Kwaio people
Total population | |
---|---|
13,200 in 1999 | |
Regions with significant populations | |
ancestor worship | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Other Malaitan peoples |
Kwaio is an ethnic group found in central
Their main mode of economic activity was traditionally subsistence farming of
Kwaio settlement was traditionally in very small settlements dotted close together. Missionary activity, predominantly in coastal areas, has encouraged the growth of larger settlements.
According to oral tradition, the land was first cleared 1200 to 2000 years ago. The tracts cleared at this time are marked by shrines, and in effect established title for the clans descended
Kwaio have been more resistant than other nearby peoples in the continuation of their beliefs. The traditional religion is a form of
Kwaio were first brought into contact with the outside world in 1868, when two men were taken from their canoe, and then returned bearing steel tools, novelty items, and stories about their experience. Within a small amount of time, many young Kwaio sought the adventures, and were brought to sugarcane plantations in
The efforts of the Australian District Officer William R. Bell were to pacify the area and establish means to collect a head tax, and capitulate to the British colonial regime. On his fifth annual tax collection, in October 1927, he was killed, along with one other white man and 13 Solomon Islanders in his charge. A massive punitive expedition, known as the Malaita massacre ensued; at least 60 people were killed,[4] and nearly 200 detained in Tulagi (the then capital), where 30 further died from dysentery and other problems.[5] Furthermore, relatives of the slain Solomon Islanders sought spiritual revenge by the deliberate desecration of sacred sites and objects, which is seen by surviving elders as the origin of many of the struggles the people have suffered in recent times, including epidemics, the breakdown of traditional morality, and the Taro leaf blight.[6] Kwaio culture was greatly transformed, but after several years was able to regain its traditional practices and social structure. However, there is more personal independence for younger people and blood feuding is no longer practiced.
Notes
- ^ a b Kwaio language at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
- ^ Keesing, 28.
- ^ Keesing, 16-18.
- ^ Keesing and Corris, 178.
- ^ Keesing and Corris, 184.
- ^ Keesing and Corris, 202-203
References
- Roger M. Keesing. Kwaio Religion. New York: Columbia University Press, 1982.
- Roger M. Keesing and Peter Corris. Lightning Meets the West Wind: The Malaita Massacre. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1980.
External links
- Roger M. Keesing Collection, UC San Diego Library.