Going to Pentecost Methodological Potential of Ethnography: Its Role As an Arena of Theoretical Experimentation
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
ETHNOGRAPHY, THEORY, EXPERIMENT ETHNOGRAPHY, THEORY, EXPERIMENT . Volume 6 Series Editors: Martin Holbraad, Department of Anthropology, University College London Henrik Hvenegaard Mikkelsen Morten Axel Pedersen, Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen Rane Willerslev, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo In recent years, ethnography has been increasingly recognized as a core method for generating qualitative data within the social sciences and humanities. This series explores a more radical, Going to Pentecost methodological potential of ethnography: its role as an arena of theoretical experimentation. It includes volumes that call for a rethinking of the relationship between ethnography and theory in An Experimental Approach to order to question, and experimentally transform, existing understandings of the contemporary world. Studies in Pentecostalism Cutting Cosmos Masculinity and Spectacular Events among the Bugkalot Henrik Hvenegaard Mikkelsen The ethnographic data are valuable and the theoretical discussion is well-set within a series of intellectually rigorous, philosophically informed anthropological frames. Maria D. Vesperi, New College of Florida Mikkelsen’s compelling writing and excellent fieldwork research adds effectively to the classic literature in social/cultural anthropology, renewing and extending the famous monographs of Michelle and Renato Rosaldo. George Marcus, University of California, Irvine For the first time in over 30 years, a new ethnographic study emerges on the Bugkalot tribe, more widely known as the Ilongot of the northern Philippines. Exploring the notion of masculinity among the Bugkalot, Cutting Cosmos is not only an experimental, anthropological Cutting Cosmos study of the paradoxes around which Bugkalot society revolves, but also a reflection on anthropological theory and writing. Focusing on the transgressive acts through which masculinity is performed, this book explores the idea of the cosmic cut, the ritual act that enables the Bugkalot man to momentarily hold still the chaotic flows of his world. HENRIK HVENEGAARD MIKKELSEN holds a PhD from the University of Aarhus, Denmark. He has carried out fieldwork in Denmark, Canada (Montreal), and the Philippines, focusing in particular on aging, sexuality, loneliness, violence, and politics. He is currently a postdoc at the University of Copenhagen. Cover image: Performing ta’gem ANTHROPOLOGY / GENDER STUDIES berghahn NEW YORK . OXFORD www.berghahnbooks.com Annelin Eriksen, Ruy Llera Blanes and Michelle MacCarthy This open access library edition is supported by the University of Bergen. Not for resale. GOING TO PENTECOST This open access library edition is supported by the University of Bergen. Not for resale. Ethnography, Theory, Experiment Series Editors: Martin Holbraad, Department of Anthropology, University College London Morten Axel Pedersen, Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen Rane Willerslev, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo In recent years, ethnography has been increasingly recognized as a core method for generating qualitative data within the social sciences and humanities. This series explores a more radical, methodological potential of ethnography: its role as an arena of theoretical experimentation. It includes volumes that call for a rethinking of the relationship between ethnography and theory in order to ques- tion, and experimentally transform, existing understandings of the contemporary world. Volume 7 GOING TO PENTECOST AN EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH TO STUDIES IN PENTECOSTALISM By Annelin Eriksen, Ruy Llera Blanes and Michelle MacCarthy Volume 6 CUTTING COSMOS MASCULINITY AND SPECTACULAR EVENTS AMONG THE BUGKALOT By Henrik Hvenegaard Mikkelsen Volume 5 VITAL DIPLOMACY THE RITUAL EVERYDAY ON A DAMMED RIVER IN AMAZONIA By Chloe Nahum-Claudel Volume 4 VIOLENT BECOMINGS STATE FORMATION, SOCIALITY, AND POWER IN MOZAMBIQUE By Bjørn Enge Bertelsen Volume 3 WATERWORLDS ANTHROPOLOGY IN FLUID ENVIRONMENTS Edited by Kirsten Hastrup and Frida Hastrup Volume 2 FIGURATIONS OF THE FUTURE FORMS AND TEMPORALITIES OF LEFT RADICAL POLITICS IN NORTHERN EUROPE By Stine Krøijer Volume 1 AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL TROMPE L’OEIL FOR A COMMON WORLD AN ESSAY ON THE ECONOMY OF KNOWLEDGE By Alberto Corsín Jiménez This open access library edition is supported by the University of Bergen. Not for resale. GOING TO PENTECOST An Experimental Approach to Studies in Pentecostalism Annelin Eriksen, Ruy Llera Blanes and Michelle MacCarthy