Making Sense of Changes: Preliminary Reflections on the Assemblies of God Mission in Ataúro, Timor-Leste, through a Marxian and Marxist Lens
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-8034.2026.e111173Keywords:
Social Change, Protestantism, Timor-Leste, EconomyAbstract
This essay examines the correlations between transformations in the dynamics of social reproduction and adherence to the Assemblies of God Pentecostalism among the population of Usubemassu, in Ataúro, Timor-Leste, employing a Marxian analytical framework. The study addresses the impacts of technologies introduced during the missionary encounter, the dialectic of Kultura, and the political economy that has granted the Assemblies of God its current governance power. Such phenomena constitute essential elements of the ethos of rupture that shapes the way this population gives meaning to its contemporary life.
References
ALMEIDA, Mauro. “Marxismo e antropologia”. In: ALMEIDA, Mauro. Caipora e outros conflitos ontológicos. São Paulo: Ubu Editora, 2021. p. 19-33.
ANGELES, Jay Q. A history of Protestant missions in East Timor. Journal of Asian Mission, v. 15, n. 2, p. 101-121, 2014.
ARAGON, Lorraine. Fields of the Lord: animism, Christian minorities, and the state development in Indonesia. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2000.
BOVENSIEPEN, Judith. Lulik: taboo, animism, or transgressive sacred? An exploration of identity, morality, and power in Timor-Leste. Oceania, v. 84, n. 2, p. 121-137, 2015.
BOVENSIEPEN, Judith; ROSA, Frederico Delgado. Transformations of the sacred in East Timor. Comparative Studies in Society and History, v. 58, n. 3, p. 664-693, 2016.
COLEMAN, Simon; HACKETT, Rosalind. “Introduction”. In: COLEMAN, Simon; HACKETT, Rosalind. The Anthropology of Global Pentecostalism and Evangelicalism. New York and London, New York University Press, 2015. p. 1-38.
COMAROFF, Jean; COMAROFF, John. Of revelation and revolution: Christianity, colonialism and consciousness in South Africa. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991. v. 1.
COMAROFF, Jean; COMAROFF, John. Of revelation and revolution: the dialectics of modernity on a South African frontier. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997. v. 2.
DUARTE, Jorge Barros. Timor: Ritos e Mitos Ataúros. Instituto de Cultura e Língua Portuguesa. Ministério da Educação. Lisboa. 1984
FASSIN, Didier. “Economias morais revisitadas”. In: RIFIOTIS, Theophilos; SEGATA, Jean (org.). Políticas etnográficas no campo da moralidade. Porto Alegre: UFRGS, 2018. p. 51-87.
FERNANDES, Alexandre Jorge de Medeiros. Nação florindo nas casas: a produção de parentes e nacionais num ambiente camponês em Timor-Leste. 2020. Tese de doutorado – Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, 2020. Available at: https://www.repositorio.unb.br/
bitstream/10482/41084/1/2020_AlexandreJorgedeMedeirosFernandes.pdf. Accessed on February 5, 2026.
FIDALGO-CASTRO, Alberto; ALONSO-POBLACIÓN, Enrique. De cosas sagradas, tabúes y ortopraxis. El concepto de lulik en Timor-Leste. Mana, Rio de Janeiro, v. 29, n. 1, 2023. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-49442023v29n1e2023004.es. Accessed on: February 5, 2026.
FOUCAULT, Michel. Segurança, Território e População. São Paulo: Martins Fontes, 2008.
GODELIER, Maurice. The mental and the material. London: Verso, 2012.
GONÇALVES, Marisa R. A ilha prisão de Ataúro durante a ocupação indonésia: estórias de encarceração, resistência e legados contemporâneos. E-cadernos, v. 37, 2022.
KEANE, Webb. Signs of Recognition: Powers and Hazards of Representation in an Indonesian Society. Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1997.
KEANE, Webb. Christian moderns: freedom and fetish in the mission encounter. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007.
LAPLANTINE, François. A descrição etnográfica. São Paulo: Terceira Margem, 2004.
LONEY, Hannah. Displacement and detention on Atauro during the Indonesian occupation. In: CRIBB, Robert et al. (ed.). Detention camps in Asia: the conditions of confinement in modern Asian history. Boston: Brill, 2022. p. 100-116.
MARX, Karl. O Capital. São Paulo: Abril Cultural, 1982 [1867]. v. 1.
MARX, Karl. Contribuição para a crítica de economia política. São Paulo: Capa Comum, 2024 [1859].
