Description
Concerned with contemporary notions of personhood and the relationship between persons and places, this book, presents a detailed insight into the Vanua Lavan’s engagement with modernity, and examines how they relate to the past, make sense of the present and anticipate the future. Marilyn Strathern's claim that the Melanesian person is a dividual by and large holds for the Vanua Lavan person. But Vanua Lavans have also been exposed to, and creatively engaged with, what can be summarised under the term ‘Western individualism’. The author draws together several themes, discourses and conversations which concern Vanuatu specifically, the Pacific as a wider geographic area but also theoretical fields in anthropology: the relevance and expressions of sociality through kinship, concepts of person, issues about land and cosmology, the kastom debate, and questions about continuity and change. In doing so she provides a snapshot of contemporary notions of personhood.
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The islands of Melanesia have a multitude of languages and cultures, many of which are being lost as Westernization infiltrates the society. Hess (anthropology, Institute für Ethnologie, University of Heidelberg) spent a year and a half living on Vanua Lava, Vanuatu, studying the concepts of self and place among the inhabitants. She realized quickly that this was not a pristine aboriginal group but one that had been colonized and converted for over a hundred years. Hess's mentor on the island hoped she would record the "kastom" (custom) before it was entirely gone so that future generations could refer to the records. In her time there she learned the complex rules for interacting within the family and with those of other families. Her gender made some questions inappropriate and caused hurt feelings, which took time to heal. She was able to make important recordings and document sacred sites. The relationship of the people with the Christian missionaries is one of the most difficult to explain. The people are mostly Anglican but many still adhere to old beliefs, incorporating them into Christian tradition. Hess's narrative style makes this accessible to both scholars and general readers. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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