[Anthropgrad] Wednesday seminar by Matt Tomlinson, 19 September

[Alan Rumsey]

Wednesday seminar for September 19:

Matt Tomlinson, Anthropology, Monash University
Publicity, privacy, and ‘happy deaths’ in Fiji

In this paper, I analyse death as a nexus around which public-private
distinctions are made.  An examination of Wesleyan Methodist missionary
efforts at entextualizing "happy deaths" in nineteenth-century Fiji
shows how the missionaries attempted to create a Christian reading
public "back home" but also unintentionally created a new private zone
of the demonic.  The private demonic zone is analyzed through the
constrained circulation of particular narratives I heard in 2003.
Drawing on the work of Susan Gal and Michael Warner, I argue that the
novel constructions of public and private zones through death narratives
in the nineteenth century helped to shape the events I observed in 2003.

Inquiries to Alan Rumsey
alan.rumsey at anu.edu.au