<i>Lulik</i> encounters and cultural frictions in East Timor: Past and present

McWilliam, Andrew; Palmer, Lisa; Shepherd, Christopher

doi:10.1111/taja.12101

Cited by 37 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 25 publications

(42 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…McWilliam et al. (Forthcoming) discuss ‘encounters’ of foreigners (colonizers, anthropologists, naturalists, and the Catholic Church) with the power of lulik in different areas of Timor‐Leste. It strikes me that the role of foreign powers in the country is one that is structurally similar to that of lulik powers, since these foreigners also represent an external other that is both dangerous and can be appropriated for one's own advantage.…”

Section: Concluding Discussion: Proximity and Distancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The terms luli or lulik exist not just in Idaté, the language spoken in the Laclubar subdistrict, but also in many other East Timorese languages: for example, lulik is falun in Makassae, tei in Fataluku, po in Bunak, and luli in Kemak and Naueti (McWilliam et al. Forthcoming:2) . Lulik has been translated from Tetum as ‘sacred’, ‘prohibited’, ‘taboo’, or ‘holy’ (Hull :227), and in the literature lulik is mostly used in combination with a noun, describing the property of a specific place, building, or object.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, Trinidade notes that lulik can be a source of morality and social obligation (see also McWilliam et al. Forthcoming).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Lulik: Taboo, Animism, or Transgressive Sacred? An Exploration of Identity, Morality, and Power in Timor‐Leste

Bovensiepen

2014

Oceania

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article explores the continued significance of lulik for people living in the central highlands of Timor‐Leste today, lulik being a term frequently translated as ‘sacred’. In contrast to the straightforward definition of lulik as the sacred property of religious places or objects set apart from everyday life, it shows that lulik is understood as a potency that animates the environment and that is concentrated in specific sites in the landscape, in ancestral objects and houses. As a vital energy that sustains life, yet that is connected to prohibitions, danger, and restrictions, lulik shares an affinity with similar phenomena found in Melanesia, Polynesia, and Southeast Asia (such as mana, tapu, or semangat). Engaging with recently reinvigorated approaches to animism and Durkheim's notion of the sacred, this article examines how lulik that emerges when distinctions between human and non‐human entities are collapsed. The analysis of how Funar residents maintain a distance from this transgressive force leads to an exploration of how lulik is connected to the constitution of the self, and how lulik is mobilized as a source of power and morality.

show abstract

Section: Concluding Discussion: Proximity and Distancementioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Lulik: Taboo, Animism, or Transgressive Sacred? An Exploration of Identity, Morality, and Power in Timor‐Leste

Bovensiepen

2014

Oceania

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As a critical marker of environment, water has received much academic attention. This ranges from analysis of Indigenous water world-views (Austin-Broos, 2009;McWilliam, Palmer & Shepherd, 2014;Strang, 2005a;Strang, 2005b;Watts, 2008) to the political manipulation of water to manipulate people for (nation-) state purposes (Bichsel, 2016;Wittfogel, 1957) that emphasise links, rather than divisions, between nature and culture(s). Water has also captured the academic imagination at both the African continental (Drewal, 2008;Fontein, 2015;Peters, 1994) and Ghanaian level (Akyeampong, 2001;Amuquandoh, 2010;Cless, 2012, pp.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environment as Justice: Interpreting the State(s) of Drowning and Undercurrents of Power in Ghana

Wissing¹

2019

ARAS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article explores Akwamu understandings of the Volta and other rivers in Ghana-valued for their life-giving qualities-when they become the opposite: the cause of death by drowning. By engaging with customary ideas of the environment as an active player, influenced by deities, I seek to map local Akwamu perspectives of the environment as justice onto international models that posit the environment in need of justice and guardianship through human management. Akwamu traditional authorities have described river environments as a fair and unbiased avenue through which to resolve disputes. By dwelling on drowning, I explore Akwamu and broader Akan notions of 'good' or 'natural' compared to 'bad' or 'unnatural' deaths, the latter thought to reflect human-environment and inter-human social breakdown as well as the moral worth of the drowned victim. Through customary ritual practices, traditional representatives separate the Akwamu state, or society, from an individual's bad, watery death and restore humanenvironment and inter-human order in social life on land. Stir the waters, however, and Akwamu understandings of rivers highlight a hierarchy in human-environment relations as well as undercurrents of power between humans. By analysing beliefs, interpretations, and ritual behaviours in response to drowning, I reconceptualise Akwamu dynamics of power in reflections on environments as justice.

show abstract

“…Throughout Timor, and increasingly in Oecussi where the language has come to serve as a lingua franca , places and objects such as this are referred to using the Tetun word lulik. See McWilliam et al () for a detailed description of the concept and its history. The Meto equivalent to this, used in exactly the same sense, is le’u.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Book of Dan. The Door in the Tree. Emergent Frameworks for Faith and Healing among the Meto of Timor‐Leste

Rose

2017

Oceania

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Over the past 40 years, Timor‐Leste’s Oecussi enclave has seen significant urbanization, with many families choosing to relocate from the mountains to the district capital in search of economic and educational opportunity. This article revolves around the case study of a spiritual healer referred to as Brother (Maun) Dan who, after a purported encounter with Mary, Joseph, and the Baby Jesus on the sacred beach of Lifau, is believed to have acquired the ability to heal the sick and has organized his followers into a Catholic affiliated mystical organization called the Sacred Family. Situating Dan’s story within the literature on spirituality and healing in the region, this article explores how, through reconciling indigenous (meto) beliefs revolving around ancestral spirits and sacred landscapes with the high‐status foreign (kase) institution of the Catholic Church and its associated iconography and scripture, Dan has been able to deploy distinctly Timorese perspectives on health and healing to address the needs of people living in an increasingly globalized peri‐urban setting.

show abstract

Lulik encounters and cultural frictions in East Timor: Past and present

Cited by 37 publications

References 25 publications

Lulik: Taboo, Animism, or Transgressive Sacred? An Exploration of Identity, Morality, and Power in Timor‐Leste

Lulik: Taboo, Animism, or Transgressive Sacred? An Exploration of Identity, Morality, and Power in Timor‐Leste

Environment as Justice: Interpreting the State(s) of Drowning and Undercurrents of Power in Ghana

The Book of Dan. The Door in the Tree. Emergent Frameworks for Faith and Healing among the Meto of Timor‐Leste

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About