Malanggan: Art, Memory and Sacrifice - Couverture souple

Kuchler, Susanne

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 185973622X ISBN 13 : 9781859736227

Editeur : Berg Publishers, 2002

Synopsis

Malanggan Malanggan are "death" figures found in the Pacific which continue to confound anthropologists, they are intended to decompose as symbolic representations of the dead. This work interprets these mysterious agents of resemblance and connection as having a cognitive rather than linguistic basis.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

Shortlisted for the Katharine Briggs Folkore Award 2003Malanggan 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.

Biographie de l'auteur

Susanne Küchler is Professor in Anthropology and Material Culture at University College London, UK. She has conducted ethnographic fieldwork in Papua New Guinea and Eastern Polynesia over the past 25 years, studying creativity, innovation and futurity in political economies of knowledge from a comparative perspective. Working from within material culture studies, her work is ethnographic in orientation and is influenced by a close reading of German and French writing on epistemology and the culture of things.

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Berg Publishers
• Date d'édition: 2002
• ISBN 10: 185973622X
• ISBN 13: 9781859736227
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 256