Journal article
Five centuries of settlement dynamics and mobility in the Northern Raja Ampat Islands of West Papua
- Abstract:
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We explore changes to settlement and mobility in the northern Raja Ampat Islands (Waigeo, Gam, and Batanta) over the past five centuries, a time when speakers of several Austronesian languages were moving throughout the archipelago. The evidence shows: (1) some settlement relocations were rapid, occurring within a generation, while other settlements remained fixed for hundreds of years; and (2) there were numerous clan and family scale movements that led to high levels of intermarriage between language groups and settlements. The results demonstrate that far from being a place of stasis caught between the worlds of Maluku and New Guinea, Raja Ampat settlement and mobility were highly dynamic. This dynamism prompts us to rethink the relationship between today’s settlement locations, their language affiliations, and the meta-narratives about their recent population histories. We propose that the deeper past of Raja Ampat may have also been characterized by dynamic movement and social flux.
Abstrak Kami mengkaji perubahan permukiman dan mobilitas penduduk di Kepulauan Raja Ampat bagian utara (Waigeo, Gam, dan Batanta) selama lima abad terakhir, kurun waktu ketika penutur beberapa bahasa Austronesia berpindah ke seluruh nusantara. Bukti-bukti menunjukkan: (1) beberapa relokasi permukiman berlangsung cepat, terjadi dalam satu generasi, sementara ada permukiman lainnya berrtahan tidak pindah selama ratusan tahun; dan (2) banyaknya perpindahan suku dan keluarga telah mengakibatkan tingginya tingkat perkawinan campur antara penutur bahasa yang berbeda dan permukiman. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa wilayah tersebut tidak statis, meskipun terapit di antara wilayah Maluku dan Papua. Sebaliknya, perpindahan pemukiman dan mobilitas penduduk di Raja Ampat sangat dinamis. Dinamika ini membuat kita perlu memikirkan kembali hubungan antara lokasi pemukiman yang ada saat ini, afiliasi bahasa mereka, dan meta-narasi tentang sejarah penduduk akhir-akhir ini. Kami berpendapat bahwa di masa lalu wilayah Raja Ampat mungkin juga ditandai oleh pergerakan penduduk dan perubahan sosial yang sangat dinamis.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 6.2MB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1080/00223344.2024.2328015
Authors
+ British Academy
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- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/0302b4677
- Grant:
- PF19\100004
- SRG1920\100342
- Publisher:
- Routledge
- Journal:
- Journal of Pacific History More from this journal
- Volume:
- 59
- Issue:
- 4
- Pages:
- 427-467
- Publication date:
- 2024-05-23
- Acceptance date:
- 2024-02-21
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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1469-9605
- ISSN:
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0022-3344
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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1756830
- Local pid:
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pubs:1756830
- Deposit date:
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2024-03-06
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Gaffney et al.
- Copyright date:
- 2024
- Rights statement:
- © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis GroupThis is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribu-tion-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in anymedium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, orbuilt upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow theposting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
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