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Note on the Reincarnation Beliefs of the Gumini People of the Simbu Province of Papua New Guinea
Author(s) -
Johnstone Joan D.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
oceania
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.356
H-Index - 25
eISSN - 1834-4461
pISSN - 0029-8077
DOI - 10.1002/j.1834-4461.2003.tb02826.x
Subject(s) - new guinea , reincarnation , kinship , belief system , ethnology , geography , sociology , anthropology , epistemology , philosophy
This note describes the traditional reincarnation belief system of the Guminis, a small group of people living in the south‐east of the Simbu Province of the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. This system embraces the belief that the spirit of some humans is, after death, reincarnated within the body of another living person of similar age and probably of the same sex as the deceased. This person, a stranger, then represents the continuation of the life of the person who died in terms of his/her social and kinship relationships. It is demonstrated that this belief system was functional in traditional Gumini society but may not continue to be so in future due to rapid changes in rural and urban life currently affecting the people of Papua New Guinea.