Lulik: Taboo, Animism, or Transgressive Sacred? An Exploration of Identity, Morality, and Power in Timor‐Leste. Issue 2 (July 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bovensiepen, Judith
• Is Part Of: Oceania. Volume 84:Issue 2(2014:Jul.)
• Page Start: 121
• Page End: 137
• Publication Date: 2014-07
• Subjects: Ethnology -- Periodicals; Ethnology -- Oceania -- Periodicals; Oceania -- Civilization -- Periodicals; 919
• DOI: 10.1002/ocea.5049
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0029-8077

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title>Abstract</title> <p>This article explores the continued significance of <italic>lulik</italic> for people living in the central highlands of Timor‐Leste today, <italic>lulik</italic> being a term frequently translated as 'sacred'. In contrast to the straightforward definition of <italic>lulik</italic> as the sacred property of religious places or objects set apart from everyday life, it shows that <italic>lulik</italic> is understood as a potency that animates the environment and that is concentrated in specific sites in the landscape, in ancestral objects and houses. As a vital energy that sustains life, yet that is connected to prohibitions, danger, and restrictions, <italic>lulik</italic> shares an affinity with similar phenomena found in Melanesia, Polynesia, and Southeast Asia (such as <italic>mana</italic>, <italic>tapu</italic>, or <italic>semangat</italic>). Engaging with recently reinvigorated approaches to animism and Durkheim's notion of the sacred, this article examines how <italic>lulik</italic> that emerges when distinctions between human and non‐human entities are collapsed. The analysis of how Funar residents maintain a distance from this transgressive force leads to an exploration of how <italic>lulik</italic> is connected to the constitution of the self, and how <italic>lulik</italic> is mobilized as a source of power and morality.</p> </abstract>