Huli+and+Their+Environment

The Huli and Their Environment



The environment in which the Huli people call home is an area of the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea called the Tari Basin. To some it is known as Huliland. The Huli people like many other indigenous peoples have learned to adapt and live off of the land for thousands of years. Because of the large variation in geography of the highlands the Huli benefit from all of their surroundings, from mountains to rain forests and even low wetlands. “The rain forests provide timber, vine and bamboo for the construction of dwellings and the crafting of artifacts, while pandanus palms in the high bush yield crops of nuts, rich in protein and harvested each year.” The Huli people use one of these areas most valuable animals as one of their main economic tenders as well as a food source, that animal is the pig. While the Huli gain many of their resources from their surroundings they are also fervent agriculturists who tend to gardens in which they grow their man food supply of yams. Because it is a simple society that has very low contact with the outside world the Huli must use their environment in as many was possible, from constructing their lodging out of the grasses and trees of the highlands, to their food source the Huli take great care of their surroundings because of how important it is to their survival. The Huli environment is also very important as an agent in the ritual process as most rituals involve manipulating nature and its supernatural energy. The feathers of indigenous birds, as well as various shells, seeds and leaves, are integral parts of many Huli rites.



This video displays what the Southern Highlands of Papa New Guinea are like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKjxFgy_GAw

This is a link to an article about the economic development of oil drilling in the Southern Highlands in Papa New Guinea: http://www.jstor.org/pss/40330053

If someone wants to explore this section of our site, I found a good amount of info on how the Huli interact with nature on this site: []