In this article, 1 explore how the Long Geng Badeng Kenyah community of Sarawak converted to Christianity even though there was no sustained missionary persuasion from the outside. Over a period of study, I eventually...In this article, 1 explore how the Long Geng Badeng Kenyah community of Sarawak converted to Christianity even though there was no sustained missionary persuasion from the outside. Over a period of study, I eventually accept the simple emic explanation that ＂it is easy when you are a Christian＂ to be an important explanation. Central to this view is that Christianity provides an alternative religion that allows the people to avoid the need to observe the many troublesome taboos that hinder frequent traveling and engaging in various kinds of economic activities. The influence of relatives is an important factor, too, and as more people become Christians, the traditional Bungan followers lose the support to continue with the traditional religion and eventually almost all follow their relatives to adopt the new religion, which they find do not hinder practicing their culture other than replacing the traditional worship with the Christian way. The ethnographic study provides the opportunity to relate to recent scholarship on the anthropology of Christianity, and facilitates anthropological reflection on the study of cultural change, in particular, in relation to the work of Marshall Sahlins.展开更多
Ideas of life after death dominate African religious practices in the societies. The people of Buha and Unyamwezi in Western Tanzania maintained the relationship with the departed ancestors to address issues arising f...Ideas of life after death dominate African religious practices in the societies. The people of Buha and Unyamwezi in Western Tanzania maintained the relationship with the departed ancestors to address issues arising from the living members of the family, clan and the society at large. With exception of theologians and cultural anthropologists, ideas on life after death have not attracted attention of African historians. In this paper I envisage the ideas of life after death from a historical perspective using Buha and Unyamwezi as illustrative cases. I argue that issues of life after death are historically grounded and involve the interplay of natural and human-induced forces. This study relies on both archival and oral sources that I collected between 2011 and 2012. I employ a comparative approach to provide an account of how issues on life after death have had impacts on the lives of the people in Western Tanzania.展开更多
This article focuses on Vernant＇s thesis, masterfully developed in Les origines de la pensde grecque （1962） and translated into English in 1982. Vernant explained that between the seventh- and the second-century BC...This article focuses on Vernant＇s thesis, masterfully developed in Les origines de la pensde grecque （1962） and translated into English in 1982. Vernant explained that between the seventh- and the second-century BCE, one can note crucial modifications of the traditional and religious atmosphere, in civilizations as distant as China, India, Persia, Palestine and Greece. These turning points brought Confucianism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Prophetism, and, in Greece, Search for Truth. For historians, who claim their expertise on the past, methodological issues are at stake in any inquiry about an ＂axial age＂ or an ＂axial breakthrough.＂ First, there is the epistemological question of historiography, a present narrative of the past that cannot, from a scientific point of view--that of the historians, erase varieties of past narratives （poetics, technical treatises, epigraphic decrees, vase paintings, etc.）. Then, there is the new understanding of the constant interaction of what we call the political sphere with what we call the religious sphere, insofar as the distinction between a strictly political sphere, separate from the religious sphere, is now fully challenged. Finally, the polis as we understand it nowadays includes women＇s acts, as feminist scholarship has demonstrated through the past 35 years. This new depiction makes the ＂citizens＂ different： They can no longer be thought of as all the same and interchangeable.展开更多
文摘In this article, 1 explore how the Long Geng Badeng Kenyah community of Sarawak converted to Christianity even though there was no sustained missionary persuasion from the outside. Over a period of study, I eventually accept the simple emic explanation that ＂it is easy when you are a Christian＂ to be an important explanation. Central to this view is that Christianity provides an alternative religion that allows the people to avoid the need to observe the many troublesome taboos that hinder frequent traveling and engaging in various kinds of economic activities. The influence of relatives is an important factor, too, and as more people become Christians, the traditional Bungan followers lose the support to continue with the traditional religion and eventually almost all follow their relatives to adopt the new religion, which they find do not hinder practicing their culture other than replacing the traditional worship with the Christian way. The ethnographic study provides the opportunity to relate to recent scholarship on the anthropology of Christianity, and facilitates anthropological reflection on the study of cultural change, in particular, in relation to the work of Marshall Sahlins.
文摘Ideas of life after death dominate African religious practices in the societies. The people of Buha and Unyamwezi in Western Tanzania maintained the relationship with the departed ancestors to address issues arising from the living members of the family, clan and the society at large. With exception of theologians and cultural anthropologists, ideas on life after death have not attracted attention of African historians. In this paper I envisage the ideas of life after death from a historical perspective using Buha and Unyamwezi as illustrative cases. I argue that issues of life after death are historically grounded and involve the interplay of natural and human-induced forces. This study relies on both archival and oral sources that I collected between 2011 and 2012. I employ a comparative approach to provide an account of how issues on life after death have had impacts on the lives of the people in Western Tanzania.
文摘This article focuses on Vernant＇s thesis, masterfully developed in Les origines de la pensde grecque （1962） and translated into English in 1982. Vernant explained that between the seventh- and the second-century BCE, one can note crucial modifications of the traditional and religious atmosphere, in civilizations as distant as China, India, Persia, Palestine and Greece. These turning points brought Confucianism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Prophetism, and, in Greece, Search for Truth. For historians, who claim their expertise on the past, methodological issues are at stake in any inquiry about an ＂axial age＂ or an ＂axial breakthrough.＂ First, there is the epistemological question of historiography, a present narrative of the past that cannot, from a scientific point of view--that of the historians, erase varieties of past narratives （poetics, technical treatises, epigraphic decrees, vase paintings, etc.）. Then, there is the new understanding of the constant interaction of what we call the political sphere with what we call the religious sphere, insofar as the distinction between a strictly political sphere, separate from the religious sphere, is now fully challenged. Finally, the polis as we understand it nowadays includes women＇s acts, as feminist scholarship has demonstrated through the past 35 years. This new depiction makes the ＂citizens＂ different： They can no longer be thought of as all the same and interchangeable.
