Bodies and Persons: Comparative Perspectives from Africa and Melanesia

ISBN-13: 9780521627375 / Angielski / Miękka / 1998 / 316 str.

Michael Lambek; Andrew Strathern

Opis

This book suggests a bold comparative approach to broad cultural differences between Africa and Melanesia. Its theme is personhood, understood in terms of what anthropologists call embodiment. These concepts are applied to questions ranging from the meanings of spirit possession, to the logics of witchcraft and kinship relations, the use of rituals in healing, and even the impact of capitalism. Questioning common assumptions about the huge differences among these discrete areas, the contributions document surprising continuities.

Recenzje

"Lambek and Strathern have produced a rich and fascinating volume...This volume should interest all who are concerned with Africa, Melanesia, comparison, person/body, and contemporary anthropological theory. It is an example of what the best of edited volumes should be." Pacific Affairs Winter 01

Spis treści

1. Introduction Andrew Strathern; Part I. Transcending Dichotomies: 2. 'It's a boy', 'It's a girl!': reflections on sex and gender in Madagascar and beyond Rita Astuti; 3. Modernity and formative personhood in Melanesia Edward LiPuma; 4. Refiguring the person: the dynamics of affects and symbols in an African spirit possession cult Ellen Corin; 5. Body and mind in mind, body and mind in body: some anthropological interventions in a long conversation Michael Lambek; Part II. Transitions, Containments, Decontainments: 6. Treating the affect by remodelling the body in a Yaka healing cult Rene Devisch; 7. To eat for another: taboo and the elicitation of bodily form among the Kamea of Papua New Guinea Sandra Bamford; 8. Electric vampires: Haya rumors of the commodified body Brad Weiss; Part III. From Exchange to History: 9. Creative possessions: spirit mediumship and millennial economy among Gebusi of Papua New Guinea Bruce M. Knauft; 10. Dis-embodiment and concealment among the Atbalmin of Papua New Guinea Eytan Bercovitch; 11. Melpa and Nuer ideas of life and death: the rebirth of a comparison Andrew Strathern and Pamela Stewart; Afterword Janice Boddy.