berghahn N E W Y O R K • O X F O R D www.berghahnbooks.com This open access library edition is supported by the University of Bergen. Not for resale. First published in 2019 by Berghahn Books www.berghahnbooks.com © 2019 Annelin Eriksen, Ruy Llera Blanes and Michelle MacCarthy All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission of the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A C.I.P cataloging record is available from the Library of Congress British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library This work is published subject to a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial No Derivatives 4.0 International license. The terms of the license can be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. For permission to publish commercial volumes, please contact Berghahn Books. Supported by the University of Bergen ISBN 978-1-78920-139-0 hardback ISBN 978-1-78920-140-6 open access ebook This open access library edition is supported by the University of Bergen. Not for resale. CONTENTS List of Figures vii Acknowledgements viii Part I. Introductions Introduction. Going to ‘Pentecost’: Outline of an Experiment 3 Interlude. Locations in ‘Pentecost’ 29 Reading Guide 41 Part II. Presentations from ‘Pentecost’ Chapter 1. Borders in ‘Pentecost’: Creating Protected Spaces 45 Chapter 2. Reconfiguring Life and Death: A New Moral Economy in ‘Pentecost’ 67 Chapter 3. Anti-relativist Nostalgias and the Absolutist Road 94 Part III. Theories from ‘Pentecost’ Chapter 4. Borders and Abjections: Approaching Individualism in ‘Pentecost’ 119 Chapter 5. Engaging with Theories of Neoliberalism and Prosperity 138 This open access library edition is supported by the University of Bergen. Not for resale. vi Contents Chapter 6. Ruptures and Encompassments: Towards an Absolute Truth 157 Part IV. Comments Chapter 7. Comparison, Re-placed 179 Matei Candea Chapter 8. Pentecostalism and Forms of Individualism 187 Joel Robbins Chapter 9. Life at the End of Time: A Note on Comparison, ‘Pentecost’ and the Trobriands 193 Bjørn Enge Bertelsen Chapter 10. Wealth versus Money in Pentecost: Why Is Money Good? 201 Knut Rio Chapter 11. ‘Pentecost’ in the World 209 Birgit Meyer Index 217 This open access library edition is supported by the University of Bergen. Not for resale. FIGURES 0.1 Map of Luanda, Angola 32 0.2 Map of Vanuatu and relative location of Port Vila 34 0.3 Typical household in Ohlen neighbourhood, Port Vila 36 0.4 Map of Kiriwina and other major islands in the Trobriand Islands, Papua New Guinea 38 1.1 ‘Keep Out!’ Fresh Wota, Port Vila 44 1.2 Tokoists in Palanca, Luanda 54 2.1 A sepwana, a large and orderly stack of nununiga destined for a particular non-dala family member of the deceased, such as his/her father, supplemented with calico and kina notes 82 2.2 Casket of a deceased girl returned from Port Moresby for burial, and her mourning relatives 84 3.1 UCKG church in Palanca, Luanda 95 3.2 Poster of Evangelical Crusade in Luanda 99 3.3 Christian church under construction in Sapu, Luanda 100 3.4 Members of the Kimbanguist Church in Luanda marching 107 This open access library edition is supported by the University of Bergen. Not for resale. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book is the outcome of a four-year project at the University of Bergen, funded by the Norwegian Research Council. The focus of the project has been Pentecostalism and comparison between Africa and Melanesia. Ruy Blanes was recruited as the researcher on Africa and Michelle MacCarthy added to the project leader Annelin Eriksen’s Melanesia expertise. During the project, the research group worked on a number of issues, such as gender and Pentecostalism (see Eriksen and MacCarthy 2016; Eriksen 2012) and witchcraft and Pentecostalism (see Rio, MacCarthy and Blanes 2017), and in this book we have explicitly worked on ideas and models for comparison in anthropology as well as new ways in which we can approach global religious movements. We are grateful for the support from the Research Council of Norway for funding the project and the University of Bergen for hosting the project and for funding this Open Access publication. We are also grate- ful for the support we have received from the administrative staff at the department of social anthropology, in particular Nina Bergheim Dahl, who has been fantastically resourceful in drawing the maps for the book. In addition, Marianne Soltveit and Gro Åse have been of great help for our project. Most important, however, for the project of ‘Gender and Pentecostalism’ as a whole and for this book in particular, has been the collegial support we have received from scholars at the department in Bergen, especially Bjørn Enge Bertelsen and Knut Rio.