Copyright © 2005 Tom Ludvigson. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
This
work is an ethnographic account of the kleva
of
central Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu - a handful of healers
credited with powers beyond those of their neighbours.
Their concerns include matters like illness, sorcery,
witchcraft, spirits and dreaming. The account is based on
seventeen months field research among the Kiai-speaking
population on the south-east side of the upper Ari valley
in south central Santo.
My method is primarily descriptive. In the main body of the
work I give accounts of face-to-face encounters and
conversations with the kleva
and
their neighbours, attempting to build up a picture of
the kleva
that takes into
consideration not only what they do, but also the meaning
of their activities for themselves and for their
neighbours.
In the conclusion I discuss the relevance of my material to
some problems in the ethnography of Melanesian religions. I
also raise issues of interpretation, seen to lie at the
core of both topic and method in ethnographic pursuits.