Heinrich Küper

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Heinrich Küper

Heinrich Küper (1888 in

adventurer who lived in the Solomon Islands
.

Biography

Küper lived in Gupuna village,

deserted. During World War I Küper was arrested by the British authorities of the Solomon Islands protectorate and was brought to Tulagi
. Very soon thereafter though, he was released after promising that he would not cooperate with the enemy.

Küper was married to a respected and influential local woman, Kafagamurirongo, and was the only aefaka (

white) who ever reached the arafa (high person) status within a Melanesian
community. His first child was born in 1917. Heinrich and Kafagamurirongo had a total of four children, three boys and a girl.

During his life in Owaraha he met

missionaries, whom he accused of breaking down the ancestral authority structures and bringing about a moral breakdown, as well as against all Overseas Chinese
traders, for he felt that non-traditional material possessions in the island context promoted greed and brought about conflict.

Even so, Küper insisted in observing Heiligabend (

Christmas eve) at his home every year with great pomp and solemnity, according to time-honored German tradition. Küper's Christmas celebrations in Owaraha included a special Christmas dinner attended by all islanders in full regalia, with presents for every guest. The meeting place was decorated matching the occasion and included as well a candle-lit Christmas tree Küper made himself using leaves and branches of local trees.[1]

In the late 1940s Küper opposed the Maasina Ruru liberation movement and denounced its members to the British authorities who swiftly arrested them. Not long afterwards Küper died in mysterious circumstances.

Legacy

After his death, Küper's fortune passed to his eldest son Geoffrey Küper, who later moved to Honiara. Both Geoffrey[2] and his father[3] were interested in ethnography, contributing with their work to the study of Solomon Island traditions.

Küper had introduced

christianized and opening to the market economy, Küper's influence having contributed to the prevailing acculturation
, rather than to his avowed goal of the preservation of the traditional culture.

Küper's children have all died, but his grandchildren and greatgrandchildren still live in the Solomon Islands, some in Honiara and others in Owaraha.[4]

References

  1. ^ Hugo A. Bernatzik, Südsee- Expedition in die Südsee (Solomon, Papua & Trobriand) 1944
  2. ^ Geoffrey Küper, An initiation Ceremony in the British Solomon Islands, The Native Medical Practitioner 2(4), pp. 387–98. 1937.
  3. ^ Heinrich Küper, Tapitapi or the tattoing of Females on Santa Ana, Santa Catalina, Journal of Polynesian studies 10, pp. 1–5. 1926.
  4. Journal de la Société des Océanistes
    ISSN 0300-953X

External links

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