Page 305 - THE MELANESIA DIASPORA FILE CETAK ISI 10022017

It is not easy to identify Melanesia qua Melanesia, based on geographical, cultural,
biological, and other basic elements appropriately. In the future, there should be a thorough
and complete study of the elements that have contributed to the concept of Melanesian
involving seven elements and three cultural aspects. Many Melanesian countries are
former French colonies, with the exception of Indonesian Papua and Indonesia, which was
colonized by the Dutch.
With regard to the seven elements and three cultural aspects, the following four should
be looked at in more detail. The first one is the reality of the language within the scope of
the ethno-linguistic to make a comparative analysis to prove the existence of ‘integrity’ of
the Proto-Austronesian family. Second, from the traditions of the local community, there
has been a network of a common origin of collective local memory of the speakers of the
Proto-Austronesia family. The third is the social life of the community in relation to the
dimensions of kinship and a variety of day-to-day social order in the community. The fourth
is the life of religion and art that can be studied by experts in the anthropology of religion.
These four factors will give a better, more precise, careful and reasonable understanding
of Melanesian anthropology.
In the historical records, the population of Australia and Papua New Guinea have been
viewed as an integral part of Melanesia, which emerged in the period from 50,000 to 30,000
years ago. The origin of the inhabitants of Australia and Papua New Guinea are similar to
that of the ancestors of the present day Papuans. The population spread throughout the
Southeast Asian region, where indigenous tribes inhabiting the islands of the eastern part
including the Solomon Islands, Makira and possibly the small islands in the eastern part.

Austronesian Anthropological Linguistics

Historians consider that about 3,000 years ago the Australian population migrated
to northern Papua New Guinea and the southeastern part of the same region. The
Austronesian language family also called Malayo-Polynesian includes languages in the
area of Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Taiwan and Formosa, as
will be seen later in the chapter. There is a diversification in languages, cultures between
groups of peoples, but with an emphasis on the unity between Melanesia and Polynesia.
Austronesian languages are used in areas of Southeast Asia and Asia-Pacific based on
the theory of the Proto-Austronesian language family. The group consists of (1) Western
Austronesian which includes languages in NTT, NTB, Bali, Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi,
Raja Ampat, the Bird’s Head, Taiwan, Formosa, the Philippines and Madagascar; (2) Eastern

Chapter 8 305

MELANESIA BOOK FA LAYOUT 051216.indd 305 2/10/17 2:11 PM