Venereal Diseases Treatment for Merauke’s Marind (Marind-Anim) Tribe in the Dutch Colonial Period
This article provides some proofs that influenced the increasing number of Marind-Anim people who suffering from venereal diseases. It also provides factual efforts that had been done by the colonial government as well as Catholic missionaries in Merauke to overcome this problem. This study applies...
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Master Program of History, Department of History, Faculty of Humanities, Diponegoro University
2023-01-01
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| Series: | IHiS (Indonesian Historical Studies) |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ejournal2.undip.ac.id/index.php/ihis/article/view/16428 |
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| Summary: | This article provides some proofs that influenced the increasing number of
Marind-Anim people who suffering from venereal diseases. It also provides
factual efforts that had been done by the colonial government as well as Catholic
missionaries in Merauke to overcome this problem. This study applies historical
methods with four stages: heuristics, verification (internal and external criticism),
interpretation/explanation and historiography. Primary sources obtained from
National Archives of the Republic of Indonesia i.e., Memorie van Overgave van het
Bestuur over de Afdeeling Zuid Nieuw Guinea; letter of the Minister of Colonies to the
Governor General of the Dutch East Indies; Report of Assistant Resident Zuid
Afdeeling Nieuw Guinea to the Director of Government; and official printed sources,
e.g., Volkstelling 1930. Michel Foucault's power relations theory is used to analyze
the causes of venereal disease in the Marind Tribe. The results shows that the cause
of the increasing number patients who had venereal disease in the Marind tribe,
Merauke, was related to their traditional understanding which legalized free sex
and deviant sexual activities in the Marind tribe. The imbalanced power relations
between men and their wives and between men and adolescence men causing
venereal diseases and sexual perversions in the Marind Tribe. The strategy
implemented by the colonial government was to involve Catholic missionaries
who were trusted to overcome the disease by building a housing model that can
only be occupied by nuclear families who are not infected with venereal diseases.
The colonial government demolished men’s houses because there were
possibilities of homosexual intercourses which become one of the causes of
venereal disease among the Marind Tribe. In addition, the government required
the cenderawasih bird hunterers to have their genital health checked as a hunting
permit. The government built hospitals and clinics and invented doctors who
specialize in venereal disease to treat the patients. These strategies has succeeded
in treating and eradicating venereal diseases among the Marind Tribe. |
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| ISSN: | 2579-4213 |