Shape-Shifting Mana: Travels in Space and Time

Niko Besnier, Margaret Jolly

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

    Abstract

    Mana, a term denoting spiritual power, is found in many Pacific Islands languages. In recent decades, the term has been taken up in New Age movements and online fantasy gaming. In this book, 16 contributors examine mana through ethnographic, linguistic, and historical lenses to understand its transformations in past and present. The authors consider a range of contexts including Indigenous sovereignty movements, Christian missions and Bible translations, the commodification of cultural heritage, and the dynamics of diaspora. Their investigations move across diverse island groupsPapua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Hawaii, and French Polynesiaand into Australia, North America and even cyberspace. A key insight that the volume develops is that mana can be analysed most productively by paying close attention to its ethical and aesthetic dimensions. Since the late nineteenth century, mana has been an object of intense scholarly interest. Writers in many fields including anthropology, linguistics, history, religion, philosophy, and missiology have long debated how the term should best be understood. The authors in this volume review manas complex intellectual history but also describe the remarkable transformations going on in the present day as scholars, activists, church leaders, artists, and entrepreneurs take up mana in new ways.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationNew Mana: Transformations of a Classic Concept in Pacific Languages and Cultures
    EditorsMatt Tomlinson and Ty P. Kawika Tengan
    Place of PublicationCanberra, Australia
    PublisherANU Press
    Pages349-368 pp.
    Volume1
    Edition1st
    ISBN (Print)9781760460075
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2017

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