MAISIN CHRISTIANITY an ETHNOGRAPHY of the CONTEMPORARY RELIGION of a SEABOARD MELANESIAN PEOPLE by JOHN BARKER B.A., University
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MAISIN CHRISTIANITY AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CONTEMPORARY RELIGION OF A SEABOARD MELANESIAN PEOPLE By JOHN BARKER B.A., University of Western Ontario, l977 M.A., Victoria University of Wellington, l979 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Department of Anthropology and Sociology) We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA January l985 © John Barker, l984 i ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the ways in which a Papua New Guinean people, the Maisin of Collingwood Bay in Oro Province, have over the years responded to and appropriated a version of Christianity brought to them by Anglican missionaries. The Maisin treat Christianity not as a foreign imposition, but as an integral part of their total religious conceptions, activities and experiences. Almost a century of documented Maisin history reveals a consistency related to what is here called a "social ideology": a complex formed by idioms of asymmetry between senior and junior kin and allies, equivalence in exchanges between a range of social categories of persons, and complementarity between the sexes. Extensions of the social ideology to the developments of the post-contact society are explored in the contexts of a growing dependence on money and commodities, unequal access to education and jobs, large-scale out-migration, the material requirements of the local church, and church regulations concerning social behaviour. The social ideology is also extended to sorcerers, ancestral ghosts, bush spirits, and Christian divinities. The analysis shows that Maisin experience indigenous and Christian elements as realities that exist within a single religious field. Working from the premise that religion is an aspect of the people's total experience and not a separate cultural institution or sub-system, the thesis explores the modes by which the Maisin create and discover coherence between the various elements within the religious field. The most important points and occasions of religious coherence are those in which the moral precepts of the social ideology are joined with conceptions of spiritual entities towards the explanation and resolution of problems. Three "religious precipitates", as these moments of coherence are termed, are analysed: the village church, healing practices, and death rites. A major finding of this study is that Maisin articulate their assumptions about local sorcerers, ghosts, and spirits within idioms of conflict between kin and affinal groupings, but speak of God, Christ and the church as symbols of community solidarity. The village church is analysed as a point of convergence of the social ideology, economic aspirations, memories of past interactions with missionaries, and Christian teachings and forms. The primary religious importance of the church is as a condensed symbol of communitas that transcends the inherited divisions of the social order and the contradictions of present political and economic conditions. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT . i TABLES . iv FIGURES. v MAPS . vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . vii NOTE ON TERMINOLOGY AND ABBREVIATIONS. .viii l. INTRODUCTION. l The Anglicans in Papua New Guinea: An Overview Fieldwork Situation Christianity in Melanesia: A Review of the Literature Theoretical Issues Conclusion Notes 2. BETWEEN SEA AND MOUNTAINS: AN INTRODUCTION TO MAISINA . 25 Ethnology and Language Natural Environment Patterns of Settlement Notes 3. CHURCH AND GOVERNMENT IN MAISINA. 36 Contact, l890-l920 Maisina in the Early Colonial Period The Post-War Society Conclusion Notes 4. THE SOCIAL IDEOLOGY . 82 Subsistence Kawo Marawa-wawe Taa-todi Notes 5. MAISIN COMMUNITIES IN THE COMPLEX ECONOMY . 124 Economic Issues The Changing Contexts of Village Politics The Rhetoric of Unity: A Village Meeting in Uiaku Conclusion Notes 6. THE VILLAGE CHURCH. 160 The Relational Structure of Village Christianity The Church and the Moral Order The Village Church as a Religious Symbol iii Conclusion Notes 7. SORCERY IN MAISINA. 212 Preliminary Issues Sorcery: General Notes Techniques Sorcery and Misfortunes The Persistence of Sorcery Sin and Sorcery Notes 8. GHOSTS, HEALERS AND GOD . 242 The Translation of the Giu in Sermons Ancestral Ghosts Healers Perceptions of God Conclusion Notes 9. DEATH RITES IN MAISINA. 271 Death Observations, Past and Present Traditional Themes and Christian Values Conclusion Notes l0. CONCLUSION. 286 The Anthropological Study of Non-Western Christianity The Appropriation of Christianity Extensions of the Social Ideology Religious Precipitates Maisin Christianity Epilogue BIBLIOGRAPHY . 296 APPENDIX I . 317 iv TABLES Table Page Chapter 3 l. The Progress of the Mission in Maisina. 