Research Catalog

Title

Manifestations of mana : political power and divine inspiration in Polynesia / Paul van der Grijp.

Author

Grijp, Paul van der, 1952-

Publication

• Zürich ; Berlin : Lit, [2014]
• ©2014.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

320 pages; 24 cm

Series Statement

Comparative anthropological studies in society, cosmology and politics ; volume 9

Uniform Title

Comparative anthropological studies in society, cosmology and politics v. 9.

Subjects

• Mana
• Political science > Anthropological aspects
• Chiefdoms > Polynesia
• Mana > Political aspects > Polynesia
• Traditionale Kultur
• Inkulturation
• Christentum
• Macht
• Kulturanthropologie
• Polynesien

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 285-316) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

The Hidden Parts of Power -- Unspoken dimensions of societal discourse -- Accepting, or not, one's own dominated position -- Privileged relations with invisible forces -- Social asymmetry in Sacred Gift Exchange -- Processes of signification and asymmetrical ideology -- Contextualizing Polynesia in the Pacific -- Ascribed Pacific and Polynesian identities -- Naturalist ideas projected on the Pacific -- The real discoverers of Polynesia -- Culture contacts and confrontations -- Mana, or the Idea of Divine Inspiration -- A pan-Polynesian set of ideas -- Difficulties in fixing the meaning of mana -- Three classic interpretations of mana -- Localization of mana in the human body -- Mana in material objects -- The mana-tapu complex and related notions -- Images of abundance -- Mythical Constructions of Polynesian Realities -- Folk-beliefs and historical coincidence -- Historical configurations and Reconfigurations of Power -- Myth and cultural transformations -- Religion, myth and science -- Individual freedom as opposed to taboo -- The Religious Grounds of Chiefly Power -- A Polynesian pantheon and its chiefly offspring -- Divine cannibalism, asymmetrical ideology and power -- Original gods, soul gods, and nasty spirits -- Ancient Tongan priests and European proselytizers -- The god in the priest's body -- Religious specialists and their European counterparts -- The divine origins of three chiefly lines -- Loyalty accompanied by coercion -- Strategic Murders and Social Drama -- Disharmony arising in conflict situations -- A contested female chief: Tupoumoheofo -- The fate of a cruel ruler: Tuku'aho -- The second murder: Tupouniua -- A chain of disharmonic phases -- Centralization of power and decline of the Tu'i Tonga -- First Missionary Dramas in Western Polynesia -- A Tongan point of view -- Missionaries and beachcombers in Tonga -- Early confrontations between missionaries, beachcombers and Tongans -- Temptations of the flesh and first martyrs of Polynesia -- Overlapping but independent social dramas -- Rivalry among representatives of western culture -- Armed Threats and Divine Arguments -- Establishment of British Methodist missionaries -- Threats, violence and centralization of power -- Initial failure of the Methodist mission -- The European god would be far wiser and better -- The balance of power and the role of the bible in warfare -- Transition from a local religious system towards Christianity -- Christian Confrontations in Paradise -- Intervention in local political affairs -- First efforts to establish a Catholic mission in Tonga -- Second effort to establish a Catholic mission -- Involvement of the Catholic mission in the ongoing wars -- Further diffusion of Catholicism -- The ideological struggle between Protestant and Catholic missions -- Judgments and prejudices between missionaries and Tongans -- A political and not a religious war -- The Making of a Modern Chiefdom State -- Transition towards modernity -- External promotion of a pan-Polynesian movement -- A mediator between king and colonists -- The clash of imperialist interests and the division of the Pacific -- Foreign Interventions in Pacific State Affairs -- King Tupou II and the 'Treaty of Friendship' -- The threat of British annexation -- New British interventions in Tongan state affairs -- Indigenous appropriation of commerce -- Decolonization and integration in state structures -- Colonization in terms of expenses and benefits -- Middle Classes, Mana and Democracy -- New social classes and accompanying contradictions -- Social movements by emerging middle classes -- National identity for sale -- Mismanagement, corruption, and civil servants' salaries -- The rise and tragic end of a people's prince -- The ransacking of a city center -- Rank and Social Distance -- From head of state to opposition leader -- Inversion of normal behavior.

ISBN

• 3643904967
• 9783643904966

LCCN

^^2014453103

OCLC

• 873763727
• SCSB-9884293

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library