The Converted War Canoe: Cannibal Raiders, Missionaries and "Pax Britannica" on Dobu Island, Papua New Guinea

Authors

  • Susanne Keuhling University of Regina

Keywords:

colonial history, Papua New Guinea, Methodist mission, peace, war canoe, Dobu Island

Abstract

This article examines an historic event of peacemaking: the moment in which warfare was given up by the Dobu Islanders of Papua New Guinea. I provide a larger context of the event by combining the detailed historical sources with local memories and ethnographic detail from my fieldwork over 20 years. This lets me compare three notions of peace: the systemic view of the colonial authority, the spiritual perspective of the missionaries, and the temporal and superficial peace of Dobu Islanders. Framed by newly emerging power relations, the event reminds us that peace is a complex concept that needs more theorizing.

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Published

2015-04-30

How to Cite

Keuhling, S. (2015). The Converted War Canoe: Cannibal Raiders, Missionaries and "Pax Britannica" on Dobu Island, Papua New Guinea. Anthropologica, 56(2), 269–284. Retrieved from https://cas-sca.journals.uvic.ca/index.php/anthropologica/article/view/543

Issue

Vol. 56 No. 2 (2014): Ending War and Sustaining Peace in Pacific Societies

Section

Thematic Section:

License

Copyright (c) 2014 Susanne Kuehling

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