The Religious Imagination in NewGuinea, edited by Gilbert Herdt andMichele Stephen. New Brunswick, NJ:

Rutgers University Press, 1989. ISBN

idioms and values and focuses insteadon diagnostic issues. As well, it opensthe way to theorizing, as it were, in thevernacular. In her introduction,Strathern encourages a focus on agencyin regional gender studies-"The hopewas that a newish term would givescope to slough off assumptions andpremises which might obscure ourgrasp of indigenous presuppositionsabout social action" (25). Indeed,agency is a topic most of the contribu­tors, in one way or another, take up.Displacing "the concept of intentional­ity with an encompassing definition ofthe ability to act" (24), Strathern advo­cates determining "not how individualsconstruct and spin meanings out ofsituations, but how social and culturalsystems allocate responsibility ... orcapability" (24). Treating "society" as afield of action within which variouscategories of actors become differen­tially empowered, Strathern brings intoassociation gender, power, andexchange, along with indigenousnotions of agency and fields of socialaction. If pursued, areal studies couldbecome the source of a theoreticallyrefurbished gender studies as feminismand anthropology redefine their rela­tionship. Strathern's own Gender ofthe Gift is a sustained experiment in theuse of regional enthnography for suchpurposes.

ALETTA BIERSACK

University ofOregon

454

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THE CONTEMPORARY PACIFIC· FALL 1991

0-8135-1457-6,262 pp, notes, bibliog­raphy, index. Cloth US$48; paper,us$16.

Anthropologists working in the Pacifichave devoted much attention recentlyto how people manufacture ethnicidentities, refashion histories, andcreate new self images through narra­tives. The best of these studies do twothings-they illustrate how peopleactively shape the cultural systems theyshare, and they convey some sense ofthe actual experience of individualactors. By exploring the creative role offantasy and imagination in Papua NewGuinea religious experience, the con­tributors to The Religious Imaginationin New Guinea achieve both objectiveswith subtlety and clarity.

The book is perhaps betterdescribed as a collaboration than acollection, for all five contributorssuccessfully frame their independentethnographic analyses around the edi­tors' new psychological concept: the"religious imagination" of the book'stitle. It refers to the religious expres­sion of a creative, largely unconscious,mental process that "serves to adjustand harmonize" (230) inner desireswith social demands. It produces thesymbolic material for dreams, visions,and fantasies animating religiousthought.

Indeed, the book's coherence owesmuch to the editors' theoretical vision.Gilbert Herdt and Michele Stephenoffer not only a jointly authored intro­duction, a conclusion (by Stephen),and two ethnographic chapters (one byeach), but also two additional chaptersdevoted to theory. They take whatcould have been a hopelessly murky

BOOK REVIEWS

concept like "imagination" and createan innovative model for addressingexperience cross-culturally. Herdt setsthe stage by noting that relativiststudies of self experience lack a lan­guage for addressing "defensive andcreative" (21) mental processes, whilepsychological reductions tend to havelittle regard for constitutive culturalinfluence or creative innovation, seeingself experiences as "reflections ofdeeper mentalistic elements, especiallyunconscious drives" (24). He arguesthat we need "a middle ground" ofconceptual thinking (25) that recog­nizes deep psychological forces andcultural influence while also appreciat­ing the role of individual creativity inself-definition. Herdt sees potentialin object relations theory and self­psychology, where attention has beendrawn to the use of cultural symbolsand "the imaginative process" to "fash­ion an inner world," as part of the com­plicated process of distinguishing selffrom other (27-29). In "Spirit Familiarsin the Religious Imagination of SambiaShamans," his ethnographic chapter, heshows effectively how shamans usecultural beliefs about familiars to tapinto "a variety of religious imaginationthat permits them to express throughtheir familiars the desires of the self"(II9). The concept of the spirit familiarenables each individual, in a distinctiveway, to actively negotiate the bounda­ries of self and other.

The Sambia shaman's personal viewof his spirit familiar is a product of his"autonomous imagination," a processexplored explicitly by Stephen in hertheoretical chapter and conclusion. Shesuggests that human beings are alwaysunconsciously engaged in a special

455

mode of imaginative thought that syn­thesizes new experiences with existingemotional and cognitive configura­tions. This process has creative prod­ucts ("autonomous imaginings") thatare accessible through dreams, visions,hallucinations, and other related men­tal states. It is "autonomous" in that itsproducts have a character that seemsalien to the self. Dreams, for example,give the impression of being "an exter­nal reality [one] had no part in creat­ing" (43). Cultures may define theontological status of dreams differ­ently, but the alien character of thedream world is universal. Indeed,Stephen notes, "certain inner statesseem universally marked as alien to theself" (42).

Stephen contrasts the autonomousimagination with Freud's dynamicunconscious, where thoughts are re­pressed because they are objectionable.For Freud, "the products of the uncon­scious were essentially infantile andinferior" (182). In contrast, the autono­mous imagination is therapeutic, help­ing people come to terms with-notescape from-psychological conflict.But the contrast with Freud is over­drawn. It is not the case that Freud"gives no credence to the positiveaspects of unconscious fantasy," asStephen contends (183). Freud wroteoften about the tremendous creativepotential of primary process thinking-witness his studies of jokes, artisticinvention, creativity in dreams, and hisportraits of figures like Leonardo andDostoevski. Also, Freud would be thefirst to affirm therapeutic effects ofimagination. Further, Stephen'semphasis on "positive" aspects of reli­gious belief tends to ignore psychologi-

THE CONTEMPORARY PACIFIC. FALL 1991

cal defenses. For her, witchcraft, sor­cery, magic, healing, and so on "can allbe seen not as symbolic disguises ofunconscious desires but as culturallydeveloped techniques to deal with theseforces" (228, my emphasis). Forinstance, in "Dreaming and the HiddenSelf: Mekeo Definitions of Conscious­ness," she stresses that the Mekeo sor­cerer's soul concept "reveals to the selfwider knowledge of . . . inner mentalprocesses" (184). Such beliefs likelyhave defensive components as well.The Mekeo sorcerer's rhetorical asser­tions about his own experiences withhis soul may suppress alternativeviews. It is perhaps better to suggest (asFreud does) that religious idioms bothreveal and disguise. Nevertheless,Stephen's original and well-formulatedconcept is the most important contri­bution to this book. It offers a compel­ling anchor for future studies of theimaginative process.

