The Wik-mungkan concept Nganwi: a study of mystical power and sickness in an Australian tribe

Abstract

As my title indicates, this article is concerned with the Wik-mungkan concept nganwi. The Wik-mungkan are located at Aurukun, on the west coast of Cape York Peninsula, Northern Queensland, Australia. Nganwi is used, for example, to refer to a man's unseen child, sickness, initiation ceremonies, and a child's first teeth, but its basic reference is to Taipan, the Rainbow Serpent, and to Taipan's menses. Readers familiar with Edmund Leach's article 'Kimil: A Category of Andamanese Thought' (Leach 1971) may be struck by some similarities between the terms Kimil and Nganwi. Thus both terms are used in connection with illness and initiation. Leach employs a structuralist interpretation to unravel the meaning of Kimil. My own interpretation could hardly be described as structuralist. Nevertheless I hope it will be conceded that I have shed some light on the concept nganwi. In what follows I shall describe some mystical powers and sicknesses.