Mee (ethnic group)

The Mee (also Bunani Mee, Ekari, Ekagi, Kapauku) are a people in the Wissel Lakes area of Central Papua, Indonesia.[2] They speak the Ekagi language.

Ekari
Bunani Mee
Native Mee women wearing traditional clothing
Total population
157,000
Regions with significant populations
 Indonesia (Central Papua)
Languages
Ekagi language, Indonesian language
Religion
Christianity (95%), Islam (2%), other ethnic religions (3%)[1]

Epidemiological significance

In the 1970s, an investigation was conducted by Indonesian physicians concerned about the high rates of Ekari people hospitalized for burns. The study revealed many Ekari people were suffering from neurocysticercosis, caused by the pork tapeworm, Taenia solium, which had been previously unseen in Papua New Guinea. As a result, many had been suffering seizures while in close proximity to fires, injuring themselves in the process. Pigs infected with the tapeworms had been introduced to the island previously by the Indonesian unknowingly.[3]

Representations in media
  • National Geographic aired the film Tribal Odyssey: The Chief Who Talks to God: The Mee, Papua in 2005 as part of its Tribal Odyssey series.[4]

See also

References
  1. "Ekagi in Indonesia".
  2. Carmel Budiardjo & Soei Liong Liem (1988). West Papua: The Obliteration Of A People. TAPOL. ISBN 0-9506-7515-6.
  3. "How the West (Papua) Was Won." Cultural Survival. N.p., Dec. 1987. Web. 12 Apr. 2017.
  4. "Tribal Odyssey". Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2012-03-01.
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