Photo: Anoek de Groot
By Jeroen Overweel
The article in NRC Handelsblad (28-8-2010) newspaper is called “Razors in apples” and is about so-called urban legends in the United States. American researcher Patricia Turner collects them and tries to find out meaning and function. What she tells about it can be transferred easily to the Papuan situation.
Both Afro en Caucasian Americans have the stories and they express mutual fear and distrust. Often government is the culprit. Government has deliberately distributed drugs in black neighbourhoods; smallpox vaccinations cause infertility; the HIV virus is spread deliberately to eliminate as much as possible blacks and gays.
Researcher Turner stresses that how bizarre these stories may be, they give an indication on how the people see themselves. If you think that government can be so vicious, that tells something about your own worldview – how powerful or powerless you feel. “Do you feel that you have control over your own life, or not?”
That is exactly what is happening in Papua. Distrust towards government is widespread, just as feelings of powerlessness and frustration. In Papua there are also rumours about the deliberate spread of Aids and infection of pigs with deadly diseases for humans. Turner further explains about the functions of these stories. Blaming government diminishes ones own responsibility. You are a victim. That function too exists in Papua.
