Hill, Deborah (2019). Longgu: Conceptualizing the human person from the inside out. In Bert Peeters (Ed.), Heart- and soul-like constructs across languages, cultures, and epochs (pp. 58-81). New York: Routledge.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315180670-3

Abstract:

The Longgu people (Solomon Islands) conceptualize the human person as consisting of two parts, suli (‘body’) and anoa (roughly, ‘spirit’). Understanding the concept of anoa requires an understanding of other concepts, including agalo ‘ancestor spirit’ and Marapa, the place of ancestor spirits. This chapter discusses and explicates these culture-specific terms in Minimal English. The author argues that the conceptualization of the human person in Longgu can be described as seeing a human person ‘from the inside out’: rather than conceptualizing the human person as something visible (a body), with something invisible inside, Longgu people think in terms of what is inside (a ‘spirit’), and then as what can be seen on the outside (a body).

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Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners