'Now we know shame': Malu and Stigma among Highlanders in the Papuan Diaspora

Abstract

Prior to colonialism and Christianity, Dani societies clearly knew shame in their own ways. Yet among young people with whom I lived in North Sulawesi and Papua, assertions that Dani people now experience themselves as malu, the Indonesian term for embarrassed, humiliated, ashamed, or shy, in a host of novel contexts and encounters held sway even as it contrasted sharply with their private behaviour and usual confidence among Papuan highlanders.