People in non-western societies conceive of personhood and personality in ways which overlap with but are not at all identical with western (European, American) conceptions. In their desire to comprehend the concept of man belonging to different societies and cultures ethnographers mostly started from the features defining their own concept of man, including particularly their own concept of the soul, and looked for comparable elements in the culture they studied. In this way they did indeed find material which when pieced together produced something which had similarities with their own concept of man. But they were for the most part blind to other features which defined over and above that notions of body, soul, mind and spirit in the cultural setting they studied. Moreover their knowledge of the language was limited. Often the result was a description containing serious gaps, possibly only contributing non-essentials, falsely evaluating essentials, and in extreme cases leading to the conclusion that the foreign concept of body, soul, mind and spirit was somehow identical with that of Europe and the West.
This study about the inhabitants of Chuuk (Federated States of Micronesia) in the Western Pacific is different. It starts strictly from the features defining Chuukese concepts of personhood using the vocabulary and other features of their language in order to work out the so-called emic categories the islanders use to make sense of the world which is their living space.
The author is professor of anthropology. He spent five years of fieldwork in the South Pacific, and has visited Africa, Asia and South America for research on many occasions.
In recent decades foreign cultures have not just loomed large for Europeans seeking holiday destinations. Since the 1960s increasing numbers of professionals such as teachers, doctors, agronomists, and other professional workers and missionaries from Europe and America have been partnering local churches in Africa, Asia and Latin America whose fellowships are often very differently organised. When preparing these specialists, development agencies and missions often overlook the knowledge and insights that ethnology and cultural anthropology have to offer, help that makes it easier for professionals to take their bearings, to be well integrated, and to go about their work more effectively. This book deals with such issues.
For future theorists dealing with foreign cultures (ethnologists, anthropologists, etc.) there is now a whole range of brilliantly written textbooks. However, for development aid practitioners, whether secular workers or church workers, these introductory works are overloaded with theory and are thus difficult to digest. What has been missing until now is a simple introduction to the basic concepts which could enable a European working in foreign surroundings to come to terms with the ethnological literature relevant for his activities overseas, to recognise these essential concepts woven into the daily cultural reality of life and work, and to work with them and to bring to bear his or her own analysis. This book is a simplified introduction along these lines, not just written for the target readers just mentioned, but also for students of ethnology/cultural anthropology and for those who frequent ethnological museums.
The author is professor of anthropology with relevant experience of the issues. He spent five years working in the South Pacific, and has visited Africa, Asia and South America for research on many occasions.
EINE WELT ist ein Musical für Kinder von Bernd Arhelger.
Es erzählt die Geschichte von zwei Tiergruppen in Afrika. Ein breiter und reißender Fluss trennt sie. Beide Gruppen leben für sich und interessieren sich nicht wirklich für die anderen, die Fremden. Entsprechend groß sind Vorbehalte und Vorurteile. Doch die Neugier einiger Tiere schafft es, dass erste Kontakte entstehen. Nach und nach entwickelt sich der Wunsch, die anderen kennenzulernen und eine Verbindung zu schaffen. Die Geschichte findet ihren Höhepunkt mit dem Bau einer Brücke über den Fluss von beiden Seiten aus. Nur zusammen mit allen kann dieses Bauwerk vollendet werden. Dabei lernen die Tiere ihre unterschiedlichen Stärken und Charaktere
Thema: Integration, Inklusion, Wertschätzung
Alter: 7-14 Jahre
Schwierigkeitsgrad: leicht-mittel
Inhalt: mehrstimmige Noten
Besetzung:
Kinderchor (ein-bis vierstimmig)
Für einige Lieder sind solistische Strophen vorgesehen.
Instrumentalbegleitung:
Für die Aufführung steht die Klavierpartitur und Leadsheets zur Verfügung.
