The Wolani or Wodani are a people in the Indonesian
Paniai regency
Paniai Regency is one of the regencies (''kabupaten'') in Central Papua Province of Indonesia. It is named after the Paniai Lakes. It covers an area of 6,525.25 km2, and had a population of 153,432 at the 2010 CensusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, ...
(kabupaten) of the
Papua province
Papua is a province of Indonesia, comprising the northern coast of Western New Guinea together with island groups in Cenderawasih Bay to the west. It roughly follows the borders of Papuan customary region of Tabi Saireri. It is bordered by the ...
(formerly Central Irian Jaya) of
West Papua (western part of the island of
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu
Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea).
It is a simplified version of ...
). Numbering about 5000 in 1992, they are farmers who live in the central highlands northeast of
Lake Paniai, along the Kemandoga and Mbiyandogo rivers. Many Wolani converted to
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
but, like elsewhere in Indonesia, they retain their traditional religion. They speak
Wolani, which is affiliated with the western branch of the
Trans–New Guinea languages
Trans–New Guinea (TNG) is an extensive family of Papuan languages spoken on the island of New Guinea and neighboring islands ‒ corresponding to the country Papua New Guinea as well as parts of Indonesia.
Trans–New Guinea is the third-la ...
,
similar to the nearby
Ekari and
Moni
Moni or Mone ( Kamkata-vari: ''Mone''/''Mune''), also known as Mandi (from Prasun) was, after Imra, the second-most important god in the pre-Islamic pantheon of the Nuristani people. With his breath, Imra created Moni and Gish. Moni was believed t ...
languages.
It is not clear if the Wolani are a subgroup of the
Lani. There is some imprecision in the classification of cultures in this region, with the
Lani often being identified with a larger group, the
Dani.
Representations in Media
* ''The Wolani Shells'' is a 2005 film by British filmmaker Alastair Kenneil. In 2005, National Geographic aired the film as ''Tribal Odyssey: the Wolani Shells'' (Season 1, Episode 2 of its Tribal Odyssey series).
* A Wolani song, ''Troisième soirée, Les Wolani à Ebugangwe - Yohi-Yaya-O, calme'', appears in a collection of regional music, ''Les Dani de Nouvelle Guinée Volume 1''.
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 ...
*
Stéphane Breton (filmmaker)
Stéphane Breton (born 1959) is a French filmmaker, photographer and anthropologist.
He shoots his films alone, taking care of the cinematography, the sound, and everything else himself. This allows him to get close to things and people and, mo ...
References
Ethnic groups in Indonesia
Indigenous ethnic groups in Western New Guinea
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