Inventing Papua

Papuan culture on sale at the Hamadi art market in Jayapura (Iskandar Nugroho collection)

Iskandar Nugroho wrote a very interesting research on the role of non Papuan of the manufacturing Papuan tradition. Nugroho said that the representations of Papuan culture produced by the traders from South Sulawesi don’t just satisfy the needs of tourists for objects that symbolise their experience of Papua. These objects may be inauthentic, but they have helped create a sense of identity amongst urban Papuans.

If only Papuan and non-Papuan in the peaceful land of Papua work together to develop our motherland then most of the problem will go. Papua is not solely a problem of separatism but also a cultural understanding that has been in silence for many years. Please read the article of Inventing Papua in Inside Indonesia for further understanding.

Papua to hold Lake Sentani Festival in July

Source : ANTARA 

The Papua Tourism Office was slated to hold the Lake Sentani Festival here on July 16-19 to support the annual Lembah Baliem Festival in Jayawijaya District in August, 2008.

“The Lake Sentani Festival will be held as an effort to protect the culture of the Jayapura District, mainly in the Sentani Lake area,” Head of the Papua Tourism Office Elly Weror said on Saturday.

Koteka

Koteka is one of our unique traditional protector of male genital. Modern society may see koteka as uncivilised  traditional clothing that should be vanished from the world. However, koteka is one of our identity, at least in the perspective of the development of tribesmen in the land of Papua. We might transform our clothing into modern style, but we would never forget our identity.

Here is a short explanation of koteka: