Click the star to add/remove an item to/from your individual schedule.
You need to be logged in to avail of this functionality.
Log in
- Convenors:
-
Fraser Macdonald
(University of Waikato)
Michael Goldsmith (University of Waikato)
Send message to Convenors
- Format:
- Panels
- Location:
- Napier G03
- Sessions:
- Tuesday 12 December, -, -
Time zone: Australia/Adelaide
Short Abstract:
'Conversion' represents the shifting of states of mind, agency, power, personhood, social order and political rule. We invite historical and/or ethnographic analyses that address these modes of shifting with particular reference to indigenous peoples in the Pacific, including Australia.
Long Abstract:
As a result of the incorporation of Western cultural forms, human life within Pacific societies have been profoundly altered. More specifically, with the arrival of Christianity and Western legal and governmental institutions, Pacific lifeworlds have come to be governed by a host of new figures, forces, laws, norms, and ontologies. Through the influence of Christianity, local people have reshaped their lives around God, Satan, Jesus, and the Bible, have been forced to revalue their traditions, and arguably now approximate the possessive individualism of 'the West'. Similarly, through colonial and post-colonial government, Pacific peoples have been compelled to reimagine their lives in terms of Western legal and political institutions, often radically changing what is and is not permitted, the distribution and use of power, as well as the nature of leadership. In this panel, we seek to interrogate these shifts through the broadly conceived lens of 'conversion'. What convinces, compels, or coerces people to 'convert' to new religious and political frameworks? Are religious and political conversions ever total or are they mediated by and reproduce existing cultural schemes? Do missionisation and colonisation ever operate in tandem or do they sometimes function separately or compete with each other? How are the differences and similarities between religious and political institutions understood locally? Do the moral dictates of Christianity ramify, depart from, or even replace the legal frameworks established by colonial and post-colonial governments? We invite historically and ethnographically focussed papers that consider these themes and questions within the wider Pacific, including Australia.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Monday 11 December, 2017, -Michael Goldsmith (University of Waikato)
Paper short abstract:
In Tuvalu, various forms of government replaced or modified existing institutions from c. 1850, embodied as moments we can call conversion, missionisation, colonialism and independence. However, these terms need scrutiny and all involve ideas that unsettle boundaries between religion and politics.
Paper long abstract:
In Tuvalu (formerly the Ellice Islands), various forms of government replaced or modified existing institutions from the mid-nineteenth century onward. These changes took the form of a sequence of historical moments that the literature conventionally labels as (for example) conversion, missionisation, colonial rule and self-government leading to independence. At least elements of these events took place elsewhere in Polynesia and in much the same order (though a truly synoptic account would undoubtedly uncover some variations). Each of these labels and the sequence they embody, however, warrants critical scrutiny, In addition, they all involve implicit and explicit ideas and practices of 'mission' that destabilise taken-for-granted boundaries between religion and politics.
This paper will investigate and illustrate these propositions by means of archival and ethnographic research carried out since the late 1970s. In so doing, it will raise questions for the comparative analysis of societies in the Pacific and other parts of the world, as well as helping to restore the notion of government to a more central role in the toolbox of anthropological concepts.
Tom Ryan (University of Waikato)
Paper short abstract:
This paper investigates the parallel but entangled domains of religious and political transformation on the Polynesian island of Niue through three distinct historical periods: 1846-1860, conversion; 1861-1900, missionisation; and 1901-1974, colonialism.
Paper long abstract:
After a long period of resisting incursions by outsiders, between 1846 and 1861 the nearly 4,500 residents of the Polynesian island of Niue accepted Christianity, mainly through the efforts of Samoans attached to the London Missionary Society. Soon they formed the apex of an emergent new social order, drafting laws, translating scripture, teaching literacy, constructing roads, establishing villages, building churches, and generally living as a privileged elite.
But things changed from 1861, with the arrival of an English resident pastor. Soon the Samoans were returned to their homeland, to be replaced by a cadre of Niue-born-and-trained teachers, who over the next four decades - like their community as a whole - remained firmly under the thumb of the pastor. Over the same period traders established themselves in villages, droves of young men went off as indentured labourers, and the island's elders periodically called for Niue to become a British protectorate.
