| Malanggan: Art, Memory and Sacrifice Contributor(s): Küchler, Susanne (Author) |
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ISBN: 1859736173 ISBN-13: 9781859736173 Publisher: Routledge OUR PRICE: $152.00 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: November 2002 Annotation: 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, Kü chler 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. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Anthropology - Cultural & Social |
| Dewey: 305.809 |
| LCCN: 2002012010 |
| Lexile Measure: 1470 |
| Series: Materializing Culture |
| Physical Information: 0.69" H x 6.12" W x 9.66" (1.02 lbs) 256 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: 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, K chler 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. |
Contributor Bio(s): Gilroy, Paul: - Paul Gilroy is at the Department of Sociology at the London School of Economics.Miller, Daniel: - Daniel Miller Professor of Anthropology, University College London. Recent books include "A Theory of Shopping," "The Internet: An Ethnographic Approach" (with Don Slater) and Ed. "Car Cultures."Kuchler, Susanne: - Susanne Kuechler 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. |