Karawari carved crocodiles: From spirit-beings to museum artefacts

Abstract

The Karawari River region of East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea, is renowned for its lengthy, carved wooden crocodiles. These spirit-beings were kept in men’s houses and had an important role in headhunting and war expeditions, initiation rituals, hunting trips, and during periods of epidemics. Karawari people acted upon the world with and through them. They were also sought by art collectors and found their way into museums around the world. Following the arrival of the Catholic charismatic movement in December 1994 the last men’s houses in Ambonwari village were slowly abandoned as were the carved spirits hidden in them. The existence of these spirit-beings, however, has never been repudiated. In this article I examine an incident in which an outboard motor sank into a creek, and I seek an answer to the following question, posed in terms of Ambonwari cosmological mode of existence: How are the visible and invisible realms of carved spirit-crocodiles intertwined such that they can exist beyond their physical appearance?