Malanggan

Art, Memory and Sacrifice
1. Auflage 2002
ISBN: 978-1-85973-617-3
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd (Sales)

Buch, Englisch, 256 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 245 mm, Gewicht: 463 g

Reihe: Materializing Culture

Shortlisted for the Katharine Briggs Folkore Award 2003 Malanggan are among the most treasured possessions in the Pacific, yet they continue to confound anthropologists. Central to funerals in New Ireland, these ‘death' figures are intended to decompose as symbolic representations of the dead. Wrapped in images that are conceived of as ‘skins', they are both visually complex and intriguing. This book is the first to interpret these mysterious agents of resemblance and connection as having a cognitive rather than a linguistic basis. Found in nearly every ethnographic museum in the world, Malanggan collections have been left virtually untouched. This original study begins by tracing the history of the collections and moves on to consider the role these artefacts play in sacrifice, ritual and exchange. What is the relationship between Malanggan and memory? How can Malanggan be understood as a life force as well as a vehicle for thought? In an analysis of the cognitive aspects of Malanggan, Küchler offers a highly original conceptualization of the centrality of the knot as a mode of being, thinking and binding in the Pacific. Malanggan: Art, Memory and Sacrifice is a groundbreaking study. Based on fifteen years of fieldwork and collection research, it provides an incisive new take on one of the Pacific's classic puzzles, as well as a wealth of new information and resources for anthropologists, collectors and curators alike.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Küchler, Susanne

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Praktische Theologie Liturgik, Christliche Anbetung, Sakramente, Rituale, Feiertage
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Gottesdienst, Riten und Zeremonien
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1 Gathering Places, 2 Matriliny in the Making, 3 Sacrifice and Calendrical Rites, 4 Building Up The Fire 5 Images of Malanggan 6 On Binding and Thinking 7 Potent Absence and the Dynamics of Sacrificial Economy

Über Autor(innen)

Susanne Küchler is Senior Lecturer in Anthropology, University College London.