Tik Merauke: An epidemic like no other (John Richens, MUP)

In the early 1900s the sexually transmitted infection donovanosis ravaged the Marind of New Guinea. Through the lens of this disease, known as tik Merauke to the native people, doctor and researcher John Richens tells a bigger story of the deterioration of Marind culture after colonisation. This is a confronting historical account written by an empathetic expert. Although the Marind have been unfairly characterised as merely headhunters and cannibals in naive western representations of their culture, at the centre of this story are the ‘semen practices’, which may have contributed to the spread of donovanosis and accounts of which are challenging to read. For readers looking to be challenged, though, it is worth suspending judgement. In the hands of a lesser writer, these sections might have been reductive or offensive to the people they are concerned with. Richens acknowledges that his task is to look unflinchingly at Marind culture, but to also ‘avoid reinforcing unfair stereotyping of Papuans as “primitive”, “savage” and “hypersexual”’. He achieves this by letting the players tell their own stories. This is an account of culture versus colonialism in which doctors, anthropologists, missionaries, oddballs, famous authors, government bureaucrats and bird of paradise hunters all vie to be heard along with the Marind. Richens balances them perfectly. Readers who liked Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe will appreciate the deep cultural significance of Tik Merauke.

Rebecca Whitehead is a freelance writer from Melbourne.

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