This tribute from Professor Tarcisus Kabutaulaka on the impact of Professor John D Waiko:
โ๐ ๐ง๐ฅ๐๐๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ง๐ข ๐ฃ๐ฅ๐ข๐. ๐๐ข๐๐ก ๐. ๐ช๐๐๐๐ข
Yesterday, Prof. John Dademo Waiko crossed the stream of life to the other side. As his relatives, friends, colleagues and country folk gather for the haus krai, I reflect on the life and contributions of this Papua New Guinean historian, anthropologist, playwright and politician.
Perhaps not many people beyond PNG and academia knew Prof. Waiko. Even in academia, one would be hard-pressed to find people beyond the disciplines of history and anthropology, and scholars of Papua New Guinea who have read and used his work. For many young scholars of the Pacific Islands, Waiko might not feature prominently in their constellation of prominent Pacific Islander scholars.
But Waiko was an icon of PNG and Pacific Islands scholarship. A quiet champion who believed in the value of his Binandere peopleโs knowledge, while recognizing how universities can help tell it to the world.
He was the first Papua New Guinean to earn a doctoral degree, which he received from the Australian National University (ANU) in 1982. His degree was in social sciences and his dissertation was titled, โBe jijimo: A history according to the tradition of the Binandere people of Papua New Guinea.โ
While he appreciated the degree from the ANU, Waiko made sure university authorities knew the real source of his knowledge โ his Binandere people/society. For him, his PhD dissertation merely revealed his peopleโs knowledge to the academy. The university was not its source.
He therefore wrote his dissertation in his Binandere language and then translated it into English. He also demanded that his people examine it, not just the university-appointed examiners. That was because he believed the ANU could not truly validate knowledge that did not โbelongโ to the university. During his graduation, Waiko refused to wear the ANU robe of Convocation, opting instead to wear his traditional Binandere costume.
Many people who knew Waiko will probably know the film, ๐๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐๐ช๐จ๐ด (1991), which featured him and his struggles to reintegrate into his village of Tabara after years of university studies in Port Moresby, London and Canberra. He returned home armed with a doctoral degree, but no pigs, local alliances and knowledge of rituals that were vital in his Binandere society.
Waikoโs books include, ๐ ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ข๐ฑ๐ถ๐ข ๐๐ฆ๐ธ ๐๐ถ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ข (1993), ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ: ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ๐บ ๐๐ธ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ ๐ท๐ด ๐๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ญ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ฑ๐ถ๐ข ๐๐ฆ๐ธ ๐๐ถ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ข ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ข (1995), ๐๐ข๐ฑ๐ถ๐ข ๐๐ฆ๐ธ ๐๐ถ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ข: ๐ ๐๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ถ๐ณ ๐๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด (2003), and numerous journal articles and book chapters.
Waiko was also a playwright and short story writer. In an April 13, 2018 interview with Jonathan Ritchie and Ian Kemish, Waiko discussed how he and other Papua New Guineans his time were influenced by Ulli Beier, the German writer and scholar who went to UPNG in 1966 after years playing a pioneering role in encouraging poetry, drama and literature in Nigeria. He pushed for creative engagements with scholarship and for people to write in their own languages. Those were the heydays of UPNG that saw Vincent Eri wrote his novel ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ (1970), Leo Hannettโs play ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐๐ข๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ (1970), and later the film, ๐๐ถ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข โ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ด๐ข๐ต ๐ช ๐ข๐ด๐ถ๐ข (1984), plus many other plays, works of creative writing and visual and performing arts coming from UPNG. Leo Hannettโs ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐๐ข๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ was staged in Canberra in 1970.
Waikoโs play ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฏ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ธ๐ฌ was performed in Canberra in 1969. Not many people knew Waiko as a playwright. During the 2018 interview, he jokingly told one of the interviewers, โyou better read it . . . because I had become an extinct playwright.โ
I first came across Waikoโs work as an undergraduate student at the University of the South Pacific (USP) in the mid-1980s and in a class called โOral Literature and Historyโ taught by the late Pio Manoa from Fiji. The main text for that class was Jan Vansinaโs ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ด ๐๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ (1961). But I was desperate to read something familiar โ closer to home. It was then that I came across Waikoโs article, โOral Tradition among the Binandere: Problems of Method in a Melanesian Societyโ (1986). His name would also come up in my Pacific history classes with Samoan scholar Prof. Malama Meleisea who had previously taught at UPNG. I also read his play in my Pacific literature class with Prof. Albert Wendt.
It was not until years later that I met Waiko in person. I was impressed with his knowledge, humility and sense of humor. Some years ago, during a conversation at the UPNG campus I asked Waiko if there was a sequel to the ๐๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐๐ช๐จ๐ด coming. He chuckled in his typical laugh and said, โwantok, it will be the ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐บ.โ
Of course Waiko had another life as a politician and public servant. That is the subject of another story.
I hope that when the Association of Social Anthropology in Oceania (ASAO) meet in Nadi in February 2025, and when the Pacific History Association (PHA) meet, they will carve a space to remember this quiet champion of Pacific Islands scholarship.
For now, I bid farewell to a wantok and Pacific Islander scholar who had paved the way for those of us who came later. One day I will see you on the other side of the stream.
Lukim yu, Prof. John Waiko.โ
Academia Nomad 