Sulka Pomio Culture Recordings

Since 2014, I have been visiting Kilalum village, a rural coastal community along the south coast in the Wide Bay area of East Pomio in the Pomio District of East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea. The village and surrounding areas is occupied by the Kaimun clan of the Sulka Tribe, one of the ethnic Papuan language groups on New Britain Island surrounded by other Austronesian language groups on the island. In the subsequent years, I became interested and got motivated by the conversations about culture preservation with the Chief and traditional leader of the Kaimun clan and its group of elders within its sub-clans of the Sulka Tribe who live in the Wide Bay region along the south eastern coastline of the Province. The Sulka tribe occupies an area located in between other ethnic tribal groups called the “Mengens” to the south, the “Bainings” to the north and the “Tomoip” to the west inland areas. The Sulka tribe is made up of two (2) mother clans being Kaimun clan and the other as the Masra clan with Kaimun as the biggest clan in terms of population and area coverage. The Kaimun Clan leadership had started an initiative before I made contact with them to undertake a study or a documentation project in their attempt and effort driven by their desire for the cultural preservation and maintenance for intergenerational knowledge sharing and transfer within the Sulka tribe and its various clans. The primary focus was on the history of where the Sulka tribe originated from, how they settled and migrated to where they are today, its tribal clans’ structure and social organisation, how its cultural practices and systems, traditions, customs and society practices such as customary laws, rituals and sacred society came to being and the external influences of missionaries and colonisation to the Sulka people. From the 1970s’, there has been mixed collection from various sources of cassette audio and video tapes, photos, textual information of mixed content in traditional stories, history, life histories, traditional and present day customs/culture, missionary and colonisation history, music (song and dance – traditional and contemporary) and other general life or events stories. From the 1970s’, there has been mixed collection from various sources of cassette audio and video tapes, photos, textual materials and interviews of mixed content in traditional stories, history, life histories, traditional and present day customs/culture, missionary and colonisation history, music (song and dance – traditional and contemporary) and other general life or events stories. This collection is a contribution towards the preservation of general cultural knowledge of Sulka tribe and efforts to documenting the Kaimun clan.自2014年起，我便持续走访巴布亚新几内亚东新不列颠省波米奥区东波米奥宽湾地区南海岸的乡村沿海社区基拉鲁姆（Kilalum）村落。该村落及周边区域由苏尔卡部落（Sulka Tribe）的凯蒙氏族（Kaimun clan）定居：苏尔卡部落是新不列颠岛上的巴布亚语族族群之一，岛上其余族群多属于南岛语族（Austronesian language groups）。后续数年，我与该氏族的酋长、传统领袖，以及聚居在本省东南沿海宽湾地区的苏尔卡部落各分支氏族长老群体展开文化保护相关对话，由此萌生研究兴趣并深受启发。苏尔卡部落的分布区域南邻"门根斯"（Mengens）族群、北接"拜宁人"（Bainings）族群，西靠内陆的"托莫伊普"（Tomoip）族群。苏尔卡部落包含两大母系氏族：凯蒙氏族与马斯拉氏族（Masra clan），其中凯蒙氏族在人口规模与领地覆盖范围上均为第一大氏族。在我接洽该氏族前，凯蒙氏族的领导层就已发起一项研究与记录项目，旨在保护与传承部落文化，推动苏尔卡部落及其各氏族间的代际知识共享与传承。该项目的核心研究方向包括：苏尔卡部落的起源、迁徙与定居历程，部落氏族结构与社会组织形式，文化实践、制度、传统习俗与社会规范（如习惯法、仪式与神圣社团）的形成脉络，以及传教活动与殖民统治对苏尔卡族群的外部影响。自20世纪70年代起，人们便从各类渠道收集到涵盖混合内容的资料，包括盒式录音带（cassette audio）、录像带（video tapes）、照片与文本资料，内容涉及传统故事、历史、生平传记、传统与当代习俗文化、传教与殖民史、音乐（传统与当代歌舞）及其他日常与事件叙事。自20世纪70年代起，人们陆续从各类渠道收集到更多混合内容的资料，新增包含访谈内容在内的盒式录音带、录像带、照片、文本资料，内容覆盖传统故事、历史、生平传记、传统与当代习俗文化、传教与殖民史、音乐（传统与当代歌舞）及其他日常与事件叙事。本次收集工作是对苏尔卡部落通用文化知识保护，以及凯蒙氏族文化记录工作的补充与贡献。