Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

In 1931 Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote his famous Remarks on Frazer’s “Golden Bough.". At that time, anthropology and philosophy were in close contact—continental thinkers drew heavily on anthropology’s theoretical terms, like mana, taboo, and potlatch, in order to help them explore the limits of human belief and imagination. Now the book receives its first translation by an anthropologist, in the hope that it can kick-start a new era of interdisciplinary fertilization. Wittgenstein’s remarks on ritual, magic, religion, belief, ceremony, and Frazer’s own logical presuppositions are as lucid and thought-provoking now as they were in Wittgenstein’s day. Anthropologists find themselves asking many of the same questions as Wittgenstein—and in a reflection of that, this volume is fleshed out with a series of engagements from some of the world’s leading anthropologists, including Veena Das, David Graeber, Wendy James, Heonik Kwon, Michael Lambek, Michael Puett, and Carlo Severi.

Anthropology --- Philosophy --- Magic --- Ritual --- Kingship --- Logic --- Mind

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

In anthropology, as much as in the current popular imagination, kings remain figures of fascination and intrigue. As the cliché goes, kings continue to die spectacular deaths only to remain subjects of vitality and long life. This collection of essays by a teacher and his student — two of the world’s most distinguished anthropologists— explores what kingship actually is, historically and anthropologically. The divine, the stranger, the numinous, the bestial—the implications for understanding kings and their sacred office are not limited to questions of sovereignty, but issues ranging from temporality and alterity to piracy and utopia; indeed, the authors argue that kingship offers us a unique window into the fundamental dilemmas concerning the very nature of power, meaning, and the human condition. With the wit and sharp analysis characteristic of these two thinkers, this volume opens up new avenues for how an anthropological study of kingship might proceed in the 21st century.

Anthropology --- Kingship --- Aleriity --- Piracy --- Utopia --- Religion --- Sovereignty --- Power

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

This is a volume about the life and power of ritual objects in their religious ritual settings. In this Special Issue, we see a wide range of contributions on material culture and ritual practices across religions. By focusing on the dynamic interrelations between objects, ritual, and belief, it explores how religion happens through symbolic materiality. The ritual objects presented in this volume include: masks worn in the Dogon dance; antique ecclesiastical silver objects carried around in festive processions and shown in shrines in the southern Andes; funerary photographs and films functioning as mnemonic objects for grieving children; a dented rock surface perceived to be the god’s footprint in the archaic place of pilgrimage, Gaya (India); a recovered manual of rituals (from Xiapu county) for Mani, the founder of Manichaeism, juxtaposed to a Manichaean painting from southern China; sacred stories and related sacred stones in the Alor–Pantar archipelago, Indonesia; lotus symbolism, indicating immortalizing plants in the mythic traditions of Egypt, the Levant, and Mesopotamia;

ritual --- rituality --- ritualism --- digital games --- assassination --- initiation --- nizarism --- Templar Order --- Abui --- Alor --- Lamòling --- Alor-Pantar Archipelago --- oral legends and myths --- traditional religions --- Manichaeism --- ritual manual --- Xiapu manuscripts --- Buddhist worship and repentance ritual --- Diagram of the Universe --- children --- objects --- funerary photography --- death ritual --- continuing bonds --- Hinduism --- India --- material culture --- ritual --- Vi??u’s footprint --- place of pilgrimage --- sacred geography --- imaginative embodiment --- Ravana --- Sri Lanka --- Sinhalese Buddhist Majority --- ritualizing --- procession --- healing --- ritual creativity --- Nilotic lotus --- sacral tree --- ankh --- sema-taui --- Bible --- kingship --- libation ritual --- South America --- colonial period --- religious transfer of meaning --- multiple readings of images --- mask --- Dogon --- funeral --- performance --- symbol --- embodiment --- Hinduism --- India --- Govardhan puja --- cow dung --- gender --- ritual art --- nature --- human-nonhuman sociality --- symbolic anthropology --- ethnography