Straightening the path from the ends of the Earth: The deep sea canoe movement in Solomon Islands

Abstract

This chapter explores the transnational ties of a Christian evangelical religious movement called Deep Sea Canoe that is popular among Melanesian To'aibata speakers on the Island of Malaita, Solomon Islands. Solomon Islands is a Melanesian and pervasively Christian country in the Southwest Pacific that has a dynamic history of missionisation since the mid-nineteenth century and has seen the subsequent evolvement of a variety of ethno-religious movements. The example in this article illustrates a tendency of embracing modernity and the wider world through terms that are specific to To'abaita culture: pathmaking and straightening. By examining the present-day role of these terms in the ethno-theology of the Deep Sea Canoe Movement I will show that the urgency of millennial Christianity inclines To'abaitans to actively seek a straight path to Jerusalem instead of becoming recessive agents as documented for other Melanesian groups.