51 2. Baptisms in Maisina l9ll-l950 . 56 3. Population of Maisina l9l4-l980 . 68 Chapter 4 4. Iyon in Uiaku and Ganjiga, l982 . 89 Chapter 5 5. Mean Education of Villagers in Uiaku and Ganjiga. 126 6. Maisin Employment Patterns, c.l9l5-l982 . 128 Chapter 6 7. Estimated Parish Costs in l982. 168 8. Stewardship in St. Thomas Parish, l982. 169 Chapter 7 9. Causes Given for Reported Deaths of Adults. 225 Chapter 8 l0. Curative Choices in Case Histories of Illnesses . 256 v FIGURES Figure Page l. Levels of Exchange in the Social Ideology . l00 2. Age Distribution of Uiaku, l982 . 131 3. Age Distribution in Uiaku and Ganjiga, l982 . 132 4. The Primary Exchange between Church and Village . 171 5. The Second Level of Exchange between Church and Village . 172 vi MAPS Page Papua New Guinea .. ix Uiaku and Ganjiga . x Maisina . 24 Languages of the Collingwood Bay Area . 28 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The archival and field research on which this dissertation is based was supported by a doctoral fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and a supplementary fellowship from the Isaak Walton Killam Memorial Foundation of the University of British Columbia. I am grateful to both of these organisations for their generous financial support. My thanks to Paige Gay of "Word Wizards" in Seattle for skilfully preparing a long manuscript within tight time constraints. I would like to thank the staffs of the Australian Board of Missions in Sydney, the National Archives of Papua New Guinea, and the New Guinea Collection of the University of Papua New Guinea for their patient assistance. Several people in Papua New Guinea helped to ease the adjustments my wife and I had to make to life in an isolated rural village. I owe special thanks to Professor Andrew Strathern of the Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies, Hosea Pinot John of the Australian National University, the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at the University of Papua New Guinea, John Tura of the Oro Provincial Government, and Betty and David Buchan and Joe and Shelia of Utan Plantation near Wanigela. For their encouragement, interest and cooperation, I must thank many of the bishops, priests, nurses and lay members of the Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea. I am particularly grateful to Archbishop David Hand, Bishop George Ambo, Bishop Isaac Gadebo, Fr. Paul Richardson, Fr. Timonthy Kinahan, Fr. Wellington Aburin, Fr. Giles Ganasa, and, especially, Sister Helen Roberts who shared many of her insights into the lives and problems of the peoples of Collingwood Bay gained from almost four decades of dedication to their health care. My greatest debts are to the people of Maisina who were both gracious and generous in the welcome they extended to myself and my wife. These acknowledgements would be very long indeed were I to list all of the people who contributed to the substance of this thesis. But I must mention my research assistants whose work and ideas frequently appear in these pages: Gideon Ifoki, Willie Sevaru, Christian Karebi, and, especially, Macsherry Gegeyo. My interest in non-western forms of Christianity was first stimulated by a lecture presented in l976 by Professor K.O.L. Burridge on the topic of missionaries and metanoia. Professor Burridge's influence on my thinking about religion will be obvious throughout the thesis. I have also gained from the encouragement and intellectual stimulation of a number of other scholars, notably Professor Martin Silverman. Professor Ann Chowning, Professor Cyril Belshaw, Dr. John LeRoy and Dr. Dan Jorgensen. The defects of argument and presentation in this study of the religion and sociology of the Maisin are, of course, solely my responsibility. Finally, with pride and gratitude I acknowledge the unselfish and tireless assistance of my co- researcher and wife, Anne. viii NOTE ON TERMINOLOGY AND ABBREVIATIONS The former name of the Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea was the New Guinea Mission. Most Maisin still call it the "Mission" and refer to national clergy as "missionaries". The following conventions are followed in the text. When directly referred to, the Anglican church organisation will be indicated by a capital letter as "the Mission" or "the Church". When a more general sense of "church" is intended the lower case will be used. The term missionary is reserved for the former white missionaries unless in quotations ("missionaries") in which case present-day clergy are intended. The following abbreviations are used in the Chapter notes: AA. Anglican Archives, New Guinea Collection, Library, University of Papua New Guinea, Waigani. NAO National Archives Office of Papua New Guinea, Waigani. ix x 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION In this dissertation I present an ethnography of the contemporary