Papua Coming of Age: The Cycle of Man’s Civilisation and Two Other Papuan Histories

The after-lives of no arrival: How Papuans make their lives matter

“…The issue emphasizes the ways in which Black feminist thought has embodied a sense of time beyond crisis, something that this article's empirical engagement with Jayapura intends to illustrate. This is in line with the symbolic versatility of Papuan collective imaginaries, their recourse to narratives that situate themselves in a larger world of operations, that continuously re-territorialize Papua as the site of an originary time (Timmer, 2015).…”

Countering imperialism: two intersecting anthropologies of Papuan histories

“…Playing with the idea that Papua once was part of Kingdom of Sriwijaya and the Kingdom of Majapahit, Reverend Onim of the village of Wersar produced an alternative history for the region whereby he re-authors Papuan identity. As I describe elsewhere, the mention of Papua in Nagarakṛtāgama , the 14th century eulogy to the monarch of the Majapahit Empire, indicates that Papua has a special relationship with Java (Timmer, 2015). It is for that reason, Onim suggests, that Papua’s sovereignty should be recognised by Jakarta if Indonesian state sovereignty can be founded on the basis of the history of ancient kingdoms then .…”

“…the current government should logically recognise Papua as sovereign because it featured as an acknowledged sovereign region in the past. (Timmer, 2015, p. 111)…”

Gender struggles of educated men in the Papuan highlands

“…In Indonesia, religious piety is widely promoted as a modern attribute, and adhering to a world religion is a necessary facet of citizenship, though conservative religious views inscribe gender hierarchies in marriage and family life more generally. Through religion Papuans are connected to other global moderns, and in theory religions promote claims to equality that may otherwise be difficult to come by in Papua (Slama 2015;Timmer 2015).…”