Overview

The Anthropology of Morality in Melanesia and Beyond examines how Melanesians experience and deal with moral dilemmas and challenges. Taking Kenelm Burridge’s seminal work as their starting point, the contributors focus upon public situations and types of people that exemplify key ethical contradictions for members of moral communities. While returning to some classical concerns, such as the roles of big men and sorcerers, the book opens new territory with richly textured ethnographic studies and theoretical reviews that explore the interface between the values associated with indigenous village life and the ethical orientations associated with Christianity, the state, the marketplace, and other facets of ’modernity'. A major contribution to the emerging field of the anthropology of morality, the volume includes some of the most prominent scholars working in the discipline today, including Bruce Knauft, Joel Robbins, F.G. Bailey, Deborah Gewertz and Frederick Errington.

Full Product Details

9780754671855

Table of Contents

Reviews

'Over the past century, anthropologists working in Melanesia have produced more than their fair share of major contributions to anthropological theory and social scientific debates. In this excellent collection, John Barker has gathered a first rate line up of scholars who further the trend. Returning to Kenelm Burridge's seminal work, the contributors raise issues that are sure to excite, enlighten and provoke not only Melanesianists, but all those interested in conceptions of morality.' Matthew Engelke, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK 'A touchstone concept in the anthropology of morality, obligation permeates people's lives around the world. Readers of this book will find unique insights into moral dilemmas of obligation in leadership, gender relations, Christian belief, utopianism, and in exchange relations in development schemes. It provides scholars with a rich account of the contributions of Melanesian ethnography to our understanding of morality as a matter of meeting obligations.' Karen Sykes, University of Manchester, UK 'The Anthropology of Morality in Melanesia and Beyond is clearly underpinned by in-depth knowledge of the region, based on extensive fieldwork...the book is successful in both applying and extending key ideas from Burridge to the ever-changing postcolonial societies of Melanesia.' Island studies Journal 'The compilation of studies motivated by the work of Kenelm Burridge and edited by John Baker, succeeds in maintaining the focus of morality in Melanesia and a high quality of scholarship throughout...it is a book well worth having. Certainly, it is a volume well worth reading' Anthropos 'This ethnographic collection is a valuable contribution to the study of religion and morality in Oceania and will be useful for those in the developing field of comparative religious ethics.' Religious Studies Review 'John Barker's edited volume is a fascinating and ethnographically rich collection of research from noted Pacific scholars...This book will be of particular interest to researchers of Christianity, personhood or political organization in the Pacific Islands...scholars fascinated by how humans grapple with moral choices and existential dilemas in the face of modernity's options, will find an abundance of stimulating material' Pacific Affairs 'Over all one could say this is a coherent collection of astute chapters on social dimensions of morality with perceptive ethnographic case studies, necessary generalizations, and theoretical explorations. A short review cannot do justice to the multiple layers of the book and the richness of the ethnographic and historical material.' Oceania '...an interesting collection of essays dealing with morality, a collection that greatly assists scholars keen to engage with the wide range of themes relating to this topic.' Bijdragen totde Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde

Author Information

John Barker is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, Canada. He has published extensively on the history of Christian missionaries and contemporary indigenous Christianity in Oceania and British Columbia, including the edited book, Christianity in Oceania (1990). His most recent book is Ancestral Lines: The Maisin of Papua New Guinea and the Fate of the Rainforest (2007). John Barker, Joel Robbins, Doug Dalton, Bruce M. Knauft, Frederick Errington, Deborah Gewertz, Dan Jorgensen, Roger Ivar Lohmann, Nancy C. Lutkehaus, Robert Tonkinson, F.G. Bailey, Kenelm Burridge.

Tab Content 6

Countries Available