Rethinking Symbolism

Rethinking Symbolism PDF Author: Dan Sperber
Publisher: CUP Archive
ISBN: 9780521099677
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 172

Book Description
"The main thrust of this book is to deliver a major critique of materialist and rationalist explanations of social and cultural forms, but the in the process Sahlins has given us a much stronger statement of the centrality of symbols in human affairs than have many of our 'practicing' symbolic anthropologists. He demonstrates that symbols enter all phases of social life: those which we tend to regard as strictly pragmatic, or based on concerns with material need or advantage, as well as those which we tend to view as purely symbolic, such as ideology, ritual, myth, moral codes, and the like. . . ."—Robert McKinley, Reviews in Anthropology

Rethinking Symbolism

Rethinking Symbolism PDF Author: Dan Sperber
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 176

Book Description
Sperber gives a cognitive account of symbolism by which symbols represent knowledge, but knowledge which is distinct from 'encyclopaedic' knowledge. Symbolic knowledge is knowledge not of things or of words, but of the memory of things and words, of conceptual representations. It depends on processes of displacement of attention, and of evocation; it is an improvisation which rests upon implicit knowledge and obeys unconsciuos rules."--Back cover.

The Subject of Anthropology

The Subject of Anthropology PDF Author: Henrietta L. Moore
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0745638171
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Book Description
In this ambitious new book, Henrietta Moore draws on anthropology, feminism and psychoanalysis to develop an original and provocative theory of gender and of how we become sexed beings. Arguing that the Oedipus complex is no longer the fulcrum of debate between anthropology and psychoanalysis, she demonstrates how recent theorizing on subjectivity, agency and culture has opened up new possibilities for rethinking the relationship between gender, sexuality and symbolism. Using detailed ethnographic material from Africa and Melanesia to explore the strengths and weaknesses of a range of theories in anthropology, feminism and psychoanalysis, Moore advocates an ethics of engagement based on a detailed understanding of the differences and similarities in the ways in which local communities and western scholars have imaginatively deployed the power of sexual difference. She demonstrates the importance of ethnographic listening, of focused attention to people’s imaginations, and of how this illuminates different facets of complex theoretical issues and human conundrums. Written not just for professional scholars and for students but for anyone with a serious interest in how gender and sexuality are conceptualized and experienced, this book is the most powerful and persuasive assessment to date of what anthropology has to contribute to these debates now and in the future.

Organizational Symbolism

Organizational Symbolism PDF Author: Barry A. Turner
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 311085161X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 328

Book Description


Naven, Or, The Other Self

Naven, Or, The Other Self PDF Author: Michael Houseman
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9789004112209
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 360

Book Description
This book proposes a novel approach to the analysis of ritual action. Founded upon an in-depth study of the transvestism naven ceremony of the Iatmul of Papua New Guinea, it focuses on the relational and interactive forms entailed by ritual performance.

Indoi

Indoi PDF Author: Hemkhochon Chongloi
Publisher: ISPCK
ISBN: 9788184580778
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 406

Book Description
Originally presented as the author's thesis (D. Th.--Senate of Serampore College, 2004) under the title: A historical phenomenological study of Primal Kuki religious symbolism with special reference to Indoi in the framework of Mircea Eliades's interpretation of religious symbolism.

Interpreting Neville

Interpreting Neville PDF Author: J. Harley Chapman
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 0791498743
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 368

Book Description
Interpreting Neville provides the first book-length treatment of the thought of Robert Cummings Neville, one of the most important and wide-ranging scholars working across the fields of philosophy, theology, and comparative studies today. Contributors assess the systematic structure and methodological unity of Neville's trilogy Axiology of Thinking, provide a postmodern contextualization of Neville's philosophy, and evaluate the critical relation of Neville to the history of Western philosophy. Metaphysical questions crucial to Neville's project are critiqued from different vantage points, theological problems are examined, and the comparative issues outstanding in Neville's understanding of Chinese philosophy are assessed. Enhancing the book is a rich concluding essay written by Neville himself in response to each author. [Contributors include George Allan, Delwin Brown, J. Harley Chapman, Chung-ying Cheng, Patricia Cook, Robert Corrington, Hermann Deuser, Lewis S. Ford, Nancy K. Frankenberry, David L. Hall, George R. Lucas, Jr., Robert C. Neville, Sandra Rosenthal, Marjorie Suchocki, Carl G. Vaught, and Edith Wyschogrod.]

