Literal Meanings: The Case of Mekeo Sorcery

In a recent article in The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology (TAPJA), Bergendorff () offers a new approach to the interpretation of traditional sorcery practices among the Mekeo peoples of Papua New Guinea involving the transcendence of certain conceptual divisions of the indigenous cosmology and local understandings of personhood and the institutional order. On the basis of the ‘literal meaning’ for various words of the Mekeo language, Bergendorff argues that his interpretation resolves an earlier debate on the topic of Mekeo sorcery between Stephen () and me (Mosko ). This essay examines the ethnographic data that Bergendroff brings to bear in support of his new interpretation and juxtaposes his methodological use of literal meanings against authoritative linguistic analyses of the Mekeo language and its several dialects (Desnoës , ; Jones ). It is concluded that Bergendorff's analysis is internally inconsistent, that his use of literal meanings is unsupportable, and that the resulting view of Mekeo sorcery, personhood, society and cosmos is profoundly distorted.     

“中甸之争”:清初丽江改土归流原因探析

清初,滇西北地区形势复杂多变,康熙年间丽江木氏土司对中甸等地的控制权进行了近40年(1682-1720)的争夺。“中甸之争”涉及云南、四川、和硕特蒙古、丽江木氏土司等多方势力,并一直延续到丽江改土归流前夕,与丽江改土归流有重要联系。中甸的战略地位以及“中甸之争”是丽江改土归流的内因,罗卜藏丹津叛乱是外因,“中甸之争”的影响是高其倬奏请清政府丽江改土归流的直接理由,而土民控诉、请求改土归流则是丽江改土归流的导火索。