MARX, Karl. A ideologia alemã. São Paulo: Boitempo Editorial, 2007 [1932].
MARX, Karl. Introdução. In: MARX, Karl. Grundrisse: Manuscritos econômicos 1857-1858. Esboço de crítica de economia política.São Paulo: Boitempo, 2011. p. 54-95.
MAUSS, Marcel. Ensaio sobre a dádiva. In: MAUSS, Marce. Sociologia e Antropologia. São Paulo: Editora Pedagógica e Universitária Ltda., 1974. v. II. p. 37-184.
MCWILLIAM, Andrew. Post-Conflict Social and Economic Recovery in Timor-Leste: Redemptive Legacies. London: Routledge, 2020.
MEILLASSOUX, Claude. From reproduction to production: a Marxist approach to economic anthropology. Economy and Society, v. 1, n. 1, 1972.
MEILLASSOUX, Claude. The social organization of the peasantry: the economic basis of kinship. Journal of Peasant Studies, v. 1, n. 1, 1973.
MILLS, David et al. Livelihood diversity and dynamism in Timor-Leste: insights for coastal resource governance and livelihood development. Marine Policy, v. 82, p. 206-215, 2017.
MINTZ, Sidney Wilfred. Sweetness and power: the place of sugar in modern history. New York: Viking, 1985.
RIBEIRO, Gustavo. O capital da Esperança: a experiência dos trabalhadores na construção de Brasília. Brasília, DF: Editora UnB, 2008.
ROBBINS, Joel. Becoming sinners: Christianity and moral torment in a Papua New Guinea society. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004.
SAHLINS, Marshall. Ilhas de história. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 1990.
SCOTT, James C. The moral economy of the peasant: rebellion and subsistence in Southeast Asia. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1976.
SILVA, Kelly. “Christianity and kultura: visions and pastoral projects”. In: BOVENSIEPEN, Judith (ed.). The promise of prosperity: visions of the future in Timor-Leste. Canberra: ANU Press, 2018a. p. 223-241.
SILVA, Kelly. Marriage prestations, gift making, and identity in urban East Timor. Oceania, v. 88, n. 1, p. 127-147, 2018b.
SILVA, Kelly. Protestant Christianity and local knowledge in Atauro: a challenging coexistence. Archipel, v. 108, p. 185-207, 2024.
SILVA, Kelly. Reframing culture: Assemblies of God cultural policies in Ussubemassu, Atauro. In: MATSUNO, Akihisa et al. (ed.). Timor-Leste: the island and the world. Coimbra: TLSA PT, 2021. p. 15-23.
SILVA, Kelly; PALMER, Lisa; CUNHA, Teresa. Introduction. In: SILVA, Kelly; PALMER, Lisa;
CUNHA, Teresa. (ed.). Economic diversity in contemporary Timor-Leste. Leiden: Leiden University Press, 2023. p. 11-41. Available at: https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/61960 . Accessed on: Mar. 2, 2026.
SILVA, Kelly; PEDROSA, Maria Luisa V. Renegotiating domesticity in the making of homestays in Atauro, Timor-Leste. Australian Journal of Anthropology, v. 35, p. 1-17, 2024.
SILVA, Kelly; SIMIÃO, Daniel. Coping with “traditions”: the analysis of East Timorese nation-building from the perspective of a certain anthropology made in Brazil. Vibrant, v. 9, n. 1, 2012. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1590/S1809-43412012000100013. Accessed on: Sept. 9, 2024.
TAUSSIG, Michael T. The Devil and Commodity Fetishism in South America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1980.
WOLF, Eric. Europe and the People Without History. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Ilha Revista de Antropologia
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Os autores cedem à Ilha – Revista de Antropologia – ISSN 2175-8034 os direitos exclusivos de primeira publicação, com o trabalho simultaneamente licenciado sob a Licença Creative Commons Atribuição Não Comercial Compartilhar Igual (CC BY-NC-SA) 4.0 International. Esta licença permite que terceiros remixem, adaptem e criem a partir do trabalho publicado, desde que para fins não comerciais, atribuindo o devido crédito de autoria e publicação inicial neste periódico desde que adotem a mesma licença, compartilhar igual. Os autores têm autorização para assumir contratos adicionais separadamente, para distribuição não exclusiva da versão do trabalho publicada neste periódico (ex.: publicar em repositório institucional, em site pessoal, publicar uma tradução, ou como capítulo de livro), com reconhecimento de autoria e publicação inicial neste periódico, desde que para fins não comerciais e compartilhar igual.
