Tom's Tambu house: Spacing, status and sacredness in South Malakula, Vanuatu

Tim Curtis

doi:10.1002/j.1834-4461.1999.tb02989.x

Tom's Tambu house: Spacing, status and sacredness in South Malakula, Vanuatu

Tim Curtis^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

15 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper is based on video footage I filmed in South Malakula in April 1996. It explores the case of Tom Moses, a man who claims to speak with God. He has constructed a house on the outskirts of Milip village which he has declared tambu, or taboo/sacred. Around it he envisions a new living space, following directions given to him from God. I argue that Tom's enterprise can be understood in terms of a spacing-status-sacredness nexus. This nexus is grounded in a pre-Christian Malakulan sociality revolving around men's houses, ancestral worship and grade-taking rituals. This takes place with a lived Christianity which in many contexts is expressed as a departure from kastom. As such, I argue that this 'spatial' analysis can help us understand dimensions of local human relationships which purely discursive analyses sometimes eclipse.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	56-71
Number of pages	16
Journal	Oceania
Volume	70
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1834-4461.1999.tb02989.x
Publication status	Published - 1999

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title = "Tom's Tambu house: Spacing, status and sacredness in South Malakula, Vanuatu",

abstract = "This paper is based on video footage I filmed in South Malakula in April 1996. It explores the case of Tom Moses, a man who claims to speak with God. He has constructed a house on the outskirts of Milip village which he has declared tambu, or taboo/sacred. Around it he envisions a new living space, following directions given to him from God. I argue that Tom's enterprise can be understood in terms of a spacing-status-sacredness nexus. This nexus is grounded in a pre-Christian Malakulan sociality revolving around men's houses, ancestral worship and grade-taking rituals. This takes place with a lived Christianity which in many contexts is expressed as a departure from kastom. As such, I argue that this 'spatial' analysis can help us understand dimensions of local human relationships which purely discursive analyses sometimes eclipse.",

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Tom's Tambu house: Spacing, status and sacredness in South Malakula, Vanuatu

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