Buai: “There is Good and Bad There” — Experiencing and narrating the spiritual power of music and dance in the New Guinea Island Region
Year: 2017
Type: article
Abstract: Buai is a form of sorcery known throughout the New Guinea Island region of Papua New Guinea.This socially sanctioned form of magical practice is predominantly used for creative ends, particularly the conjuring of music and dance material.In many parts of New Ireland and among the Lak people of Southern New Ireland, Buai is relied upon to deliver new songs and dances for community celebrations and ritual performance.The practitioners of Buai, known as tena Buai, are revered for their creative powers and occasionally feared for their potential to use their power for destructive ends.Through a combination of personal experience and conversations with tena Buai of Southern New Ireland, this article explores the ways in which tena Buai are perceived by their communities.In this article I take up the idea that social practices, actions and understandings such as those of the Buai practice are intersubjectively constituted through narrative as well as practice and therefore in a constant state of change, flux and negotiation.
Source: Shima
Author: Paul Wolffram
Institution: Victoria University of Wellington
Language: English
Topic: Arts and Performance Studies
Subfield: Visual Arts and Performing Arts
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2762430922