Cosmos and Society in Oceania

Daniel de Coppet, Andre Iteanu

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2024
• Topic: Social Sciences
• eBook ISBN:
  9781040281833
• Subtopic: Anthropology
• Index: Social Sciences

Current anthropology uses expressions such as 'society as a whole', 'socio-cosmic relations', 'spatiotemporal extension', 'global ideology', and 'cosmomorphy' to establish that the clear-cut Western dichotomy between society and cosmos is not always to be found in the communities it studies. In fact, many elements that the West would at first undoubtedly classify as belonging either to the cosmos or to the society appear very often in Melanesia as belonging to neither one of these domains, but to a realm which combines the attributes of both. Focusing on different examples drawn from diverse Melanesian societies, this thought-provoking volume by eminent specialists re-examines the relationship between society and cosmos and, in the process, opens new directions for research.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• 1 Closure and Multiplication: An Essay on Polynesian Cosmology and Ritual
• 2 Cosmogonic Aspects of Desire and Compassion in Fiji
• 3 An Essay on the Symbolic Construction of Memory in the kaluli Gisalo
• 4 On ‘Grandmothers’, ‘Grandfathers’ and Ancestors: Conceptualizing the Universe in Mono-Alu, Solomon Islands
• 5 Rituals and Ancestors
• 6 Revealed by Illness: Aspects of the Gnau People’s World and their Perception Of It
• 7 Replacing Cultural Markers: Symbolic Analysis and Political Action in Melanesia
• 8 The ‘Holding Together’ of Ritual: Ancestrality and Achievement in the Papuan Highlands
• 9 ‘Are’ are Society: A Melanesian Socio-Cosmic Point of View. How are Bigmen the Servants of Society and Cosmos?
• 10 The Sibling Incest Taboo: Polynesian Cloth and Reproduction
• Index