John Tyman's
Cultures in Context Series
Torembi and the Sepik
A Study of Village Life in New Guinea
PART THREE: OTHER NEEDS
Topic No. 9: Housing
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129. Houses shelter us, but the type of protection we need depends on the climate.  Housing types are also influenced by the building materials available, the form of the land, the lifestyle of the people, and their traditions.
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130. In Torembi, houses offer protection from heavy rain and a hot sun.  Yet to make life bearable in a sticky climate, they must leave enough space between the roof and the walls for the air to circulate freely. In other societies fly screens would be considered essential too; but in Torembi mosquito netting is still a luxury. (Also see video extract number 02)
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131. With heavy rain here, floors are raised above the ground on stumps.  The area beneath is also useful … for keeping pigs and chickens safe in pens at night.
132. The pieces of wood laid on the ground allow people to move around easily outside the house on muddy days.
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133. There are no professional builders here; every married man provides the shelter or ‘haus marit’, needed for his own family.  It takes several months to build a house, maybe even a year, but it’s unlikely to cost anything, apart from the time involved.
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134. This is because all the materials used are available locally, free of charge.  They are simply cut down in the forest and dragged, floated or carried to the building site.
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135. The building materials he requires will be obtained from clan lands, and the block of land on which each man builds his home will also belong to the clan: but he can live on it as long as he wishes.
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136. Most likely the house will be replaced, or a new one built elsewhere, every 4 to 6 years.  Homes do not last long in this type of climate.
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137. The stumps, if they are in good condition, and the largest posts and beams, may be used again, to save cutting new ones.  But the rest of the materials will be gathered fresh from the forest. 
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138.Often groups of people help collect sago leaves for the roof … folding them and pinning them together, to form shingles made from thatch -- called ‘morota’.  Most of the time, though, the builder works alone.
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139. For the floor, he will split planks from the trunks of ‘limbum’ palms, and lay these loosely on joists tied to heavy cross-beams.
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140. Boards of similar size are used for rafters, tied to a network of smaller pieces to which the thatch is fastened.
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141. Seen here from the outside it provides a compact cover, which keeps out most of the rain…at least it does when it’s new, and has yet to be honeycombed by rats!
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142. Walls are built from the stems of leaves cut from sago palms.  These are known as ‘pangal’. 
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143. These leaf stems are often loosely grouped in lines:  but some men take the trouble to key everything neatly,  almost dovetailing it together.
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144. Some builders now use nails instead of wooden pegs, but many men still use only local materials, tying joints together with strips of cane, known as ‘kanda’.
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145. A few men even use great lengths of thicker  cane … which bind the cross beams to the stumps and the posts above them, and finally encircle the beams holding the roof together … as protection against cyclones and earthquakes.
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146. Since much of their energy is invested in acquiring basic necessities, the people of Torembi do not put a lot of effort into decorating their homes, though they lavish time and money on community buildings … like that in the background.
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147. Simple patterns may, however, be incorporated, notably in designs of woven matting.  This is often fixed to doors and sometimes hung over windows.
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148. The commonest form of decoration is that shown here on the top of the building.  Its precise origin is uncertain. It may shed water from spikes used in capping the roof: but in the old days, when head-hunting was common, this could have been a line of human skulls. Today they use coconuts or tin cans instead!
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149. Inside there are no rooms as such, just a kitchen area at one end, and an open space at the other end, where most of the family sleeps.
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150. The nearest thing here, usually, to a separate room is the ‘liklik haus ’n boi’ built alongside the haus marit.  It is reserved for the men of the house, and their male visitors, and allows them times of peace and quiet which their wives must do without.
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151. Men can also retreat to the large men’s house, otherwise known as the ‘haus tambaran’ or Spirit House …  and they can sleep there, too, by day or night. (New Spirit House in Torembi 2)
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152. In other words, there were traditionally three main types of buildings in each village, and three types of building in which a married man could sleep … his haus marit, his haus ‘boi, and the haus tambaran.
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153. However, outside influences are already obvious; as, for example, in the addition of a small store in many villages, like this one in Torembi 3. 
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154. They are built without windows … for safety’s sake.
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155. Outside influences are also reflected in the provision of a small ‘haus pekpek’ or toilet, behind each home.
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156. Many villages also provide a building to house the kiap or local government officer during his visits. He rarely came to Torembi, since the people refused to pay taxes till they had a road.  So their haus kiap was neglected and in danger of collapse. (Also see video extracts 10 & 11)
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157. It is impossible to collect much water from roofs without gutters. Two families out of the hundreds living in Torembi improvised a system of their own: but most people still use only river water.
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158. In similar vein, though there are a few saws in the village now, most trees are still felled with an axe and shaped with an adze.
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Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford University, 2010.
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