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HomeNuméros120-121Dossier : Ethnoécologie en OcéanieLes hommes et leurs volcans : rep...

Dossier : Ethnoécologie en Océanie

Les hommes et leurs volcans : représentations et gestion des phénomènes volcaniques en Polynésie (Hawaii et Royaume de Tonga)

Cécile Quesada
p. 64-73

Abstracts

This article focuses on the study of the relations that two polynesian societies have woven with the volcanoes. In the pre-Christian Hawaii, men had anthropomorphised these volcanic phenomena, and considered the chtonian divinities that personified them as one of the parts of genealogical relationships that conditioned the efficiency of propitiatory rites. These riteswere meant to prevent or to stop eruptions, conceived as triggered off by these deities after men had transgressed the rules of life in the society. In Niuafo’ou (Tonga) today, the eruptions are interpreted as signs of the Christian god’s wrath after moral or social transgressions. The volcano is thus considered as God’s tool, aiming at punishing the acts that threaten the social order. Thus, from one society to the other, from one period to the other, we can observe a certain continuity in the link men build with the volcanic phenomena.

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References

Bibliographical reference

Cécile Quesada, “Les hommes et leurs volcans : représentations et gestion des phénomènes volcaniques en Polynésie (Hawaii et Royaume de Tonga)”Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 120-121 | 2005, 64-73.

Electronic reference

Cécile Quesada, “Les hommes et leurs volcans : représentations et gestion des phénomènes volcaniques en Polynésie (Hawaii et Royaume de Tonga)”Journal de la Société des Océanistes [Online], 120-121 | Année 2005, Online since 27 November 2008, connection on 18 April 2024. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/jso/382; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/jso.382

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About the author

Cécile Quesada

Doctorante en anthropologie, CREDO-Marseille, cequesada@wanadoo.fr

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Copyright

CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

The text only may be used under licence CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. All other elements (illustrations, imported files) are “All rights reserved”, unless otherwise stated.

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