Institutions of the Reformation, Institutions of Reform: Archaeology, Protestantism, and Modernity in the South Pacific

Summary

When scholars speak of "the Modern World", they often refer to capitalism, nation states, and colonialism. It is often assumed that the transition to modernity correlates with increased secularism, though recent scholarship challenges this idea, specifically linking certain concepts about modern subjectivity to the philosophy of the Protestant Reformation. Tracing the impact of the Reformation across time and space is crucial to understanding modernity, especially in situations where some of the first "modern" settlers in a given region were Protestant missionaries. Archaeological remains from mission sites in Hawaii, New Zealand, and Vanuatu will be used to explore the potential of this perspective for understanding the impact of the 16th-century reformation on the evolution of 19th and 20th-century modernity in the Pacific. Finally, the paper will ask what these sites can contribute to our understanding of the politics of church and state in contemporary postcolonial Pacific nations.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Archaeology of Reform / Archaeology as Reform   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2013

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 121