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Literal Meanings: The Case of Mekeo Sorcery

Literal Meanings: The Case of Mekeo Sorcery In a recent article in The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology (TAPJA), Bergendorff (2003) offers a new approach to the interpretation of traditional sorcery practices among the Mekeo peoples of Papua New Guinea involving the transcendence of certain conceptual divisions of the indigenous cosmology and local understandings of personhood and the institutional order. On the basis of the ‘literal meaning’ for various words of the Mekeo language, Bergendorff argues that his interpretation resolves an earlier debate on the topic of Mekeo sorcery between Stephen (1998) and me (Mosko 1997). This essay examines the ethnographic data that Bergendroff brings to bear in support of his new interpretation and juxtaposes his methodological use of literal meanings against authoritative linguistic analyses of the Mekeo language and its several dialects (Desnoës 1941a, 1941b; Jones 1998). It is concluded that Bergendorff's analysis is internally inconsistent, that his use of literal meanings is unsupportable, and that the resulting view of Mekeo sorcery, personhood, society and cosmos is profoundly distorted. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology Taylor & Francis

Literal Meanings: The Case of Mekeo Sorcery

Mosko, Mark
The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology , Volume 6 (1): 23 – Apr 1, 2005
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Literal Meanings: The Case of Mekeo Sorcery

Abstract

In a recent article in The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology (TAPJA), Bergendorff (2003) offers a new approach to the interpretation of traditional sorcery practices among the Mekeo peoples of Papua New Guinea involving the transcendence of certain conceptual divisions of the indigenous cosmology and local understandings of personhood and the institutional order. On the basis of the ‘literal meaning’ for various words of the Mekeo language, Bergendorff argues that his...
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Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN
1740-9314
eISSN
1444-2213
DOI
10.1080/14442210500074903
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

In a recent article in The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology (TAPJA), Bergendorff (2003) offers a new approach to the interpretation of traditional sorcery practices among the Mekeo peoples of Papua New Guinea involving the transcendence of certain conceptual divisions of the indigenous cosmology and local understandings of personhood and the institutional order. On the basis of the ‘literal meaning’ for various words of the Mekeo language, Bergendorff argues that his interpretation resolves an earlier debate on the topic of Mekeo sorcery between Stephen (1998) and me (Mosko 1997). This essay examines the ethnographic data that Bergendroff brings to bear in support of his new interpretation and juxtaposes his methodological use of literal meanings against authoritative linguistic analyses of the Mekeo language and its several dialects (Desnoës 1941a, 1941b; Jones 1998). It is concluded that Bergendorff's analysis is internally inconsistent, that his use of literal meanings is unsupportable, and that the resulting view of Mekeo sorcery, personhood, society and cosmos is profoundly distorted.

Journal

The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology – Taylor & Francis

Published: Apr 1, 2005

Keywords: Sorcery; Personhood; Agency; Chieftainship; Native Etymology; Linguistic Method; Symbolism; Melanesia; Linguistic Anthropology

References

  • ‘The Mekeo sorcerer and his magic’
  • ‘Mekeo chieftainship’
  • ‘Nouns and verbs of “visceral” reaction: encoding antisocial emotions in Mekeo’
  • ‘Conception, de-conception and social structure in Bush Mekeo culture’
  • ‘The canonic formula of myth and non-myth’
  • ‘Great men and total systems: hereditary authority and social reproduction among the North Mekeo’
  • ‘Motherless sons: “divine heroes” and “partible persons” in Melanesia and Polynesia’
  • ‘Clowning with food: mortuary humor and social reproduction among the North Mekeo’
  • ‘Junior chiefs and senior sorcerers: the contradictions and inversions of Mekeo genealogical seniority’
  • ‘Magical money: commoditization and the linkage of maketsi (“market”) and kangakanga (“custom”) in contemporary North Mekeo’
  • ‘Syncretic persons: agency and personhood in recent charismatic ritual practices among North Mekeo (PNG)’
  • ‘Melanesian mod: the agency of traditional and contemporary dress among North Mekeo’
  • ‘Self-evident chiefs: transactions of chiefly inheritance and agency among North Mekeo (PNG)’
  • ‘Self-scaling the earth: relations of land, society and body among North Mekeo (PNG)’
  • ‘The Mekeo “man of sorrow”: sorcery and the individuation of self’
  • ‘A response to Mosko's comments on “The man of sorrow”’