Abstract Main description
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The German colonial period in Papua New Guinea (1884-1919) involved profound changes in culture and identity – for Indigenous
peoples as well as for missionaries and administrators. In 1886, the first Lutheran missionaries from the Neuendettelsau Missionary
Society arrived at Finschhafen in Kaiser-Wilhelmsland, initiating many first contacts between Indigenous communities and European
medicine as missionary societies played an important role in establishing medical facilities. This article explores similarities
between traditional Indigenous spirituality and missionary beliefs in a medical context. In both cultures, medical topics
like illness and healing were linked to metaphysical ideologies, which provide the basis of my contention that medical work
could interfere with, and transform Indigenous beliefs and identities. However, for the purpose of evangelisation, the missionaries
also adapted their theology and spiritual conceptions of illness to Indigenous spirituality. The use of medical care for missionary
purposes is a good example of how changes of culture and identity interacted and were accommodated by both parties. I explore
whether the two cultural identities evolved and changed to meet each other.
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