Affiliation:
1. United Nations agencies, UFRGS/Brazil, Universidade Nacional Timor Lorosa’e (UNTL)
Abstract
This chapter analyses the relationship between beliefs in the spirits of nature and the dead and the conception of hero among the Humangili, a community located in Ataúro Island, Timor-Leste. For this purpose I discuss the concept of culture, the influence of Lisan, the notion of person, the symbolism of the given name, the meaning of physical death, the hierarchical system, the relationship between soul and body, and the impacts of adopting Christianity, while also presenting local stories and myths, the journey of the Humangili’s hero, the notion of order and social stability, as well as the perceptions about the supernatural world and its influence in the world of the living. Overall, the ideas about the meaning of hero are part of a complex system that contributes to the maintenance of dominant narratives about local customs, cosmogonies, values and hierarchies, the perception of individual and collective identity, and the feeling of stability and social unity.
Publisher
Amsterdam University Press
Reference67 articles.
1. Barnes, Susanna. 2011. ‘Origins, Precedence and Social Order in the Domain of Ina Ama Beli Darlan’. In Land and Life in Timor Leste: Ethnographic Essays, edited by Andrew McWilliam and Elizabeth G. Traube, 23-46. Canberra: Australian National University Press.
2. Barthes, Roland. 1999. Mitologias. Translated by Rita Buongermino and Pedro de Souza. 10th ed. Rio de Janeiro: Bertrand Brasil.
3. Bettelheim, Bruno. 2009. A psicanálise dos contos de fadas. Translated by Arlene Caetano. São Paulo: Editora Paz e Terra.
4. Boarccaech, Alessandro. 2013. A diferença entre os iguais. São Paulo: Porto de Ideias.
5. Boarccaech, Alessandro. 2018. ‘Perceptions of Women in Timorese Society’. Diálogos Journal 3, no. 3: 178-207.