The Wolani or Wodani are a people in the Indonesian
Paniai regency (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 ...
(formerly Central Irian Jaya) of
West Papua (western part of the island of
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torres ...
). 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 popula ...
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 Language family, family of Papuan languages spoken on the island of New Guinea and neighboring islands ‒ corresponding to the country Papua New Guinea as well as Western New Guinea, parts of Indonesia.
...
,
similar to the nearby
Ekari and
Moni 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
*
Stéphane Breton (filmmaker)
References
Ethnic groups in Indonesia
Indigenous ethnic groups in Western New Guinea
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