Organization Control Conflicts
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION
The patriclan is the central socio-political unit in Korowai society, which is is relatively egalitarian in the sense that all families have equal access to resources.
Physically, mentally, and verbally strong males, called letélabül (lit. 'strong -man') or khénmengg(a)abül ('man-with-fierceness') dominate the clan.Their leadership is tied to personal qualities rather than being institutional or hereditary. Institutionalized authority structures related to inter-clan domination are absent among the Korowai.
Intra-clan conflicts are caused by adultery, theft, murder, and affairs due to the khakhua witchcraft complex.
Adultery is punished by the insulted husband, who has the right to shoot his wife and her lover through their thigh bones; the lover is asked to hand over a pig for retribution. Repeated adultery-related conflicts caused by the same person, are usually settled by capital punishment, and definitely resolved by the usual recompensation that follows a death.
A person repeatedly identified or being exposed as a thief is called dadamtalé ('naughty'), and is forced to compensate the victim. If the his behavior continues, he is simply killed by his kinsmen.
Ordinary murder is definitively punished by the application of the death penalty, after which the usual recompensation gifts are exchanged.
For lethal crimes committed by a male witch (khakhua), the solution is to slaughter the witch, after which the body-parts are distributed among friendly clans for consumption. This type of cannibal justice is based on the need for radical elimination of evil within the clan, and on the desire to reestablish social (and universal) balance. The khakhua-complex seems to beprovide the only context in which cannibalism occurs among the Korowai.
Inter-clan conflicts are related to the crimes mentioned above, and the abduction of females. Abduction-related conflicts usually are settled by the giving of a bridal payment.
Adultery often causes serious inter-clan warfare, which is resolved by compensation gifts. When property is stolen from a friendly clan, one usually resolves the problem in the manner used to settle intra-clan theft. When a hostile clan is involved, warfare is not unusual.
The killing of a member of another clan requires a vendetta. Similarly to witchcraft-related murder, the injured clan will seek the ultimate revenge by eating the mudered khakhua-witch. If this does not occur, longlasting mutual enmity, often including witchcraft-related assaults, dominates the relationships.
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