Ritual Sociality and the Limits of Shamanic Efficacy among the Luangans of Indonesian Borneo
January 2, 2021 DOI: 10.1080/00664677.2021.1886903 via Semantic Scholar
Summary
Healing rituals among the Luangans of Indonesian Borneo rely on sociality with nonhuman beings and among participants, but this sociality is not always sufficient for success and can even conflict with it. The rituals are shaped by a 'conditional ontology' of not-knowing and human finitude, creating inherent uncertainty. To manage this, participants engage in repeated dramatized acts of 'undoing and redoing' as cautionary measures against the risk of ritual outcomes being reversed.
Study at a glance
| Design | theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key finding | Luangan healing rituals depend on a conditional ontology of not-knowing and human finitude, requiring constant efforts and dramatized acts of 'undoing and redoing' to counter the inherent risk of reversibility in ritual sociality. |
Abstract
ABSTRACT This article uses a myth of the Luangans of Indonesian Borneo to reflect upon the value of sociality and its role in promoting well-being in their healing rituals. In these rituals, sociality with nonhuman beings and between participants is crucial, yet insufficient for, and sometimes at odds with, success. The article describes the multiple modes and valences of this ritual sociality, and how it is fundamentally predicated on a ‘conditional ontology’ of not-knowing and qualified by human finitude. An inherent risk of ‘reversibility’ of ritual sociality propagates constant efforts and cautionary measures, such as recurrent dramatised ritual acts of ‘undoing and redoing’, to counter the inevitable uncertainty of ritual outcomes.