The Mee (also Bunani Mee, Ekari, Ekagi, Kapauku) are a
people
A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...
in the
Wissel Lakes area of
Central Papua
Central Papua, officially the Central Papua Province ( id, Provinsi Papua Tengah) is an Indonesian province located in the central region of Western New Guinea. It was formally established on 11 November 2022 from the former eight western regencie ...
,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
. They speak the
Ekagi language
Ekari (also ''Ekagi'', ''Kapauku'', ''Mee'') is a Trans–New Guinea language spoken by about 100,000 people in the Paniai lakes region of the Indonesian province of Papua, including the villages of Enarotali, Mapia and Moanemani. This ma ...
.
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
Neurocysticercosis is a specific form of the infectious parasitic disease cysticercosis that is caused by the infection with ''Taenia solium'', a tapeworm found in pigs. Neurocysticercosis occurs when cysts formed by the infection take hold with ...
, caused by the
pork tapeworm
''Taenia solium'', the pork tapeworm, belongs to the cyclophyllid cestode family Taeniidae. It is found throughout the world and is most common in countries where pork is eaten. It is a tapeworm that uses humans as its definitive host and pigs a ...
, ''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.
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.
See also
*
Indigenous people of New Guinea
The indigenous peoples of West Papua in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, commonly called Papuans, are Melanesians. There is genetic evidence for two major historical lineages in New Guinea and neighboring islands: a first wave from the Malay Arch ...
References
External links
Spirited Fight, The Guardian (2002, UK)
Indigenous ethnic groups in Western New Guinea
Ethnic groups in Indonesia
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