88
G. Jackson and A. Piggott-McKellar
The Changing Perceptions of Hazards and Climate Change
in Three Stages
To understand how modern Bedamuni and I-Kiribati interpret the causes of natural
hazards and climate change, it is important to explore the drivers and consequences
of socio-cultural change over time. To achieve this, we discuss below the following
three stages, (1) pre-contact, (2) colonial and missionary, and (3) contemporary.
Each period is not perfectly demarcated with considerable overlap and strong multilinearity evident. For instance, we recognise that Indigenous societies were never
static, as culture is constantly constructed, contested, and adapted to new social and
biogeophysical influences. As such, these ‘stages’ serve as an analytical tool to create
‘meaningful sequence’ (Ballard 2003) of change. The similarities and differences
between the two case studies will be explored using common themes.
Pre-contact Period
The first period that we discuss is pre-contact—Indigenous perspectives and understandings. Unique yet comparable origin stories involving creator spirits exist in both
study sites. Whereas I-Kiribati are more likely to attribute the title of gods as well as
spirits, in the Bedamuni case, they are considered a type of spirit.
2 We first turn to
the Bedamuni.
The Bedamuni believe in creator spirits that no longer play a role in the human
world. The Bedamuni creation myth suggests there was once no life on the earth
“only mud, mud everywhere” (Sørum 1991: 95). As an elderly informant stated, out
of this mud came “one man called Awamuni, he made all the plants, earth and all this,
and they [ancestors] were living [there]” (Iguabi village 11-08-2018). Awamuni was
a giant and created the first woman Dunumuni by copulating with a tree. Dunumuni
and Awamuni had four children, two males and two females who married. Their
children became the ancestors of all people (Sørum 1991: 95). The lineage of clans
(e.g., dog, pig, crocodile) can be traced to these ancestors. In Bedamuni genesis
stories their ancestors were considered the first people that then became many of the
surrounding cultures (Sørum 1991).
Apart from creator spirits there are three tiers of spirits: nature, ancestral, and
sagisu (offspring of ancestral spirits or of a shaman and spirit woman) (Sørum
1982:44). In Bedamuni society, nature spirits are widely considered dangerous and
responsible for many biophysical processes including droughts, floods, and earthquakes. Spirit mediums called upon ancestral spirits to seek guidance and foreknowledge of hazards and the future more generally. Through correct rituals, ancestral
spirits could intervene and bring rain to break a drought or ensure crops grew well.
For example, an elder male in Igimi village (19-08-2018) suggested,
2 We acknowledged the challenges involved in achieving this type of comparison considering the
translation from local languages into English in this study.
G. Jackson and A. Piggott-McKellar
The Changing Perceptions of Hazards and Climate Change
in Three Stages
To understand how modern Bedamuni and I-Kiribati interpret the causes of natural
hazards and climate change, it is important to explore the drivers and consequences
of socio-cultural change over time. To achieve this, we discuss below the following
three stages, (1) pre-contact, (2) colonial and missionary, and (3) contemporary.
Each period is not perfectly demarcated with considerable overlap and strong multilinearity evident. For instance, we recognise that Indigenous societies were never
static, as culture is constantly constructed, contested, and adapted to new social and
biogeophysical influences. As such, these ‘stages’ serve as an analytical tool to create
‘meaningful sequence’ (Ballard 2003) of change. The similarities and differences
between the two case studies will be explored using common themes.
Pre-contact Period
The first period that we discuss is pre-contact—Indigenous perspectives and understandings. Unique yet comparable origin stories involving creator spirits exist in both
study sites. Whereas I-Kiribati are more likely to attribute the title of gods as well as
spirits, in the Bedamuni case, they are considered a type of spirit.
2 We first turn to
the Bedamuni.
The Bedamuni believe in creator spirits that no longer play a role in the human
world. The Bedamuni creation myth suggests there was once no life on the earth
“only mud, mud everywhere” (Sørum 1991: 95). As an elderly informant stated, out
of this mud came “one man called Awamuni, he made all the plants, earth and all this,
and they [ancestors] were living [there]” (Iguabi village 11-08-2018). Awamuni was
a giant and created the first woman Dunumuni by copulating with a tree. Dunumuni
and Awamuni had four children, two males and two females who married. Their
children became the ancestors of all people (Sørum 1991: 95). The lineage of clans
(e.g., dog, pig, crocodile) can be traced to these ancestors. In Bedamuni genesis
stories their ancestors were considered the first people that then became many of the
surrounding cultures (Sørum 1991).
Apart from creator spirits there are three tiers of spirits: nature, ancestral, and
sagisu (offspring of ancestral spirits or of a shaman and spirit woman) (Sørum
1982:44). In Bedamuni society, nature spirits are widely considered dangerous and
responsible for many biophysical processes including droughts, floods, and earthquakes. Spirit mediums called upon ancestral spirits to seek guidance and foreknowledge of hazards and the future more generally. Through correct rituals, ancestral
spirits could intervene and bring rain to break a drought or ensure crops grew well.
For example, an elder male in Igimi village (19-08-2018) suggested,
2 We acknowledged the challenges involved in achieving this type of comparison considering the
translation from local languages into English in this study.