Bruce Knauft, in "Imagery, Pro­nouncement and the Aesthetics ofReception in Gebusi Spirit Medium­ship," gives a sensitive analysis of theperformative and imaginative processbehind night-long Gebusi divinationseances. The male Gebusi medium, inorder to identify a murdering sorcerer,goes into trance and is possessed by abeautiful spirit woman. In a curiousjuxtaposition of symbols, "she" weavesher sorcery verdict into elaborate songsof sexual ribaldry and longing, to thedelight of the all-male audience.Knaufr's careful analysis of the songs'texts reveals the significant symbolic tie(for Gebusi) between frustration fromsexual longing and frustration fromanger and longing after a death. Themedium's ability to tap his imagination

helps the Gebusi grapple with powerfulpsychological feelings and yet retainthe ambiance of "good company" at theseance.

In "Mortal Insights: Victim andWitch in Nalumin Imagination," EytanBercovitch shows, following WilliamJames, how religious beliefs provideinsight into hidden or unacknowledgedaspects of self and experience. Theimagined figure of the witch, who killsout of revenge or anger for perceivedwrongs, negotiates between the overtworld of good will and the hiddenworld of secret enemies. While noNalumin admits to being a witch, thereis a collective understanding that every­one is responsible for the persistence ofwitchcraft. Because of witchcraft, oneman says, "we are not a good people"(144). Thinking about witchcraft forcespeople to "look more closely at theirrelationships with each other" (145).The imagined witch allows theNalumin to acknowledge and deal with"essential but rejected aspects of thecommunity and individual selves"(146). Bercovitch offers an original andpowerful view of the way witchcraftbeliefs articulate with the social experi­ence of a New Guinea people.

Donald Tuzin's essay, "Visions,Prophecies, and the Rise of ChristianConciousness" deals with the too-Iong­neglected topic of Christian experiencein a Melanesian society. His analysis isdistinctive for its emphasis on both theconstructive, creative aspects of reli­gious imagination and its defensivecomponents. Creativity does not sup­plant the psychological defense system.Tuzin explores with insight how oneremarkable Ilahita Arapesh man wasable to transform himself from mar-

BOOK REVIEWS 457

I, .

This book explores the position ofbiomedicine in the contemporaryhealth care strategies of Papua NewGuinea. Contributing authors wereinvited to frame their studies around

A Continuing Trial of Treatment:Medical Pluralism in Papua NewGuinea, edited by Stephen Frankel andGilbert Lewis. Dordrecht, Holland:Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1989.ISBN I-SS608-676-x, 334 pp, illustra­tions, references, subject index. Cloth,us$89· 00 ; FII65; £53.50.

ginal individual to central religiousprophet by displaying powers throughvisions and healing techniques. Under­lying the prophet's imaginative processis a struggle over the traumas of depen­dency needs, the death of a father, andmarginal social status. Despite hissuccess, he shows evidence of not reallycoming to terms with conflicts over hisfather's death. He suffers from anapparently hysterical crippled condi­tion; he denies feelings of guilt, yetexpresses tortuous relationships withGod and battles with the devil.

Stephen's conclusion skillfully drawsout the central themes of the ethno­graphic essays, showing how in eachcase individuals use culturally sanc­tioned autonomous beings (like souls,familiars, witches, and spirits) to cometo a deeper understanding of them­selves. In all the essays, we catch aglimpse of what specific people reallythink and feel-a treat that is still toorare in anthropological studies.

STEPHEN C. LEAVITT

Washington University

::. ::.

questions of continuity, change, andpluralism, and to interpret how thepersonnel and materiel, and at leastimplicitly the conceptual bases, ofbiomedicine have been received bydifferent societies throughout the coun­try. The marked geographic andsociocultural heterogeneity of PapuaNew Guinea offer no end of varietyacross such factors as settlement sizeand density; subsistence and diet; com­munication within and among diversepopulations, including colonizers;floral and faunal complexity, includinginfectious agents, vectors, secondaryhosts, and items that can be exploitedfor disease prevention and treatment;variations of water, soils, and otherresources. All of these affect percep­tions of health and the circumstancesand treatment of illness; as the studiescompiled here illustrate, the experi­ences of biomedics and biomedicines inPapua New Guinea are as varied as theethnographic contexts into which theyhave been introduced.

In an introductory chapter Frankeland Lewis summarize the history of(biomedical) health services in PapuaNew Guinea and note some key issuesin the interpretation of medical plural­ism. They emphasize the biobehavioralcharacter of all aspects of humanhealth and illness and remark on agentsof change; the influences of varyingsocial, cultural, and environmentalcircumstances on epidemiology; issuesof compliance and dependency; theelements of medical decision making;the influence of biomedicine on indige­nous therapeutics; and the interactionof religion and medicine.

These issues resonate throughoutindividual chapters. For example, Car-