,000.[3]

Culture

Sweet potatoes are important in their local culture, being the most important tool used in bartering, especially in dowries. Likewise pig feasts are extremely important to celebrate events communally; the success of a feast, and that of a village big man (man of influence) or organiser, is often gauged by the number of pigs slaughtered.

The Dani use an earth oven method of cooking pig and their staple crops such as sweet potato, banana, and cassava. They heat some stones in a fire until they are extremely hot, then wrap cuts of meat and pieces of sweet potato or banana inside banana leaves. The food package is then lowered into a pit which has been lined with some of the hot stones described above, the remaining hot stones are then placed on top, and the pit is covered in grass and a cover to keep steam in. After a couple of hours the pit is opened and the food removed and eaten. Pigs are too valuable to be served regularly, and are reserved for special occasions only.

Ritual small-scale warfare between rival villages is integral to traditional Dani culture, with much time spent preparing weapons and treating resulting injuries. Typically the emphasis in battle is to insult the enemy and wound or kill token victims, as opposed to capturing territory or property or vanquishing the enemy village.

Changes in the Dani way of life over the past century are tied to the encroachment of modernity and globalization, despite tourist brochures describing trekking in the highlands with people from the 'Stone Age'. Observers have noted that pro-independence and anti-Indonesian sentiment tends to run higher in highland areas than for other areas of Papua. There are cases of abuses where Dani and other Papuans have been shot and/or imprisoned trying to raise the flag of West Papua, the Morning Star.[4][5]

Ethnographic studies

In 1961, as a member of the Harvard-Peabody study, filmmaker Robert Gardner began recording the Dani of the Baliem River Valley. In 1965, he created the film Dead Birds from this experience. Gardner emphasizes the themes of death and people-as-birds in Dani culture. "Dead birds" or "dead men" are terms the Dani use for the weapons and ornaments taken from the enemy during battle (wim). These trophies are displayed during the two-day dance of victory (edai) after an enemy is killed.

Michael Rockefeller, son of future vice-president of the United States Nelson Rockefeller, was a member of the Harvard-Peabody study and involved in the production of Dead Birds. While conducting further research on the Asmat people elsewhere in New Guinea, Michael Rockefeller disappeared. His body was never found.

References
  1. Jennifer Bensley, 1994 The Dani church of Irian Jaya and the challenges it is facing today Archived 10 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Chapter 1, p.17-18
  2. Felming, Ann-Marie (1 February 2000). "Indonesia is calling for Montrose missionary". Montrose Daily Press. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  3. "Support John Dekker". Partners International. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  4. "Warning shots in Indonesia's Papua, one dead". 9 August 2008. Retrieved 30 July 2020 – via www.reuters.com.
  5. May, Ronald (23 March 2009). "Oppression still rife in West Papua". Brisbane Times. Retrieved 30 July 2020.

Further reading
  • Gardner, Robert. (1968). Gardens of War: Life and Death in the New Guinea Stone Age. New York: Random House.
  • Heider, Karl G. (1970). The Dugum Dani: A Papuan Culture in the Highlands of West New Guinea. Aldine Publishing.
  • Heider, Karl G. (1996). Grand Valley Dani: Peaceful Warriors (Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology). Wadsworth Publishing (3rd ed.).
  • Matthiessen, Peter. (1962). Under the Mountain Wall: A Chronicle of Two Seasons in Stone Age New Guinea. Viking Press. ISBN 978-0-14-025270-5
  • Monbiot, George. (1989). Poisoned Arrows: An Investigative Journey Through Indonesia. Abacus ISBN 0-7181-3153-3
  • Zuckoff, Mitchell. (2011). Lost in Shangri-La: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II. Harper ISBN 978-0-06-198834-9
  • Arbay, Evi Aryati (2014). "Dani The Highlander (Manusia Pegunungan)". Self Publisher by Evi Aryati Arbay. ISBN 978-1-78280-317-1 (UK), ISBN 978-602-70671-0-3 (Indonesia)
  • Park, Michael Allen (2014) "Peaceful Warriors and Cannibal Farmers" in Introducing Anthropology an Integrated Approach (New York: McGraw Hill)14:343 ISBN 978-0-07-803506-7
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