Then in 1901 Britain facilitated New Zealand becoming the island's colonial ruler. From then on, until Niue achieved self-rule in 1974, the resident missionary vied for power with the New Zealand representative (both always foreign, white, males). Over three generations the colonial state responded by enabling other Christian denominations to establish themselves, creating a secular education system to replace the LMS schools, empowering new political bodies to counter traditional church organisations, and building a local public service that offered better employment and career paths than could be provided by the LMS.
Jeffrey Sissons (Victoria University, Wellington)
Paper short abstract:
The focus of this paper is a Maori social movement named Kaingarara (Lizard or Reptile-eaters) that was active in Taranaki in the 1850s and 1860s. Led by a tohunga (shaman) named Tamati Te Ito, Kaingarara can be understood as New Zealand's first post-conversion Maori 'prophetic' movement.
Paper long abstract:
The focus of this paper is a Maori social movement named Kaingarara (Lizard or Reptile-eaters) that was active in Taranaki and Whanganui in the 1850s and 1860s. In the immediate aftermath of mass conversions to Christianity in the 1840s, the continued presence of atua (spirits) was understood to be significant cause of the extremely high levels of sickness and mortality within Maori Christian communities. Led by a tohunga (shaman) named Tamati Te Ito, Kaingarara sought to counter the malign influences of pre-Christian atua by capturing and eating lizards, their visible forms. But this movement was also one of political independence that sought to unite tribal groups in opposition to land sales and in further opposition to missionaries and the colonial state it established its own judges and schools. I suggest that Kaingarara can be understood as New Zealand's first Maori 'prophetic' movement and as a direct for-runner to Te Ua's Paimarire movement, the Waikato King movement, Te Whiti's Parihaka movement and Te Kooti's Ringatu movement (Tamati Te Ito appears to have known the leaders of all of the above). A military attack by colonial troops on Tamati Te Ito's settlement in March 1860 marked the beginnings of the New Zealand Land wars.
Fraser Macdonald (University of Waikato)
Paper short abstract:
This paper explores how towards the end of the 1970s a religious revolution occurred throughout the highlands of Papua New Guinea, whereby multiple societies in the area underwent a second stage conversion from evangelical to Pentecostal-charismatic Christianity.
Paper long abstract:
Towards the end of the 1970s a dramatic religious revolution took place throughout the highlands of Papua New Guinea. Already exposed to evangelical Christianity since the 1950s, many societies in this area suddenly embraced Pentecostal-charismatic forms of worship within the context of widespread, intense revival movements.This paper provides a preliminary overview of these second stage conversions and withdraws from the strongly localised perspective of much Melanesianist anthropology to explore the wider regional, national, international, and historical dynamics and ramifications of this major spiritual upheaval. Through this investigation it can be seen that each local revival represents but one part of a much broader and more significant transformation in the religious history of Papua New Guinea and that the spheres of influence shaping the revival extend outward from Melanesia to New Zealand, Australia, and even the USA.
Debra McDougall (University of Melbourne)
Paper short abstract:
This paper explores the representation of ancestors in a celebration of the centenary of the coming of Christianity in a Solomon Island community, with particular attention to the different portrayals of women and men in the story.
Paper long abstract:
Throughout the Pacific, yearly church anniversary celebrations have long provided opportunities for people to reflect upon the state of their community, the actions of their ancestors, and the meaning of their faith. In the village of Pienuna on Ranongga Island in Solomon Islands where I have spent time since the 1990s, the hundredth anniversary of the return of a local youth, James Paleo, who had followed a mission ship and returned to become the area's first missionary. There were two other important figures in the narrative of conversion: Takavoja, a chiefly woman credited with welcoming the first missionary ashore, and Sagobabata, a chiefly man remembered for rebuffing the missionary. In this paper, I trace the ways that the descendants of these figures sought to represent their ancestors' role in this historical turning point, paying particular attention to gender in these negotiations. I also reflect on the difficulties of writing about intra-village conflict in the context of an event intended to display unity and power and on the ways that my own ethnographic writing was taken up, and contested, in the context of the anniversary celebration.
Stephanie Ketterer Hobbis (Wageningen University)
Paper short abstract:
An analysis of rural efforts to 'rescue' Honiara-based relatives from corrupting urban influences, including the Solomon Islands state, reveals continued struggles surrounding political and religious 'conversions' and the significance of village-based kin networks in leadership and governance.
Paper long abstract:
Every year Gwou'ulu Village (Lau, Malaita Province) sends at least one 'rescue mission' to Solomon Islands capital city, Honiara. Organized by the Anglican village church, the goal of these rescue missions is to remind villagers who have temporarily or permanently migrated to town about village values, interests and priorities. This paper examines villagers' motivations for 'rescuing' Honiara and outlines some of the strategies that they deploy, such as a 're-mapping' of Honiara settlements to align with village-based prayer groups. I show how these missions combined with other village-centric events and activities in town, attempt to subvert (urban) state and to a lesser degree Church authority. Organizers and participants aim to reassert the moral dominance of village-based kin networks in political and religious leadership and governance against a perceived growth of individualism and urban anonymity. A desire for more active and equitable participation in the global state system and the (Anglican) Christian oecumene is met by a continued sense of exclusion by both 'communities.' This perceived exclusion undermines the legitimacy of the state and the Anglican Church, re-revealing villages and kin networks as dominant sources of belonging, and thus fueling a continued struggle surrounding political and religious 'conversions' in contemporary Solomon Islands.
Yueh-Po Huang (Academia Sinica)
Paper short abstract:
This paper aims to illustrate the way Tenrikyo has been spread, prohibited and re-established through different historical stages in South Korea. The study revealed that several reasons enhance the prospects of the Tenrikyo religious movement in South Korea.
Paper long abstract:
This paper aims to illustrate the way Tenrikyo has been spread, prohibited and re-established through different historical stages in South Korea. As Japanese colonial government took power, Japanese missionaries arrived in South Korea and progressively found ways of reaching prospective followers in this new territory. Tenrikyo was allowed to take root and thrived on South Korea until the Japanese defeat in the Sino-Japanese War in 1945, when the South Korean ordered the closure of all Tenrikyo missions. In 1975, the Tenrikyo Headquarters Offices in Japan resumed its pubic missionary activities in South Korea, ending their covert missionary activities in the local churches.
The study revealed that several reasons enhance the prospects of the Tenrikyo religious movement in South Korea. Firstly, the religious belief of the general populace in South Korea which is centred on a pragmatic philosophy - safety, health, prosperity and so forth - and this provides Tenrikyo with an opportunity to meet people's spiritual needs. Secondly, the local villages' experience of historical encounters with the Japanese colonial government enables Tenrikyo to make deep inroads into popular religion in many local communities, thus allowing the South Korea villagers to incorporate the Tenrikyo religion as a way of confronting life's uncertainties during and after the period of Japanese colonisation. The further study would be focused on a comparative analysis of Tenrikyo's missionary activities between South Korea and Taiwan in the context of postwar period.
Daniel Hernandez (University of Auckland)
Paper short abstract:
Mormonism in Oceania adds unique controversies and adaptations in Kava use among Tongans. Kava reflects conflict and exchange between Indigenous spirituality and Christianity. This paper draws from ethnographic research demonstrating the continuing process of negotiating these identities today.
Paper long abstract:
Futa Helu (1993) explained that changes in Tongan society were observable through the variety of Kava practices in the Kingdom of Tonga. Considering Kava sites as a gendered microcosm of Tongan society and communities abroad, it is a significant area to observe shifting states of mind, belief, and politic. Drawing from multi-sited ethnographic research in Kava circles primarily amongst diaspora populations, the tensions and adaptations of Indigenous and religious identities are investigated. Early negotiations between Christian and Tongan beliefs are paralleled today within a spectrum of tensions, practicalities, and convictions in joining or remaining in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons/LDS). The continued waves of Mormon evangelism in Oceania adds unique controversy and adaptations around Kava use. It is argued that Kava is a site of both conflict and exchange between Indigenous spirituality tied to ancestral place and Christianity that is continually being re-lived and mediated among participants and observers today.