Nguna
Also known as: Ngunese
Traditional Culture(1870)Expand All +
Belief
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Supernatural Beings |
| Nature Spirits | Present, and a major focus of supernatural practice (Source) |
| Facey (1982), pp. 38-62 | |
| Nature god(s) | Absent (Source) |
| Facey (1982), pp. 38-62 | |
| Ancestral spirits | Present, and a major focus of supernatural practice (Source) |
| Facey (1982), pp. 38-62 | |
| Deified ancestor(s) | Absent (Source) |
| Facey (1982), pp. 38-62 | |
| God(s) | Present, but not a major focus of supernatural practice (Source) |
| Facey (1982), pp. 38-62 | |
Supernatural Punishment |
| Supernatural punishment for impiety | Present (Source) |
| Facey (1982), pp. 100 | |
Afterlife and Creation |
| One's actions while living can affect the nature of one's afterlife | Absent (Source) |
| Facey (1982), pp. 60 | |
| The actions of others after one has died can affect the nature of one's afterlife | One factor in determining one's afterlife (Source) |
| Facey (1982), pp. 60 | |
General Features |
| Forces of nature are controlled by or imbued with the supernatural | Present (Source) |
| Facey (1982), pp. 178 | |
Classes of Tapu |
| Resource management tapu | Present (Source) |
| Facey (1982), pp. 48 | |
Practice
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General Supernatural Practices |
| Headhunting | Absent (Source) |
| Facey (1982), pp. 38-62 | |
| Costly sacrifices and offerings | Present (Source) |
| Facey (1982), pp. 59-60 | |
| Largest religious community | Larger than a local community, smaller than the society (Source) |
| Facey (1982), pp. 38-62 | |
| Political and religious differentiation | Some overlap (Source) |
| Facey (1982), pp. 38-62 | |
Social Environment
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| Population | 1200 (Source) |
| Don (1927), pp. 12 | |
| Importance of Patrilateral descent | Low (Source) |
| Facey (1982), pp. 38-54 | |
| Importance of Matrilateral descent | High (Source) |
| Facey (1982), pp. 38-54 | |
| Kinship system | Crow (Source) |
| Facey (1982), pp. 78 | |
| Polygamy | Limited polygyny (Source) |
| Facey (1982), pp. 47-48 | |
| Marital residence | Patrilocal or virilocal - with husband's kin (Source) |
| Facey (1982), pp. 39 | |
Conflict |
| (No) external warfare | Rare or never (Source) |
| Facey (1982), pp. 38-54 | |
| (No) internal warfare | Frequent, occurring at least yearly (Source) |
| Facey (1982), pp. 38-39, 41-42 | |
Isolation
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| Distance to closest landmass inhabited by a different culture (km) | 0.2 (Source) |
| Facey (1982), pp. 14 | |
| Distance to nearest continent | 1818.0 (Source) |
| Daft Logic Distance Calculator (2014) | |
| Pre-Austronesian population | Absent: No evidence of human occupation prior to Austronesian settlement (Source) |
| Bellwood (1995), pp. 109 | |
| Hindu / Buddhist influence on supernatural belief | No evidence of influence and not in region of known contact (Source) |
| Cribb (2000), pp. Map 2.21 | |
| Islamic influence on supernatural belief | No evidence of influence and not in region of known contact (Source) |
| Cribb (2000), pp. Map 2.23 | |
| Christian influence on supernatural belief | No evidence of influence but in a region where contact is likely (Source) |
| Facey (1982), pp. 55-56 | |
Physical Environment
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Geographical Range of Culture |
| Number of islands inhabited by culture | One (Source) |
| Facey (1982), pp. 14 | |
Features of Island with Largest Culture Population |
| Island type (island with largest culture population or largest island if unknown) | Volcanic high island (Source) |
| Facey (1982), pp. 16 | |
| Island Size (km²) | 27.4 (Source) |
| Diamond & Marshall (1977) | |
| Maximum elevation (meters) | 593.0 (Source) |
| Diamond & Marshall (1977) | |
Location |
| Latitude | -17.4 (Source) |
| Facey (1982), pp. 14 Google Maps (2014) |
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| Longitude | 168.4 (Source) |
| Facey (1982), pp. 14 Google Maps (2014) |
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Post Contact History(?)Expand All +
Religious History
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Conversion |
| Role of social status in conversion process | Primarily a top-down process. (Source) |
| Facey (1982), pp. 181 | |
| Adoption of a world religion | Present and predominant (Source) |
| Don (1927), pp. 267 | |
| Resident missionary involvement in conversion process | Present, and from non-Austronesian societies (Source) |
| Don (1927), pp. 267 | |
Syncretic Movements |
| Syncretic religious movements | Absent (Source) |
| Facey (1982), pp. 59 | |
External Links
References
Bellwood, P. (1995). Austronesian Prehistory in Southeast Asia: Homeland, Expansion and Transformation. P. Bellwood, J.J. Fox, & D. Tryon (Eds.), The Austronesians: Historical and Comparative Perspectives (pp 113-114). Canberra, Australia: ANU Press.
Cribb, R. (2000). Historical atlas of Indonesia. Surrey, UK: Curzon Press.
Daft Logic Distance Calculator. (2014). http://www.daftlogic.com/projects-google-maps-distance-calculator.htm.
Diamond, J. M., & Marshall, A. G. (1977). Distributional ecology of New Hebridean birds: a species kaleidoscope. The Journal of Animal Ecology, 703-727.
Don, A. (1927). Peter Milne (1834-1924): Missionary to Nguna, New Hebrides, 1870 to 1924 from the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand. Dunedin, New Zealand: Foreign Missions Committee, P.C.N.Z.
Facey, E. E. (1982). Ideology and identity: Social construction of reality on Nguna, Vanuatu (Doctoral thesis, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia). Retrieved from ses.library.usyd.edu.au
Google Maps (2014). Retrieved from maps.google.com