Ongka's Big Moka Film

Ongka's Big Moka Film -Kawelka tribe in Papua New Guinea (The Highlands) -Ongka is assembling a gift for his tribe, more important than anything in his life -Perowa is the big man of the tribe who Ongkas gift is for -gift consisted of 500-600 pigs, money, rare birds, truck, maybe a motorbike, tubes of decorating oil -Moka = gift, most important thing in the lives of the highland people -Only by giving can Ongka earn fame and status for himself and his tribe, must outdo his fellow men in the size of gift he gives -Big men have no authority over tribesmen -Ongka cannot order people around, he can only persuade, he gives them motivational speeches/adivce about how they need to be working on the moka not eating the pigs themselves -tribe is only about 1000 people w/ no villages, just scattered plots of land -Date of the moka is a problem, big men compete for the status of being able to select the date -Ongka lives in his men’s house, 5 mins away from his favorite wife, he has 4 wives and 9 children, one of which(wife = Rumbuca, looks after 8-10 pigs on her own) looks after his pigs -Ongka believes pigs are the only thing of value, they keep them going/rely on them for everything (paying troubles, getting wives, etc) without pigs youre a nobody -Cassowary: rare birds that ongka wants to give as part of his moka -Sweet potatoes are the basic food for both pigs and people -All the foods and materials you use come from the forest and garden and pig is only eaten on special occasions -You cannot hoard large numbers of pigs bc you cannot look after them so instead you give them away in smaller mokas until at the end you can assemble them and give them away in a large showing of your wealth -Undamba= Ongka’s father in law (Rumbucas dad) invested w/ Ongka in pigs so that they can produce a bigger moka -In the past the people would just kill each other and then give pigs to pay off their actions to those angered by them -Moka gifts are given and must be repaid with interest, so they are not really voluntary they are compulsory -Ongka’s tribe was gifted 400 pigs in the past so now he wants to repay with 600 pigs -To organize such an amount he must “push” his fellow tribesman to contribute their pigs, he has no actual authority over them so he must convince them by telling them to stop wasting their time essentially (he goes and yells at them), but he must be wary of pushing too hard -Smaller mokas are given to contribute to the big moka -Mokas sometimes contain money (australian dollars) which is earned by selling coffee -Ongka is a big man and he must defeat (by giving a speech) the rivals who challenge him for status at the smaller mokas so that he can retain his status as the person who gets to pick the date of the moka - Ongka would feel very ashamed if he failed bc he would be seen as a man who doesnt keep promises -While ongka was away, a big man in his enemy tribe died suddenly, if a big man dies suddenly it is always viewed as an act of sorcery by the enemy of that man, therefore the enemy tribe led a charge into Ongkas village bc they believed he was responsible for killing their big man -In order to prove he was not at fault, Ongka sent a pig with a special branch to the funeral, this only smoothed over the accusation and did not get rid of the suspicion entirely -This sort of payment of pigs for deaths is sometimes what initially starts the exchange of Moka -More pigs = more work and need for more sweet potatoes, so Ongka sometimes takes another wife so she can work -More pigs brings with it also more pressure to pass them on -If Rumbuca fails to feed the pigs she is viewed as rubbish -Moka isnt just about pigs, its about keeping the peace, making a name for youself, and holding the tribe together. Moka is a system/framework that the society operates under. -After gathering everything he needed, Palewa came to accept Ongkas moka and ongka says if he does not one day return his investment he will slit his throat, but even if he doesnt ongka still has the glory of having given then gift -Just before the big moka was to be given, Ryma ( ongkas rival) came and said that he was the one who killed the rival tribes big man with sorcery. The next day that tribe showed up in a war charge that prevented the Moka from happening that day -Ongka tried to stop the fighting with a speech trying to persuade them bc he had no real power to stop them -Pelewa had to return home before the big moka could even be given -Eventually, Ongkas big moka did happen 600 pigs, 10000 dollars, 8 cows, and some cassowaries