Contemporary Traditional

"Who Are The Asmat?"

By Benjamin Perez, January 31, 2012Period 4, Culture and GeographySource: Mr. Ruben Meza, 2012

The Asmat are an indigenous hunter gatherers culture in West Papua, Indonesia.

West Papua is about 1/2 of a very large island just north of Australia in the South Pacific Ocean.

The traditional Asmat are one of the last hunter gatherer culture in the world.

One tradition of the Asmat is the piercing of the spectum of the nose

Another tradition of the Asmat is painting the faces and body for both ceremony and war.

Traditional Asmat culture is truly a cool culture.

Sadly though, deforestation, colonization, and assimilation are deeply affecting the Asmat.

Irreversibly, this is the ending of one of earth's last traditional hunter gatherer cultures. The modern world is taking over the Asmat