Theory in Social and Cultural Anthropology

Theory in Social and Cultural Anthropology PDF Author: R. Jon McGee
Publisher: SAGE Publications
ISBN: 1506307752
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1053

Book Description
Social and cultural anthropology and archaeology are rich subjects with deep connections in the social and physical sciences. Over the past 150 years, the subject matter and different theoretical perspectives have expanded so greatly that no single individual can command all of it. Consequently, both advanced students and professionals may be confronted with theoretical positions and names of theorists with whom they are only partially familiar, if they have heard of them at all. Students, in particular, are likely to turn to the web to find quick background information on theorists and theories. However, most web-based information is inaccurate and/or lacks depth. Students and professionals need a source to provide a quick overview of a particular theory and theorist with just the basics—the "who, what, where, how, and why," if you will. In response, SAGE Reference plans to publish the two-volume Theory in Social and Cultural Anthropology: An Encyclopedia. Features & Benefits: Two volumes containing approximately 335 signed entries provide users with the most authoritative and thorough reference resource available on anthropology theory, both in terms of breadth and depth of coverage. To ease navigation between and among related entries, a Reader's Guide groups entries thematically and each entry is followed by Cross-References. In the electronic version, the Reader's Guide combines with the Cross-References and a detailed Index to provide robust search-and-browse capabilities. An appendix with a Chronology of Anthropology Theory allows students to easily chart directions and trends in thought and theory from early times to the present. Suggestions for Further Reading at the end of each entry and a Master Bibliography at the end guide readers to sources for more detailed research and discussion.

Symbol and Truth in Blake's Myth

Symbol and Truth in Blake's Myth PDF Author: Leopold Damrosch Jr.
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400853737
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 411

Book Description
In a controversial examination of the conceptual bases of Blake's myth, Leopold Damrosch argues that his poems contain fundamental contradictions, but that this fact docs not imply philosophical or artistic failure. Originally published in 1981. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Adventures of the Symbolic

Adventures of the Symbolic PDF Author: Warren Breckman
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231512899
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 377

Book Description
Marxism's collapse in the twentieth century profoundly altered the style and substance of Western European radical thought. To build a more robust form of democratic theory and action, prominent theorists moved to reject revolution, abandon class for more fragmented models of social action, and elevate the political over the social. Acknowledging the constructedness of society and politics, they chose the "symbolic" as a concept powerful enough to reinvent leftist thought outside a Marxist framework. Following Maurice Merleau-Ponty's Adventures of the Dialectic, which reassessed philosophical Marxism at mid century, Warren Breckman critically revisits these thrilling experiments in the aftermath of Marxism. The post-Marxist idea of the symbolic is dynamic and complex, uncannily echoing the early German Romantics, who first advanced a modern conception of symbolism and the symbolic. Hegel and Marx denounced the Romantics for their otherworldly and nebulous posture, yet post-Marxist thinkers appreciated the rich potential of the ambiguities and paradoxes the Romantics first recognized. Mapping different ideas of the symbolic among contemporary thinkers, Breckman traces a fascinating reflection of Romantic themes and resonances, and he explores in depth the effort to reconcile a radical and democratic political agenda with a politics that does not privilege materialist understandings of the social. Engaging with the work of Claude Lévi-Strauss, Cornelius Castoriadis, Claude Lefort, Marcel Gauchet, Ernesto Laclau, Chantal Mouffe, and Slavoj i ek, Breckman uniquely situates these important theorists within two hundred years of European thought and extends their profound relevance to today's political activism.