Exchanging the Past: A Rainforest World of Before and After

ISBN: 0226446344

Author: Knauft, Bruce M.

Condition: New

From the Inside FlapEven without much economic development or physical coercion, people in out-of-the-way places develop their own ways of being or becoming modern. How and why does this occur? What new forms of inequality does it produce? Twenty years ago, the Gebusi of the lowland Papua New Guinea rainforest had virulent sorcery beliefs, an elaborate spiritual cosmology, and one of the highest homicide rates in the world. But by 1998, the Gebusi spirit world was largely defunct, vengeance was largely disavowed, and community members were willing subordinates in schools, markets, and Christian churches run by nationals from other parts of the country.In this book, Bruce Knauft details Gebusi engagement with modern institutions and shows what their experience tells us about the process of becoming subaltern subjects in a contemporary frame of cultural and political reference. In the process, he reveals dynamics of "recessive agency" and analyzes their relation to new forms of exchange, spiritual expression, and public cultural performance. Powerfully written and ethnographically nuanced,Exchanging the Past combines trenchant theoretical analysis with a dramatic story of social and cultural change.Product DescriptionTwenty years ago, the Gebusi of the lowland Papua New Guinea rainforest had one of the highest homicide rates in the world. Bruce M. Knauft found then that the killings stemmed from violent scapegoating of suspected sorcerers. But by the time he returned in 1998, homicide rates had plummeted, and Gebusi had largely disavowed vengeance against sorcerers in favor of modern schools, discos, markets, and Christianity.In this book, Knauft explores the Gebusi's encounter with modern institutions and highlights what their experience tells us more generally about the interaction between local peoples and global forces. As desire for material goods grew among Gebusi, Knauft shows that they became more accepting of and subordinated by Christian churches, community schools,and government officials in their attempt to benefit from them-a process Knauft terms "recessive agency." But the Gebusi also respond actively to modernity, creating new forms of feasting, performance, and music that meld traditional practices with Western ones, all of which Knauft documents in this fascinating study.From the Back CoverEven without much economic development or physical coercion, people in out-of-the-way places develop their own ways of being or becoming modern. How and why does this occur? What new forms of inequality does it produce? Twenty years ago, the Gebusi of the lowland Papua New Guinea rainforest had virulent sorcery beliefs, an elaborate spiritual cosmology, and one of the highest homicide rates in the world. But by 1998, the Gebusi spirit world was largely defunct, vengeance was largely disavowed, and community members were willing subordinates in schools, markets, and Christian churches run by nationals from other parts of the country.In this book, Bruce Knauft details Gebusi engagement with modern institutions and shows what their experience tells us about the process of becoming subaltern subjects in a contemporary frame of cultural and political reference. In the process, he reveals dynamics of "recessive agency" and analyzes their relation to new forms of exchange, spiritual expression, and public cultural performance. Powerfully written and ethnographically nuanced, Exchanging the Past combines trenchant theoretical analysis with a dramatic story of social and cultural change.About the AuthorBruce M. Knauft is the Samuel C. Dobbs Professor of Anthropology at Emory University. He is the author of four previous books, most recently Genealogies for the Present in Cultural Anthropology and From Primitive to Postcolonial in Melanesia and Anthropology. His edited volume Critically Modern: Alternatives, Alterities, Anthropologies is currently in press.