The deep structure of symbolism in religious and ritual activities has hitherto mostly been studied from perspectives deriving from classical and contemporary Western thought, which values symmetry, non-contradiction, equality of terms and the rationality of linear discourse and classification systems have therefore come to be defined in binary terms (right/left, male/female, black/white). In this book, Serge Tcherkezoff presents a new perspective on the study of ritual classification. On the basis of a detailed ethnography of the rituals of the Nyamwezi of Tanzania, Tcherkezoff argues for an...

This book is written in French. The islands of Kei in the Moluccan archipelago are little known. This is a study of one of them, Tanebar-Evav, a small isolated island of fewer than 1000 inhabitants, situated at the south-west end of the archipelago. Cecile Barraud has carried out an intensive study of this small community and has made a detailed analysis of its social organisation. Here, as in other parts of Indonesia, the fundamental social unit is the house, which is the agent and focal point of all social relations. The houses are partners of exchange in all social events: marriages,...