Hemer, “Local, Regional, and Worldly Interconnections”

Hemer, Susan. 2011. Local, Regional, and Worldly Interconnections: The Catholic and United Churches in Lihir, Papua New Guinea. The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology 12(1): 60-73.

Abstract: At the local level, globalisation has often been interpreted as being passively accepted or heroically resisted. In the specific context of Christianity in the Lihir Islands, Papua New Guinea, this paper challenges both conceptualisations. The trajectories of the Catholic and United churches in Lihir began similarly but have diverged: neither can be cast simply as localised or globalised. To understand the complex historical, local, regional and global manifestations and interconnections of Lihirian Christianity I draw inspiration from Tomlinson’s suggestion of ‘complex connectivity’.

A part of the special issue: Negotiating the Horizon-Living Christianity in Melanesia