Meet Carl Hoffman
This kind of award-winning author as well as journalist has flown with mercenary bush pilots inside Congo, ridden reindeer in Siberia, as well as written the most substantive book on Michael Rockefeller’s disappearance in fresh Guinea: Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism as well as Michael Rockefeller’s Tragic Quest for Primitive Art. He will be at the Ubud Writers as well as Readers Festival through October 1 – 5.
What was your latest adventure?
I had a piece come out in Outside magazine recently about an attack back in September in Papua fresh Guinea on a group of Australian trekkers. The story was a long, deep dive into what definitely happened as well as, in particular, how the attack was less about robbing the Western tourists — as was commonly reported at the time — than long-simmering internal cultural issues as well as economic disparities. yet, like Savage Harvest, of which highlighted what can happen when Westerners travel to remote as well as complex places of which they don’t understand.
What has been your most difficult project so far?
Savage Harvest — writing about the disappearance of Michael Rockefeller was the most challenging as well as gratifying story I’ve ever written. of which involved almost two years of deep archival research inside Netherlands as well as the USA as well as then deep reporting of which took me to Indonesian Papua twice, each time For 2 months, during which I was digging into events of which were 50 years old in an incredibly rich as well as complex culture. of which meant learning a fresh language, or at least the rudiments of one; living in a remote village without power or plumbing or stores using a family, alone, for a month; weaving together the history of Papua, the history of so called “primitive art” collecting, the history of Dutch colonialism, the history of the Asmat, all into a coherent as well as hopefully riveting narrative of which provides not just entertainment, yet insight into all of these things.
What inspired you to start your mission to write a book about the mystery of Michael Rockefeller’s disappearance?
I began travelling to remote places at about the same age as Michael. In my 20s I saw Dead Birds, the film he first worked on, as well as his story resonated with me, not only his disappearance, yet his curiosity as well as need to go inside first place. His death took on the quality of myth — Michael disappearing in an alien realm of which was difficult to penetrate for us Westerners — an idea echoed by the press accounts of the time. Wrote a LIFE photographer, after a day of searching for Michael: “they say if a man falls inside mud he cannot get up without help…” which I knew not to be true — the Asmat had been rolling in of which mud, spreading of which on themselves, walking in of which as well as living in of which for 40,000 years.
By the time I began thinking about the story as a possible book project, I had travelled as a reporter to some of the furthest nooks as well as crannies of the planet, as well as I saw those distant places as real places full of real people with real stories of which, with effort, weren’t alien at all, yet penetrable, untangleable. as well as there was enough about Michael’s disappearance of which I believed there was more to know; I believed of which wasn’t a myth, yet a real person who vanished in a real place as well as of which I might be able to pierce of which with patience as well as persistence.
I can’t definitely say I “broke their silence”. On my first trip to Asmat I visited the village twice, as well as once brought some elders through the village out to the government centre of Agats. At first I asked about the events leading up to his death, the events of which set up its inevitability — a war between two villages as well as the Dutch government raid of which left a few dead as punishment for of which war — as well as the Asmat were quite forthcoming as well as remembered events in great detail, as they do, since they are a people without writing for whom storytelling as well as song will be a rich tradition. yet when I asked specifically about Michael, I was met with prevarication as well as obfuscation, though never outright denial.
Frustrated as well as running out of money as well as time, after 60 days in Papua, I went home as well as started out writing. yet then one day I simply stopped. of which was clear to me of which I didn’t know enough — I didn’t understand the complex Asmat, the place, the culture; I didn’t understand head hunting as well as cannibalism; as well as of which hit me of which I was guilty of the worst sin of journalism — of which I had been travelling too fast, of which I had been parachuting in as well as expecting these proud people to just spill all of their secrets, things of which were inextricably linked with their sacred world. as well as I’d been doing of which using a whole retinue of people — a translator as well as boat man as well as a cook as well as their assistants.
of which’s when I changed things up — I learned Bahasa — not a lot, yet a lot more than I would certainly have thought possible — as well as returned to Papua as well as moved to the village, alone. I asked nothing for weeks. Just ate with them, smoked with them, talked with them, lived with them as well as listened to them. as well as I was lucky, because the village was building a fresh jeu, a fresh men’s house, as well as of which was a time of feasting, singing, drumming as well as dancing as well as they welcomed me among them. After about three weeks, I finally began asking questions again, yet This kind of time very specific ones of which had to do with village family lineages as well as politics, as well as of which was the answer to those questions of which confirmed for me of which their parents had killed Michael Rockefeller.
How did your quest in 2012 compare to Michael Rockefeller’s in 1961? What was his biggest mistake?
Well, he was buying up art as well as I was looking for stories, his story as well as the complex backstory of which led to his death. We were both treasure hunters, of a sort, yet he travelled very fast, using a lot of money as well as as much as he wanted to understand the how as well as why of the objects he was collecting, he was also ignoring, to an extent, its sacred component — of which he was trafficking inside souls of men. Had he had less money, had he been older, I think he might have slowed down, been forced to rely on friendships as well as personal relationships more, as well as of which might have saved him.
The first nine pages of your book ‘Savage Harvest’ will be a step by step account of the Asmat’s sacred ceremony as well as Rockefeller’s fatal end. Describe of which ritual as well as why you think of which was within their cultural ethics to do so.
The Asmat did all sorts of things of which are taboo, or were, in Western culture. They hunted heads. They ate human flesh. The men had sex with each some other. They shared each some other’s wives at times. They could drink each some other’s urine. yet those things were as right to them, as normal, as taking communion. as well as although they fought with each some other, they also lived in incredible harmony within their world, in balance with of which, as well as their warfare was nothing like the destruction of which occurs as well as has occurred throughout much of the rest of the planet. Ironically, Michael was killed because a Dutch official punished a village for fighting by machine gunning its most important men. Michael was killed according to the ancient Asmat origin myths in which the first brothers of the planet learned to create fresh men via the fruit, the seeds — the heads — of men. To us — as well as to them today — of which seems horrific.
Read, read, read. Read widely as well as deeply.
You have seen so much of This kind of world. What will be the most common factor we all share as human beings?
We are all subject to the great emotions of which power everything we do — love, rage, jealousy, fear, loss, loneliness, wondering who we are as well as how we got here. Every myth as well as story as well as religion will be struggling with those same questions.
We look forward to seeing you in Bali!
Thank you!
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Meet Carl Hoffman
Meet Carl Hoffman