'Removing the youth from their pernicious environment': Child separation practices in south Dutch new Guinea, 1902-1921

Abstract

This article examines practices of child separation in South Dutch New Guinea during the first two decades of colonial administration and missionary presence, spanning the years 1902-1920. By examining the ways in which the Dutch Catholic missionary priests and brothers of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Missionnaires du Sacré Coeur - msc) sought to 'civilise' the Marind-anim and reconfigure Marind society, I argue that this 'civilising' project concentrated on the management, control and transformation of bodies and bodily practices - especially those of children. This project only appeared to be feasible in what I define as 'spaces of transformation', constituted by the mission's boarding schools and new model villages, in which missionaries could establish some degree of authority. Designed specifically to separate Marind youth and socialise them in a manner distinct from that undergone by their parents, these institutions enhanced missionary efforts to transform Marind society by interrupting the transmission of knowledge and practice from one generation to the next.