Graun Em Pulap Long Pipia: Rubbish, Sorcery, and Spiritual Healing, Papua New Guinea

Abstract

Bapra Simi, an Ambonwari spiritual healer living in the border town of Vanimo in Papua New Guinea comments that the “Earth is full of rubbish” and associates this material overflow with the possible causes and consequences of sorcery. This short explanatory paper accompanies the video entitled Bapra Simi, Glasmeri, Spiritual Healer, Papua New Guinea (Vávrová, 2020), which follows Bapra Simi through her material and spiritual healing practices, and her articulation of how these practices are situated in the material and spiritual world.