Power or paradise? : Korafe christianity and Korafe magic
Date
1991
Authors
Gnecchi-Ruscone, Elisabetta
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This thesis addresses the nexus between Christianity and magic in the contemporary beliefs of a small group of Korafe villagers of coastal Papua New Guinea. The ethnography focusses on the clans living on one peninsula of Cape Nelson, and their various links with neighbouring groups, with the government station at Tufi, With urban dwellers, and with larger institutions and forces, during the period between January 1987 and July 1988. One crucial outcome of the Korafe colonial experience was conversion to Christianity. Despite their allegiance to the Anglican church, however, Korafe continue to believe in and practice magic. The question posed in this thesis is: how do magic and Christianity coexist? I suggest that the difficulty is not the
compatibility of beliefs: contemporary Korafe believe that God gave magic to their
ancestors. The contradiction is introduced by the missionary condemnation of
magic on moral grounds. Responsible for preserving their clans' heritage, elders
are faced with a paradox. At times Korafe consider magic necessary and valuable; at other times primitive and evil. I argue that the conflicting evaluations of magic stern from Korafe notions about the nature of knowledge, and the relationship between the
control of esoteric knowledge and political power. These notions have shaped Korafe experiences of colonial and post-colonial contact. Christianity is held to be
the basis of Western knowledge, underlying Western powers. This knowledge is
thought to be necessary for success in those activities associated with post-contact
social, political and economic changes. Everyday life, however, is characterised by
continuity with the past. Contemporary villagers' concerns with subsistence and
well-being are no different to their predecessors'. In this context the empowering
properties of magic continue to be valued, and magic is practiced by elders despite
the Christian ideology of 'magic as evil'.
These dilemmas are generally the concern of ritual leaders alone. By following the villagers through a drought, this thesis shows the processes through which such conflicts are brought to the surface in crisis situations, for resolution
involving the larger community in decisions concerning the fate of common ancestral heritage.
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