Australian Journal of Anthropology最新文献

New technologies open up the possibility of rapid social change the likes of which has not been seen since the appearance of anatomically modern humans: humanity being either substituted by or transformed into a new post-human species. Such an unprecedented change is difficult to concretely imagine in advance of its occurrence because it would unfold in a heretofore unheralded manner, and due to the speed with which it might happen, the only real indication of being on the cusp of such an even might be ‘affective indexes.’ For various reasons, models based on either Christian apocalyptic literature, the post-human academic turn, or science fiction are unreliable models of what these ‘affective indexes’ might be like. This essay explores whether horror literature in general and the writings of H.P. Lovecraft, in particular, might serve as models of what such ‘affective indexes’ of such a transformation might be and suggests that senses of disjunctures in scale, of time being ‘out of joint,’ of disturbing problematizations of what constitutes the human, and of religious horror and the sublime may be ways that humanity might anticipate the unthinkable prospect of being replaced.

How do Pentecostal Christians seek repair and renewal in their lives, after their efforts to rupture with the past and become born again? In this article, I wish to consider the ways that a group of Nigerian Pentecostals who belong to a deliverance church re-narrativise their lives by constructing and entering into new timelines of history after their attempts to break with the past. This discursive project works to insert a notion of ‘Black Africa’ into an authentically Christian historical chronology that stretches far back into the biblical past and forward to the eschaton. In this way, Africa's unique spiritual character is seen as reflected not only in its reasserted claim to Christian history, but also in its eschatologically driven destiny to re-evangelise the world. This tells us something about the theological way these Christians reframe their role in history, including how their understanding of a collective past shapes their vision of who they are in the present and will be in the future. In this article, I argue that more attention needs to be given to processes of repair, repositioning and realignment in discussions about how conversion to Pentecostalism can generate efforts to break away from what becomes conceptualised as ‘the past’.

The embrace of Donald J. Trump as a presidential candidate in 2016 was not a given for evangelical voters. The thrice married, one-time advocate for abortion, who prided himself on his ability to attract beautiful women did not seem like someone for whom evangelicals would enthusiastically show up to vote. Understanding the need to excite the tepid Evangelical base, evangelical leaders planned a meeting of 1000 pastors on 21 June 2016 in New York City. Mike Huckabee moderated this carefully planned question-and-answer interview with Donald J. Trump. Well-known politically engaged evangelical pastors, including James Dobson, Franklin Graham, Jerry Falwell Jr., Tony Perkins and David Jeremiah, asked planted questions to which Donald J. Trump responded. I learned from ethnographic interviews with evangelical advisors to President Trump in 2020 that this meeting was the moment that they, and many other evangelical pastors, moved from scepticism to support of Donald J. Trump. In this article, I will analyse the 2016 meeting to understand how it helped propel Donald J. Trump into the White House. Specifically, I will use the lens of diffusion theory to understand how this meeting served as a rupture and tipping point of change for evangelical pastors' support.

To all intents and purposes, the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, the Brethren of Gamrie, and the Orange Order each claim a monopoly over theological truth, believing that they are right and that everyone else is wrong. Such a position is hardly exceptional – strong versions of pluralism take precisely this same monopolistic stance, calling, in effect, for a rejection of anything that rejects anything. Through an examination of such exceptionalist logics, this article seeks to provoke the anthropology of religion to ask certain questions about the social life of theological truth claims. Importantly, by asking anthropological questions (what makes a truth claim ‘stick’; what difference does it make in the world?), the anthropologist of religion is likely to encounter theological questions posed in response. Where does truth come from? What makes it true? What does such truth demand? While answering a question with another question is not always very revealing, this article suggests that in this case it might be, especially if some genuine attempt is made to answer the latter theological questions as a route to answering the former anthropological ones. More specifically, this article argues that anthropology might learn something about the nature of religious change, and changes to religious beliefs, if it first attempts to makes sense of (in this case, Protestant Fundamentalist) theological critiques of doctrinal change.

This article aims to describe and analyse graffiti arts and tags in the city of Nouméa, the capital of New Caledonia, a multicultural and multilingual city which is home to people who have moved from many different areas of New Caledonia and other countries of the South Pacific. I aim to understand how the citizens of Nouméa use graffiti and tags to construct their plural identities and identify themselves as Nouméens, as residents of Nouméan suburbs, and as people from other regions, with continued attachment and identification to these areas (tribal villages, islands, countries) of origin. How do they express these multiple senses of belonging? Which visual symbols, words, linguistic codes and norms do they use? How can this literacy help younger generations simultaneously reclaim their urban spaces (‘I'm from here and elsewhere’, ‘I have my place in this city!’) and assert their Oceanic identities?

The police shooting of Kumunjayi Walker in Yuendumu in November 2019 instigated an immediate and determined response from Warlpiri families who were shocked and saddened by the death of a loved one in the prime of his life and enraged by this latest event in a long string of colonial injustices. This article collates perspectives as expressed in interviews and public statements from Warlpiri spokespeople who have been on the frontline of the fight for Justice for Walker. Incorporating the initial responses in the days after the shooting, the links to the Coniston massacre in Warlpiri and neighbouring country in 1928, the ongoing horror of Aboriginal deaths in custody and the escalating energy behind the Black Lives Matter campaigns across the world, this article illustrates, through Warlpiri voices, the ways in which people from Yuendumu have expertly used the techniques of activist campaigns in their resolute fight for justice for Walker, for all Aboriginal people across Australia and for Black and First Nations people world-wide.

The residents of Gilbert Camp, an illegal settlement on the outskirts of Honiara, the capital city of Solomon Islands, recurrently declare that life in town is hard. However, they have been migrating there, they keep doing so notwithstanding great challenges, and create the conditions for others to settle too. The apparent contradiction between their ideas and behaviours is resolved by looking at their home-making practices, and interpreting negative statements as commentaries. These commentaries evaluate their efforts to turn Honiara into a home and a place where they can live the “good” life. Home is not just a matter of urban belonging and place-making, neither it is just a matter of surviving in the “hard” urban context; rather it is a complex negotiation between cultural priorities, the specific needs of local communities, and their commitment to create a home away from home.

This article studies the relationships that the Centre des Métiers d’Art de la Polynésie française (CMA—Centre for Arts and Crafts of French Polynesia), five contemporary artists connected to it, and their artworks, have with the city of Pape'ete and its urban environment. The first part analyses the teaching philosophy of the CMA and foregrounds its role as a tool of social mobility for its students and in reinforcing positive representations of Indigenous Polynesians and heritage. The second part examines how the initiatives led by the CMA in Pape'ete are invitations to a shift in mindset. The third part explores how the artists express and reflect on their sense of belonging and highlights how their relationship with urban areas is enriched by their life experiences and their family roots in broader territories.

This paper explores the political economy of Australia's prison industrial complex and its severe impact on Indigenous communities. Taking a historical perspective, the paper moves between a broader analysis of the forced extraction of Indigenous labour by the state and private enterprise and the violence against Indigenous people which accompanies it.