In Chapter 6 of Consequences of Contact, the discussion was largely based upon the activities of the Urapmin Spirit women of Papua New Guinea. These Spirit women are the link between the older material-exchange form of communication and the newer speech-based form of communication. When the first Protestant missionaries arrived in the 1970s, the Urapmin changed most of the ways their society functioned, such as "dismantling their traditional religion, tearing down their cult houses, and abrogating the extensive system of taboos... that had until that time structured many aspects of their lives" (Makihara 127). Communication within the Urapmin society had previously been based upon a concept of exchanging gifts, such as food. It was believed that speech was not “an effective instrument for establishing social truth” (Makihara 131). However, upon the arrival of Christian missionaries, the switch was made from material-based communication to speech-based communication.
The notion of “you cannot talk behind the Holy Spirit’s back” is based upon this shift to speech-based communication. The Spirit women claim to be possessed at-will by the Holy Spirit, where they receive a message from Him. They then take this message, interpret it, and relay it back to their fellow citizens. Since it is believed that what the Holy Spirit says is true, it is therefore automatically believed that what the Spirit women say is true as well, since they are the purveyors of His message.
However, on occasion, the Holy Spirit will communicate to the Spirit women that a pig must be sacrificed in order to get rid of an Urapmin nature spirit. For some Urapmin, this contradicts the notion of Jesus Christ being the final sacrifice, and some have begun to question the accuracy of the Spirit women. Did the message really come from the Holy Spirit, or did the message come from an evil spirit disguised as the Holy Spirit? Why are the Spirit women asking the Urapmin people to temporarily go back to the old ways of material exchange (sacrificing a pig to get rid of the evil spirit) if speech-based communication is now the status quo?
This link leads to a website that mentions the Prayer Warrior Group, a group of women in Papua New Guinea who also claim to have been touched by the Holy Spirit. The section that specifically talks about them is entitled “Warrior Women”. This link here provides a view of the culture of Papua New Guinea.
Thanks for reading!
The struggle between material and language ideologies of the Urapmin people of Papua New Guinea can be related to some of the practices that can be found here in Hawaii. Often times during gatherings, it is expected that each guest will bring something to offer; this practice can be seen as a material ideology of the local people. On the other hand, a lot of the younger generations of locals see it fit to arrive to the gathering and offer their presence and interactions to others as their gift. Their interactions with other people at the gathering lie more in the realm of language ideologies. Though different from that of the Urapmin people, there is a struggle going on between the two ideologies.
ReplyDeleteA picture of the Urapmin people’s religious past was illustrated as one without a solitary god but one with many spirits, some of which were found in nature. Presently, these nature spirits are no longer accepted, as the Holy Spirit (God) is the sole deity worshipped by the Urapmin people. The Urapmin people solely worship God, yet seek out advice from Spirit women who still ask, supposedly on behalf of the Holy Spirit himself, to carry out religious practices of the past. The religious practice performed most frequently is the sacrifice of pigs, carried out in order to relieve sicknesses allegedly caused by angered nature spirits. I found it interesting that while the Urapmin people remain loyal to God, they still believe in the nature spirits enough to want to appease them with an occasional animal sacrifice. It is unfortunate that the original religion of the Urapmin people is no longer accepted nor practiced frequently. However, through the Spirit women, what little remnants there are of the Urapmin’s religious past remain.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that the main link to communication through speech came from these Spirit women until the missionaries came and speech became a more normal way of communication. I wish there were some examples of how the Urapmin people would communicate through exchange. Back to the Spirit women, it is interesting that many people are willing to take what they say as 100% truth, despite contradicting what Jesus says is wrong, like the sacrifice of the pig to get rid of the nature demons. It seems as if these two religions are interwoven, with the existence of these demons or evil spirits, and Jesus, God, etc. I wonder how this affects the language these people use when referring to the spirits or Jesus?
ReplyDeleteIt’s so crazy how most of these Pacific Island cultures and languages are being jeopardized due to missionaries taking over and changing their sacred ways of life. The Tok Pisin language used by the Urapmin people from Papua New Guinea is similar to the use of Pidgin by the Hawaii people. Tok Pisin and Pidgin both create heated debates within their communities. The thoughts of Christianity upon the Spirit Women have relied greatly upon the language and speech. It was interesting to see how the major connection to communication through speech came from the Spirit Women. It’s so extreme how whatever they say is the truth and should be fully believed.
ReplyDeleteThis topic about the Spirit women's influence on linguistic and material exchange is really quite interesting. The Spirit women try to be put importance on the reliability of speech by giving it an origin - that of the Holy Spirit. Since traditionally, "things seen have an epistemological value that far outstrips that of those one heard about" (Makihara, 135). In doing so, they are trying to attract Urapmin peoples to follow Christianity and accept what the Bible says is true on the basis that the Holy Spirit is a divine power that should be trusted. The complications that the Spirit women run into stem from the concept of material importance that seeing is believing. Since they aren't able to show these visions that they receive from the Holy Spirit, they have a harder time convincing people of the truths that the Holy Spirit speak of. People criticize by saying that they are evil spirits instead.
ReplyDeleteI think its interesting how people, such these spirit women, believe that they almost have a touch of divinity, or superiority to other commoners. Although this cultural practice has increase speech based communication, i feel that it has a major downside, in a sense a separation within societies. These women have no way of proving that they have in fact had some sort of contact with the holy spirit, yet they use themselves as examples of why people should trust and believe in the holy spirit. By believing in their superiority, it also almost seems like they are directing attention more at themselves instead of the divine spirit.
ReplyDeleteThis article caught my attention about the material and liguistic exchange. In pre-Christian age, it is understandbale for Urapmin to hold that it is not enough for one's speech to convey social truth. They prefter gift changing. Even today, I still agree with their opinion because nowadays, because of devil, people always tell lies. What is really interesting is that Urapmin think themselves as a Christianity community. They still are not sure speech is holy. It is controlled by the Spirit Women who is possessed by the holy spirit. I agree with JMW in this point. It is possible some message coming from the evil spirit. They always ask people to give the sacrifice. What they did sometime irritated people by unreasonable request. What seems ridiculous is they also think God's word is divine speech, it can hold social truth. From my perspective, for God, materialistic exchange is inferior to liguistic.
ReplyDeleteThe part that was of interest was how both Christianity and "modern truth speakers" co-existed with one another. Normally when one believes in a religious entity that is their contact with their spiritual side. The "spirit meri" seem to be like priests, the "unimpeachable truth speakers" that the people would go to for advice when something has gone awry who would give advice and tell them what to do like how sacrificing a pig would equate to praying to a particular saint and maybe 10 Hail Mary's. The Urapmin's way of communication is pretty bizarre regarding material exchanges and communication and how "reconciliation is not affected by verbal apologies, but rather by a return to material exchange.".
ReplyDeleteI found this article interesting from the get go considering the title, "You can't talk behind the holy spirit's back". I believe that everywhere missionaries go to spread the words and belief of gods they somehow change that culture and language. These women in this article claim they have some connection with the holy spirit but yet they have no proof and they want everyone to believe them. The holy spirit don't need others to prove that it exist or to believe in it. It can do that all on its own.
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