The Role of Dreams in Religious Enculturation among the Asabano of Papua New Guinea

Abstract

Dreams play an important and often underestimated role in cultural transmission because they provide personal experiential verification of incoming information. Dreams facilitated the reception of religious beliefs among the Asabano before, during, and after their conversion to Christianity. Asabano hold the "classic" view that dreams are real experiences of the soul. Therefore, dream encounters with supernaturals provide evidence for such beings' existence and power. The Asabano case suggests that, as evidence, dreams are vital, especially in the transmission of extraordinary religious ideas.

Pentecostal dreaming and technologies of governmentality in a Melanesian society

“…As well as enabling communication with nonhuman spirits and the dead, dreams are an important source of innovation, because spirits can convey new forms of knowledge to humans though this medium. As many other anthropologists have noted, dreams are important vehicles for cultural change and creativity in Melanesia and elsewhere (Burridge 1969:346–347; Glaskin 2005:298; Lattas 1993:66; Lindstrom 1990:316; Lohmann 2000:77; Schieffelin 1979; Stephen 1979:7, 14, 1982, 1995). After random encounters with larada, lagas, and lau (the spirits of humans who have died an unnatural death) when walking alone in the bush or along a road near a place inhabited by these beings, some Lelet have reported having dreams in which forms of artistic expression have been communicated to them, including masks, songs, and dances (Eves 2009).…”

“…Like many others, the Lelet accord a large degree of reality to dreams. Indeed, as Roger Lohmann (2000:81) says, attributing varying degrees of reality to dream experiences rather than dismissing them as fantasy is more the rule than the exception in human societies. For the Lelet, some dreams are understood metaphorically and require interpretation, whereas others are seen as literal representations of reality, albeit on a different experiential plane.…”

“…For the Lelet, some dreams are understood metaphorically and require interpretation, whereas others are seen as literal representations of reality, albeit on a different experiential plane. Discussions of dreaming applying both to Melanesia and more broadly show that dreams are very often understood metaphorically rather than literally (see Glaskin 2005:308; Lohmann 2000:84–85; Wagner 1972:69; Weiner 1986:115, 118). The implications of dreams are not always immediately apparent to the dreamer, for they contain hidden significances and meanings that need to be investigated and discerned, either by the dreamer or by another person who is adept at such work of interpretation (see Kempf and Hermann 2003:65–66).…”

“…In Christianity also, dreams facilitate access to the divine and are sources of miraculous power. With the recent growth in popularity in Melanesia of evangelical, charismatic, and Pentecostal forms of Christianity that place great emphasis on divinely bestowed gifts, there has been an increase in studies examining dreams that have a Christian content (Lohmann 2000, 2003a; Robbins 2003).…”

The supernatural is everywhere: Defining qualities of religion in Melanesia and beyond

“…Stephen (1995) reports that the Mekeo believe in a disembodied 'hidden self ', perceived to leave the body in dreams (see Lohmann 2000). While avoiding the terms 'supernatural ' and 'natural', Stephen (1995:131, 225) identifies the main idiom in which Melanesians express the dichotomy: hidden vs. external realms.…”