A belly full of flying foxes
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| 5 € / reduced 2,50 € |
| Please book your ticket in advance online or at the box office in the foyer. |
| Duration: 90 min |
| 16 years and older |
| German |
| Ground Floor, Hall 3 |
| Part of: WeSearch |
Papua New Guinea is considered the country with the greatest linguistic diversity in the world. Around 800 languages from different language families are spoken there. One of these is Benabena, a typical highland language. Among other things, it comprises a rich vocabulary of metaphors. For example, the terms used to describe the bilums, net or mesh bags typical of the highlands of Papua New Guinea, is characterized by linguistic imagery.
The strikingly patterned bags themselves are called bilums, which translates as ‘womb’. These bags are not only protective ‘cradles’ for babies, they are also seen as an inalienable part of the owner’s identity. Bilums are firmly integrated into the human life cycle and are an important part of the culture of exchange. In addition to the aforementioned use as a cradle, they are used in a variety of ways. Large elasticated net bags are used to transport garden produce, firewood and shopping. Smaller bilums are used as handbags and are usually worn in colours that match the clothing. Even smaller bilums are used as containers for betel nuts.
Linguist Carola Emkow and ethnologist Gina Knapp discuss how these bags are made and how the world of culturally influenced patterns is captured in the Benabena language.
Participants
Sabrina N’Diaye (Host) studied ethnology and political science. She learnt the craft of journalism at ZDF, after which she worked for SWR and ARTE. She has been with RBB since 2016, where she presents the rbb24 Spätnachrichten and realizes longer documentaries as an author.
Carola Emkow holds a PhD in Linguistics and an MA in Latin American Studies and Indigenous Studies. Between 2012 and 2019, she and Gina Knapp documented the Benabena language in Papua New Guinea, for which she has also written a grammar. In addition to German, English, French and Spanish, she also speaks Tok Pisin, Kaqchikel, Yucatec, Quechua and Benabena.
Gina Knapp is Curator of Visual Anthropology at the Ethnological Museum and Museum of Asian Art Berlin. As an anthropologist and filmmaker, she is interested in the South Pacific and in particular the eastern highlands of Papua New Guinea. A Slice of Life – Opena Gosalo, the pilot film of a telenovela of the same name, is set there. She developed and filmed the pilot locally with the community of Napamogona.