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by Bernard Narokobi by Lise M Dobrin Yəhələgɨr, Wautogig’s founding father Why Yəhələgɨr had to seek a new home in new lands About Yəhələgɨr's wife's people, on whose lands he settled The places where Yəhələgɨr and his wife made their new home Yəhələgɨr befriends a man from Walanduom and creates lasting ties between their two villages Why Meliawi fled Kwangen How Meliawi and Yəhələgɨr met Meliawi and Yəhələgɨr learn to trust one another The former inhabitants of the lands where Wautogig was founded The clans that make up the village How Wautogig’s tribes are distributed over the land Description of the present-day village site Things that happened during the early colonial period How Anton Narokobi brought the Catholic church to the village The villagers’ earliest forays into schooling outside the village and work in trained occupations Key figures in the first generation of Wautogigem to advance through higher education Further discussion of Wautogig’s many educated, professional, and important men Important women from the earliest generations About women from Narokobi's mother's generation Women of modern times, with special focus on those who married in What the villagers experienced during the Second World War The return home and establishing of a new unified village site How the Wautogigem came to occupy their current village site Reflections on the village churches as both buildings and social institutions How land is owned and passed on Gardening, marketing, and the planting of cash crops Public presentations of wealth to other communities The words, actions, and histories of village song-dance complexes Traditional games and how they were played Expectations about the relations between men and women |
Chapter 3: BoduitemThe Boduitem are the people of Boduit creek which runs from the north to the south, joining Gədəgəp creek before it joins the Urieb river. Urieb enters the Hawain river system, discharging into Bismarck Sea and the islands of Yuwo, Muschu and Kariru in the great Pacific Ocean. The Beiduokɨm or Peiruom were Boikin language speakers and the Boduitem people were Arapesh or Buki speakers. At the time of Wautogig’s founding, there were other people already in that region. Between the Boduit creek and the Məbəm River, there was another nation of Buki speakers known as Warepim. They occupied the upper ridges of Məbəm River, bordering Kotai to the northwest and the Yeminip-Womowia and the Kubɨren people to the northwest. The Urieb ridges and the northern ridges of Məbəm south of Kogounit creek were occupied by Beiduokɨm people, while the lands farther north, towards the coast, were occupied by the Walanduoms.1 The Savakun Wambia and Womagaps share borders with the Kwangen people and the Humunduo people to the east.2 Inland from Dogur village the land was occupied by Bogumatai people and a small nomadic group called the Coduokum. The Coduokum occupied the Yəhərəgi-Poiya ridges, while the Bogumatais occupied Gluia country. The people of Gluia village were known as Gluiaim.3 Thus, at the time that Yəhələgɨr moved to Dagububu, he followed his wife’s people, the Boduitem. There was no village called Wautogig and no nation of people called Wautogigem. The Wautogigem, until a generation before the Pacific War, were a part of Kotai nation. |
NOTES 1 Jacob Sonin disagrees that the Beiduokɨm owned this land. He asserts that it belongs to another line of people called Sereibɨs. Listen. 2 Homunduo is the Boikin name. Kumundu is the Arapesh name.Listen. 3 Jacob Sonin offers another version of these events. He says this is not about the movements of Yəhələgɨr. It is a story from Bogumatai. Listen. |