Mana, like culture, is a term that once inspired anthropological theory
but now lives an ambiguous half-life in scholarly discourse. The goal
of this book is to refocus attention on mana for three reasons. First is
the simple fact that many people in Oceania and elsewhere use the
term prominently in political, religious, and artistic projects as well as
everyday discourse. Although mainstream anthropological attention
to mana waned at the end of the twentieth century, discourse about
mana thrives in many Oceanic societies. It also circulates outside of
traditional Oceanic contexts—sometimes far outside, as in New Age
movements, fantasy fiction and online gaming. The second reason to
focus on mana anew is that it can offer scholars fresh insights about
relationships between aesthetics, ethics, and power and authority.
Third, a new focus on mana has the potential to generate new forms of
anthropological practice. By engaging collaboratively with Indigenous
communities on this specific topic, anthropologists, Indigenous and
otherwise, can actively take part in developing new understandings
of mana that have practical consequences—the production of new
mana, in effect. The authors of the following chapters examine mana
from multiple angles that converge on a single point: the contention
that thinking about mana at this historical moment is ethnographically
vital and theoretically promising in new ways.