Personhood as History: Māori Conversion in Light of the Polynesian Iconoclasm

Authors

  • Jeffrey Sissons Victoria University of Wellington

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15286/jps.124.2.129-146

Keywords:

Mass conversion, ritual pollution, chiefly personhood, Polynesian Iconoclasm, New Zealand Māori

Abstract

In The Polynesian Iconoclasm: Religious Revolution and the Seasonality of Power (Berghann Books 2014) I described the desecration of god-images and temples during the period 1825-1828. I excluded Māori society from the analysis because there images were not as central to religious life and mass conversions to Christianity occurred in the 1840s. In this article I propose that the later mass conversion in event in New Zealand shared significant features with the Polynesian Iconoclasm. In both instances priests directed their ritual practice towards intense tapu centres, polluting chiefly bodies and triggering radical collective change.

Author Biography

Jeffrey Sissons, Victoria University of Wellington

Jeffrey Sissons is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. He is the author of five books and over 30 articles on Māori and Polynesian societies. His most recent book, The Polynesian Iconoclasm: Religious Revolution and the Seasonality of Power (Berghahn Books), draws on the thoughts of Sahlins and Bourdieu to analyse the rapid conversions to Christianity in early 19th century Polynesia.

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Published

2015-08-23

Issue

Vol. 124 No. 2 (2015)

Section

Articles

License

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