Oral Ecologies of Papua: Myth, Mantra, and Indigenous Governance

Abstract

This article examines Papuan oral traditions as biocultural archives in which myths, mantras, laments, origin narratives, and print-mediated Indigenous stories regulate relations among humans, ancestors, forests, rivers, animals, bodies, and customary authority. Using a curated 34-record corpus on local wisdom and oral traditions from Moy/Moi, Bira/Inanwatan, Waropen, Tobati, Teminabuan, Kanum Sota, Asmat, Dani, Marind, Sentani, and broader Papuan communities, the study combines qualitative content analysis with close cultural-pragmatic reading. The analysis shows that 30 records remain primarily oral, three are print-mediated, and one exists as mixed oral-written documentation. Two genre clusters dominate the corpus: myth/sacred origin narratives and ritual speech/chant/lament, each with 12 records. Rather than treating oral literature as moral ornament, the article argues that Papuan verbal traditions operate as ecological jurisprudence, therapeutic semiotics, identity law, and gendered critique. The findings identify four interlocking mechanisms: place-based prohibition, ancestral legitimation, ritual repair, and mediated Indigenous modernity. The article contributes a data-grounded model of Papuan oral ecologies that links language, cultural memory, environmental ethics, and Indigenous governance.