Ryan Waddell
"Ongka's Big Moka" Reflection As far away from our culture as it seems, this film easily parallels our culture in a huge way; the constant struggle to become wealthier and achieve higher social standing. Ongka is striving to elevate his status and retain authority in the Kawelka tribe and other tribes by gaining a huge number of pigs to show off and give in the Moka ceremony. The Moka affects the lives of everyone in their community and highlights the adaptive strategies the Kawelka people employ to maintain their way of life. I believe this relates to our culture because the majority of people in the United States value success and prestige as the way other people percieve them, mostly by their social standing. The more money people have, the higher on the "social ladder" they tend to be; pigs are their way of achieving this higher level in the Moka ceremony. However, there are many differences. The "big man" gives away all of his wealth to show his leadership and maintain his status, our culture holds on to the wealth. Also, "Moka" literally means gift, and the exchange system of gifts in this culture is different. The better gift you give, the more prestige is obtained. This is the main focus for them, while the main focus for us giving a gift is for sentimental value, not for the return. Also, while the main focus is Ongka trying to gain more status, there is a lot behind the scenes that you don't realize at first. One of the practices in the Kawelka tribe, especially by the leaders, is polygamy. This helps them spread out their responsibilities, so all of the women tend to the pigs and do most of the work, and get little to no credit for any of it.