Lieder:
Eine Welt
Fremde
Hier geht es tierisch ab
Ich hab Angst
Jetzt geht es richtig los
Was wird passiern
Wir brauchen keine Andern
Wir tanzen und feiern
In recent decades foreign cultures have not just loomed large for Europeans seeking holiday destinations. Since the 1960s increasing numbers of professionals such as teachers, doctors, agronomists, and other professional workers and missionaries from Europe and America have been partnering local churches in Africa, Asia and Latin America whose fellowships are often very differently organised. When preparing these specialists, development agencies and missions often overlook the knowledge and insights that ethnology and cultural anthropology have to offer, help that makes it easier for professionals to take their bearings, to be well integrated, and to go about their work more effectively. This book deals with such issues.
For future theorists dealing with foreign cultures (ethnologists, anthropologists, etc.) there is now a whole range of brilliantly written textbooks. However, for development aid practitioners, whether secular workers or church workers, these introductory works are overloaded with theory and are thus difficult to digest. What has been missing until now is a simple introduction to the basic concepts which could enable a European working in foreign surroundings to come to terms with the ethnological literature relevant for his activities overseas, to recognise these essential concepts woven into the daily cultural reality of life and work, and to work with them and to bring to bear his or her own analysis. This book is a simplified introduction along these lines, not just written for the target readers just mentioned, but also for students of ethnology/cultural anthropology and for those who frequent ethnological museums.
The author is professor of anthropology with relevant experience of the issues. He spent five years working in the South Pacific, and has visited Africa, Asia and South America for research on many occasions.
The lives of missionaries rarely follow a straight and leisurely line. Those who want to acquaint people with the contents of the Bible and lead them to a knowledge of the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, have to be prepared for anything. Hardly anyone can imagine what it means for such a person to leave the familiar European-Western cultural environment and learn to live in an alien social system, learn its language and its totally different thought patterns, and identify with it all. Missionaries see these experiences as life-fulfilling. Sometimes, though, they get caught between the front lines of world politics. That is when the most incredible things may happen, as shown by the life story of Wilhelm Friedrich and Elisabeth Kärcher, the Liebenzell missionary couple.
In the 1930s, they travel to Chuuk in Micronesia, a group of the Caroline Islands in the former German South Seas. With the outbreak of the Second World War, the family is interned by the Japanese; they survive in the midst of bombing raids in an absolutely miraculous way; and afterwards, amidst great personal sacrifices, they rebuild a totally destroyed church structure which then became an independent body in the seventies, known as the ?Evangelical Church of Chuuk? (EEC).
The author, professor of ethnology, knew Wilhelm F. Kärcher and his wife personally and, in response to their invitation, worked on Chuuk for several years as teacher and Bible translator.
This book deals with a subject rarely chosen for study in either Missiology or Anthropology. By combining new research methods from cognitive anthropology with older methods of the culture-and-personality school, it describes and analyzes the life history of an African individual. Thus, it finally draws conclusions of a more missiological character.
What Robert Badenberg has successfully brought to light is one important aspect of the dialectic between culture and the individual. His argumentation is consistent and easy to follow. It begins with the general concept of body and sickness. The second part of his writing begins with the quest for healing, focusing on personal and cultural concepts. It ends with missiological conclusions about the individual in his cultural context: communication, conversion, counseling.
In his thesis the author is breaking new ground. To missionaries and anthropologists alike the book provides a wealth of information and models to be used in follow-up research.
Robert Badenberg, born 1961. 1976-1979 training in Mechanical Engineering. From 1982-1987 theological studies at the Seminary of Liebenzell Mission International. Missionary to Zambia/Southern Africa from 1989 to 2003. 1999 he earned a M.A. in Missiology from the external study center of Columbia International University in Germany with a thesis that investigated Bemba anthropology, a tribal group in the northern part of Zambia. Doctoral Studies at the University of South Africa (UNISA) which culminated in this dissertation that earned him a Doctor of Theology degree in Missiology in 2001.