In this paper, I consider historical and ethnographic evidence to
explain how 'sacred soil' becomes an intelligible and palpable
reality in Kadavu, Fiji. I begin by describing the fundamental Fijian
cultural division between low (Methodism, or Christianity more broadly)
and vanua (people and land), and argue that these entities are
fruitfully considered as Bourdieuan fields whose competition is
culturally generative. Examining historians' well-known work on
precolonial land alienation and colonial land tenure codification in
Fiji, I note that Methodist missionaries helped add to indigenous
Fijians' senses that their land was diminishing or even
disappearing. In addition, I examine data from recent fieldwork in
Kadavu, particularly discourse about soil's and land's
importance and descriptions of a Methodist ritual called the masu sema
('chain prayer') in which soil's investiture with mana
(efficaciousness) is particularly apparent. Having shown how
'sacred soil' becomes both an intelligible and palpable realit
y, I then argue that we should consider the creative force of friction
between lotu and vanua in indigenous Fijian social life generally.
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