Dreaming and the Defeat of Charisma

Abstract

The Melanesianist literature provides many accounts of, or at least passing references to, the importance of dreams for Melanesian people (e.g., Stephen 1979, 1982; Lohmann 2000). The literature also tells us that Melanesians often publicly report their dreams. Anthropologists studying dreams in Melanesia, however, most frequently focus not on the process of dream reporting itself, but rather on the ways that dream symbolism is interpreted to reveal the meaning of dreams. In doing so, they often neglect to consider how dream reports figure in the political life of Melanesians. Given that many Melanesians consider dreams to be bearers of significant information that is difficult to acquire via other channels, we might assume that peoples reports of them do play an important role in local political processes. If this is so, the anthropological neglect of this topic would constitute a serious lacuna in our understanding not only of Melanesian dreaming, but also of Melanesian social life more generally. In this chapter I argue that in many parts of Melanesia, dream reports do have political influence. Yet I will also argue that what is perhaps most interesting about this influence is its extremely limited character. Looking in detail at the case of the Urapmin of Sandaun Province, Papua New Guinea, I show that while dreams do play some role in the political process, local beliefs about dreams and dream reporting work to keep that role relatively contained.