Owaraha

Owaraha or Owa Raha (formerly Santa Ana) is an island in the Solomon Islands; it is located in Makira-Ulawa Province.

Description

This relatively small coral island is 5,6 km long and 4, 5 km wide. It is located at the eastern end of Makira (San Cristobal), separated from it by a 7,5 km wide strait, and just north of smaller Owariki (Santa Catalina). The sound between Owaraha and Owariki is only 2.5 km wide. The island has two main villages Gupuna (or Ghupuna) and Nafinotoga. The inhabitants of Owaraha speak the Owa language and share the same culture with the people in Owariki and in the eastern end of Makira Island.

Owaraha was visited by Austrian anthropologist and photographer Hugo Bernatzik in 1932. Bernatzik carefully documented daily life among the island people and published an ethnography a few years later. He also took some of the best and earliest photographs of the islanders, reflecting a culture that he deemed was dying in contact with the modern world.^[1]

During his sojourn in Owaraha Bernatzik met Heinrich Küper, a German adventurer who lived in Gupuna village. Küper was married to a respectable local woman, Kafagamurirongo, and was the only white who ever reached the arafa (high person) status within a Melanesian community. Küper's grandchildren still live in Owaraha.^[2]

References

1. ^ Hugo Bernatzik, Owa Raha. Büchergilde Gutenberg, Vienna / Zürich / Prague, 1936
2. ^ Sandra Revolon, Heinrich Küper: le Blanc dont on parle à mi-voix, Centre de Recherche et de Documentation sur l'Océanie (CREDO), Campus Saint Charles, 3 Place Victor Hugo, 13331-Marseille, France, Journal de la Société des océanistes ISSN 0300-953X

10°49′42″S 162°27′49″E / 10.82833°S 162.46361°E / -10.82833; 162.46361Coordinates: 10°49′42″S 162°27′49″E / 10.82833°S 162.46361°E / -10.82833; 162.46361