The Man Who Remembers

What is the future of cultures that use oral traditions to pass down myth from one generation to the next when the influence of another culture is introduced? The essay centers on an Italian anthropologist by the name of Giancarlo Scoditti and his travels to the island of Kitawa in order to study the culture of the native people. Give the name Toruruwai, “the man who remembers” by a local sorcerer Scoditti is being sought after today by the natives to help revise some of the old customs that are being forgotten. Stille bases this essay upon discussion he had with Scodotti without ever visiting the island to verify the information he received.

Scoditti’s first visit to Kitawa was in 1973 when he was able to find passage with an Australian official abroad an old motorboat who left him on the island promising to return in one month but never came back. An experience he describes near the beginning of his island adventure was the spiral dance which led to a “nights of love” by the unmarried men and women. A contrast exists between the colorful description of Scoditti versus earlier “grayness” writings of Malinowski.

After the experience with the dance Scoditti began a period of depression in which time he was bitten by thousands of bugs, suffered protein deficiency and experienced illness. He was treated by the local sorcerer who packed his legs with paste to cure the bug bites and met Towitara, a master canoe craftsman. He was aloud to watch the creation of a ceremonial canoe including who a canoe is cut down and transported to the beach without touching the ground; reminiscent of Kula Ring, the myth of the flying canoe. Towitara would come to his dwelling at night and teach him the ways of the Kitawa and after much convincing the witches and sorcerers also began meeting him at night.

The Kitawan culture has been in decline. In the past the changes were gradual but today, like so many throughout history, the change is taking place in a more rapid fashion causing concern that the Kitawa culture will be lost. The man who remembers has become the recorder of a dying culture.