Mana in Motion. A journey to learn about mana among Biak people

Abstract

This is not quite a conventional thesis. Here we are not focusing on presenting the results but on sharing with you the process. A learning process that has been guided by many voices. These voices are multiple. Are the voices of all the teachers encountered in this journey that has brought me closer to different Knowledge Traditions, of which mainly three of them I intend to put in dialogue here, in order to learn through different angles and learn about diverse ways of being, knowing and being in the world (action, relation, co-becoming). It is also not a conventional thesis since is composed of two modes of presentation related to each other, film and written text, and each, at the same time, are a weft of various voices active in this conversation, which is a meta-conversation in itself. In this exercise the attempt is to put three different Knowledge Traditions, Academia, Maseualtamachilis (Maseual Knowledge) and Fawawi Byak (Biak Knowledge), into dialogue with each other, in order to deepen our understanding of core cosmoexistential values such as mana; this Exercise/Experiment is the focus of the story presented here. In this learning process, I applied the Antropologia Compartida approach, which puts in play a participative research dynamic between researcher and community members, as recognized experts and active participants of their own Knowledge Tradition. Through this participative approach, a dialogue of knowledges is established, and research is shaped by two interacting agencies, creating the ground for an Antropologia Compartida. As part of this shared experience, I was asked by the community of Mandori, in Numfor Island, Tanah Papua, to produce a documentary to "say to the world, here we are, and this is who we are". This opportunity to create something together led to the gestation of the documentary film, 'Biak knowledge, Biak voice', which now lies at the heart of this research. Show more