Restoring the Balance: Performing Healing in West Papua

Who made Mama Raja ill? This question, buzzing around the village, starts off this anthropological study on healing performances in the context of religious change. The fascinating case is presented of a seriously ill woman of high standing in northwest Ayfat, located in the interior of the Bird’s Head in West Papua. By unravelling the various explanations of the cause of the illness, and the path Mama Raja followed in search of healing, the author documents how, why, and when Papuan people...