Anak Asli Asal Mappi

A teacher posted to a remote village in Mappi, in southern Papua, tells twenty-three very short pieces, each named after words printed on the clothes of his pupils or of the villagers who call him teacher. The children often come to class without the red-and-white uniform their families cannot afford, yet he finds them rich in custom and in the land around them. The pieces are everyday conversations in plain speech, touching in their innocence. The teacher explains that a man who died suddenly probably had a heart attack rather than being struck by "stolen arrow" sorcery, and listens as a pupil tells of a child caught in the forest by his own parents.

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About the book

Form

Short stories

Set in

Indonesia

First published

2020 by Indonesia Tera