Fire on the Island
Fear, Hope and a Christian Revival in Vanuatu
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Berghahn Books
Publishing:1st May '25
£27.95
This title is due to be published on 1st May, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
In 2014, the island of Ahamb in Vanuatu became the scene of a startling Christian revival movement led by thirty children with ‘spiritual vision’. However, it ended dramatically when two men believed to be sorcerers and responsible for much of the society’s problems were hung by persons fearing for the island’s future security. Based on twenty months of ethnographic fieldwork on Ahamb between 2010 and 2017, this book investigates how upheavals like the Ahamb revival can emerge to address and sometimes resolve social problems, but also carry risks of exacerbating the same problems they arise to address.
“Clearly written, the book reads easily and offers an accessible case study that students and scholars of the Pacific will find useful and informative. It adds to a growing literature on contemporary Melanesian Christianities and older anthropological concerns with social movements everywhere.”• Oceania
“Students and scholars of the Pacific will appreciate this clearly written monograph. It adds to a growing literature on contemporary Christianities, social movements, personhood, and sorcery in postcolonial communities. Bratrud frames the story as one of an anxious balance between people’s hopes and fears. What drives people to desire and animate change in their lives?”• Lamont Lindstrom, University of Tulsa
“It is an amazing story. It is a remarkable book. There is nothing like it out there.”• Tanya Luhrmann, Stanford University
ISBN: 9781836950608
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
276 pages