An annotated bibliography of Western Province folklore

Below is an annotated bibliography of Western Province folklore. See the main bibliography page for more details. Please send comments and corrections to me.

A “*” following a reference indicates that I have not seen.

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• Anonymous (1975a). Western District Legends. Daru, Papua New Guinea: Fly River Area Authority, 127 pp. This book was organized by John Gordon Kirby. This book presents myths from the Aekyom, Bine (Bini), Faiwol, Gogodala, Kiwai, Suki (Suk), Yonggom, Zimakani Peoples. * Out of print.
• Anonymous (1977). “Excerpts from Western Province Literacy Programme.” Oral History 5(9): 89-111. This article presents 6 myths from the Kiwai People (pp. 93-102) in Kiwai and in English, 2 myths from the Awin People (pp. 102-106) in Awin and in English, and 3 myths from the Suki People (pp. 106-111) in Suki and in English.
• Depew, R. C. (1986). The Aekyom: kinship, marriage and descent on the Upper Fly River, Papua New Guinea. Ph. D. Thesis. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University. This thesis discusses the mythology of the Aekyom People.
• Hankin, G. (1977). “From the Western Province (Torres Strait Language). A Borrowed Story?” Oral History 5(3): 107.
• Hughes, Brenda (1959). New Guinea Folk-Tales. London: George G. Harrap, 80 pp., illustrated. Taken from several sources, especially Landtman (1917). Out of print.
• Knauft, Bruce M. (1985). Good Company and Violence: Sorcery and Social Action in a Lowland New Guinea Society. Berkeley: University of California, 474 pp., illustrated. Chapter 10 (pp. 273-294) is titled, “Narratives: Resolution through Romance.” Six narratives of the Gebusi People are given. Out of print: Search Amazon.com for this book.
• Knauft, Bruce M. (1998). How the world turns upside down: Changing geographies of power and spiritual influence among the Gebusi. In: Goldman et al., pp. 143-162. This chapter discusses the mythology of the Gebusi People.
• Landtman, Gunnar (1917). Tales of the Kiwai Papuans. Helsingfors: Printing-office of the Finnish Society of Literature, 471 pp., illustrated. Published in Russian as Skazki i Mify Papuasov Kivai (Moscow: Nauka, 1977). Reprinted as The Folk-Tales of the Kiwai Papuans by AMS Press in 1970. Out of print: Search Amazon.com for this book.
• Landtman, Gunnar (1918). The pidgin-English of British New Guinea. Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 19: 62-74. The article presents a flood folktale of the Kiwai People in an archaic, Anglicized form of Tok Pisin.
• Landtman, Gunnar (1927). The Kiwai Papuans of British New Guinea, a Nature-born Instance of Rousseau’s Ideal Community. London: Macmillan, 485 pp., illustrated. Out of print: Search Amazon.com for this book.
• Little, Keith, ed. (1952a). “My father, the crocodile.” University Museum Bulletin (University of Pennsylvania) 17(1): 38-47, illustrated. This is a legend told by Mea Idei, who is from the Kiwai People. This also appeared as “My father, the crocodile (a Papuan legend).” South Pacific 6: 281-283, 290 (1952).
• Nawia, Isua (1977). “Western Province.” Oral History 5(6): 27. This article presents a myth whose location is unspecified.
• Okona, Rex (1984b). “Wipim Report (Western Province).” Oral History 5(3): 1-36. This article presents a myth from the Gidra (Wipi) People (pp. 35-36), as well as some mythological or legendary information (pp. 27-34).
• Poole (1982)
• Riley, E. Baxter & Ray, Sidney Herbert, eds. (1931). “Some myths of origin from the Fly River, New Guinea.” Anthropologische Gesellschaft in Wien 61: 323-330. *
• Sagere, Nodwai; Wodibo, Simea; Messa, Andiwa (editors) (n.d.). Wipi Yityit Peba (Story Book in Wipi Language). Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea: Summer Institute of Linguistics, 176 pp. This book presents 130 stories in the Wipi Language only. Check Amazon.com for this book.
• Swadling, Pamela; Aitsi, Louise; Trompf, Garry & Kari, Michael (1977). “Beyond the Early Oral Traditions of the Austronesian Speaking People of the Gulf and Western Central Provinces.” Oral History 5(1): 50-80, illustrated. This article discusses migration with some reference to oral history.
• Tapari, Budai (1977). “Wando Village, Morehead District, Western Province.” Oral History 5(3): 82-86. This article presents two origin legends of the Tonda People.
• Wagner, Roy (1986). Symbols that Stand for Themselves. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 150 pp., illustrated. This book discusses mythology of the Daribi People. * In Print!
• Wagner, Roy (1995). Mysteries of origin: Early traders and heroes in the Trans-Fly. In: Plumes from Paradise: Trade Cycles in Outer Southeast Asia and Their Impact on New Guinea and Nearby Islands until 1920, Swadling, Pamela, ed. Coorparoo, Queensland: Robert Brown, pp. 285-298. In Print!
• Williams, F. E. (1936). Papuans of the Trans-Fly. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 452 pp., illustrated. This book discusses the mythology of the Keraki People. * Out of print.
• Williams, F. E. (1983). Oedipus in Papuan folklore. In: Oedipus: A Folklore Casebook. Lowell Edmunds & Alan Dundes, eds. New York: Garland, pp. 43-46.
  In print!
  This was reprinted from pp. 308-309, 312-314 of Papuans of the Trans Fly by F. E. Williams (1936).

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Last modified January 2, 2015.