A Witch’s Hand
Curing, Killing, Kinship, and Colonialism among the Lujere of New Guinea’s Upper Sepik River Basin
9781912808458
Distributed for HAU
A Witch’s Hand
Curing, Killing, Kinship, and Colonialism among the Lujere of New Guinea’s Upper Sepik River Basin
From 1971 to 1972, William E. Mitchell undertook fieldwork on suffering and healing among the Lujere of Papua New Guinea's Upper Sepik River Basin. At a time when it was not yet common to make colonial agencies a subject of anthropological study, Mitchell carefully located his research on Lujere practices in the framework of a history of colonization that surrounded the Lujere with a shifting array of Western institutions, dramatically changing their society forever. This work has been well known among anthropologists of Oceania ever since, but the bulk of it has remained unpublished until now.
In this major new work, Mitchell revisits his earlier research with a three-part study on: the history of colonial rule in the region; the social organization of Lujere life at the time; and the particular forms of affliction, witchcraft, and curing that preoccupied some of the people among whom he lived. This is a magisterial contribution to the ethnography of Papua New Guinea and it is sure to be an invaluable source for scholars of Oceania, of medical anthropology, and of the anthropology of kinship, myth, and ritual.
In this major new work, Mitchell revisits his earlier research with a three-part study on: the history of colonial rule in the region; the social organization of Lujere life at the time; and the particular forms of affliction, witchcraft, and curing that preoccupied some of the people among whom he lived. This is a magisterial contribution to the ethnography of Papua New Guinea and it is sure to be an invaluable source for scholars of Oceania, of medical anthropology, and of the anthropology of kinship, myth, and ritual.
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
Part One: THE COLONIAL INVASION
1. GERMANY, THE LUJERE’S ABSENTEE RULERS
2. AUSTRALIA, THE LUJERE’S NEW RULERS
3. THE JAPANESE INVASION
4. AUSTRALIAN HEGEMONY RESTORED
5. COLONIAL TWILIGHT
6. THE SEARCH FOR A VILLAGE
Part Two: WHO ARE THE LUJERE
7. LUJERELAND
8. THE LUJERE VILLAGES
9. OLD ENEMIES
10. WAKAU VILLAGE
11. DISCORD AND DISSENT
12. CLANSHIP, KINSHIP, AND MARRIAGE
13. INTO THE BUSH: THE QUEST FOR FOOD
Part Three: MAGIC, MURDER, AND THE LUJERE IMAGINATION
14. STORIES FROM AN IMAGINARY PAST
15. THE LUJERE CURING FESTIVALS
16. ‘SANGUMA’: THE TERROR OF MAGICAL RITUAL MURDER IN OCEANIA
17. ‘SANGUMA’ AND SOCIETY
18. THE AFFLICTED AND THEIR CURERS
19. DEATH IN WAKAU
Appendix: AI’IRE’S CHRONIC ABDOMINAL ILLNESS: A CASE-STUDY LOG OF MAGICAL AND MEDICAL INTERVENTIONS
Part One: THE COLONIAL INVASION
1. GERMANY, THE LUJERE’S ABSENTEE RULERS
2. AUSTRALIA, THE LUJERE’S NEW RULERS
3. THE JAPANESE INVASION
4. AUSTRALIAN HEGEMONY RESTORED
5. COLONIAL TWILIGHT
6. THE SEARCH FOR A VILLAGE
Part Two: WHO ARE THE LUJERE
7. LUJERELAND
8. THE LUJERE VILLAGES
9. OLD ENEMIES
10. WAKAU VILLAGE
11. DISCORD AND DISSENT
12. CLANSHIP, KINSHIP, AND MARRIAGE
13. INTO THE BUSH: THE QUEST FOR FOOD
Part Three: MAGIC, MURDER, AND THE LUJERE IMAGINATION
14. STORIES FROM AN IMAGINARY PAST
15. THE LUJERE CURING FESTIVALS
16. ‘SANGUMA’: THE TERROR OF MAGICAL RITUAL MURDER IN OCEANIA
17. ‘SANGUMA’ AND SOCIETY
18. THE AFFLICTED AND THEIR CURERS
19. DEATH IN WAKAU
Appendix: AI’IRE’S CHRONIC ABDOMINAL ILLNESS: A CASE-STUDY LOG OF MAGICAL AND MEDICAL INTERVENTIONS
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