Paul Pepa
Chanted tales from Highland New Guinea:
a comparative study of oral performance traditions and their role in contemporary land politics
Across a broad, east-west band within Highland Papua New Guinea (see Map below), there are ways of telling stories which make use of special intonational and rhythmic patterns different from those of ordinary speech. Often dealing with relationships between people and land, these sung narratives or ‘chanted tales’ are a highly valued cultural resource. During 2003-2006 those performance genres were the subject of a research project based at Australian National University and funded by the Australian Research Council. The project brought together an interdisciplinary team of investigators to analyse the wide range of styles in which the sung tales are performed, and further the understanding of their implications for cross-cultural study of verbal art and the politics of land ownership in present-day Papua New Guinea.
Paulus Konts
Teya Hiyawi
Senior researchers on the project included:
- linguistic anthropologist Alan Rumsey (ANU), working in the Ku Waru region towards the eastern end of the project area;
- anthropologist Nicole Haley (ANU), working in the Duna region near the western end of the project area;
- ethnomusicologist Don Niles (Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies), working on the comparative musicological aspects of the project.
There were also two ANU research scholars who did extensive field research in association with the project and have since completed their PhDs on related topics:
- linguist Lila San Roque, studying the Duna language;
- ethnomusicologist Kirsty Gillespie, studying Duna musical genres including pikono chanted tales;
Other researchers who have worked in association with the project include:
- anthropologist Laurence Goldman who works with the Huli people of the Southern Highlands;
- musician/composer/musicologist Michael Sollis, who wrote a prize-winning BA honors thesis on Duna pikono
- anthropologist Anna Lockwood, who has done some work with the Bogaia at the far western end of the project area;
- anthropologist Jessica Kemp, who has done some work with the Hewa in the northwestern part of the project area.
The project is continuing in an informal way, and our write-up of the results is ongoing, with two books in preparation and other new publications continuing to appear. For details of these and other publications on New Guinea Highland sung narratives, see bibliography.
Project area
(click map to enlarge)
