1. Papua New Guinea: Primitive Portrait

    Posted in: Videos on Saturday, February 4th, 2012

    papua new guinea 1986

    Leaving the comforts of home and the security of the familiar to explore the unknown deep in the jungles of Papua New Guinea, where encounters with cannibals were all but assured, was once a common plot line in adventure movies.  The believability of these fictional tales was enhanced by the occasional true story of an explorer or missionary killed by some isolated tribe that was previously unknown to the outside world.  But the real source of suspense for any journey into the highlands of New Guinea was the documented evidence of tribes practicing cannibalism well into the second half of the 20th century.

    I first visited Papua New Guinea in 1986.  By then the outside world had penetrated most regions of this island nation.  But in some places the 20th century had only the slightest toehold.  In one village I saw a man wearing a Michael Jackson tee shirt standing next to another man wearing a penis gourd.  Traditions versus modernity, a story that’s played out again and again in many cultures, but one that in New Guinea seemed to cover a great chasm in a shorter time frame than in most other places.

    This video shows the conflict between old and new.  It’s part one of a five part series I did for the Today Show in ’86.  I would phrase some of my commentary a little differently today, but back then we called it a Primitive Portrait.  I though of that trip this week when interviewing Mark Jenkins for my radio show, “National Geographic Weekend.”   Mark wrote the article in the current issue of “National Geographic Magazine”  about one of the last nomadic, cave dwelling tribes in new Guinea and their struggle to survive as traditional hunter gatherers.

    In another twenty-five years will anyone in Papua New Guinea still be living the way they were when I was there twenty-five years ago, other than in villages setup to entertain tourists?  Should they be?  Should we expect any group of people to remain frozen in time, isolated from the schools and clinics, and tools, and conveniences’ that make life easier, and healthier?  No, I think change has come and will continue to come even to the last isolated holdouts.  The real question is, will it happen too fast, will they be overwhelmed and lose any sense of who they are and their sense of place in their world?

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