article
Local narratives of a great transformation: conversion to Christianity in Manus, Papua New Guinea
Folk : journal of the Danish Ethnographic Society • 40 • Published In 1998 • Pages: 71-97
By: Otto, Ton.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Otto has written a history of a famous Manus leader and prophet, Paliau Maloat (1910-1991), and the movement named after him, the Paliau Movement. The movement was a reaction to the inequities of colonialism, although Paliau began his public life by strongly critiquing his own culture. As a young man, Paliau worked for Chinese traders and later became a police officer. He organized a village fund to pay taxes and discouraged village leaders from engaging in inter-village hostilities. During the Second World War, The US Navy set up a base and offered wage work to the locals. The work experience away from their home villages and the tremendous wealth displayed by the US military made a big impression on the Manus. They felt betrayed by the missionaries who they thought had been holding out on them. One reaction was to form a new religion and after the war when the military left, to secure their own wealth through cargo-cult rituals.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Acculturation and culture contact
- Status, role, and prestige
- Political movements
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Manus
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2005
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Oceania
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Melanesia
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Ian Skoggard ; 2004
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1986-1988
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1910-1991
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Manus Province, Papua New Guinea
- NotesAdditional notes
- Ton Otto
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 94-97)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 61025545
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Manus (Papua New Guinea people)