Seminar Series: Abstract

09:30
September 09 2009
Seminar Room A

Translating Christianity: Some keywords, events and sites in Western Arrernte conversion
Diane Austin-Broos (Anthropology, University of Sydney)

This paper considers a range of Western Arrernte terms employed by missionaries at Hermannsburg to translate the Bible and the Lutheran liturgy and hymns. My argument is that initially words were employed as metaphors in order to convey a Christian transcendental and ritual order quite different from the Arrernte one the terms had named previously. I examine the events and the Western Arrernte response that over time redefined some terms and shaped an Arrernte Christian vernacular. The discussion connects conversion with the violence of pastoralism’s impact and the advent of sedentary life. This change is described in terms of an ontological shift legitimated by the ‘delegated’ power of words.