ISSN:
0094-0496
Language:
English
Titel der Quelle:
American ethnologist : a journal of the American Ethnological Society
Publ. der Quelle:
Malden, Mass. [u.a.] : Blackwell Publishing
Angaben zur Quelle:
Vol. 42, No. 1 (2015), p. 97-115
DDC:
390
Abstract:
Anthropology's recent turn to ontology extends a trajectory of rethinking established analytical domains, such as kinship, politics, and ritual. I reassess ritual by exploring the concept of “showing” among Chagga‐speaking people of Rombo District, in Tanzania's Kilimanjaro Region, where substances such as eleusine (finger millet), entrails, milk, and beer have the capacity to reveal the past and point to the future. Through this case, I consider the analytical limitations of notions such as “interpretation,” “symbol,” and “signification” as I investigate how “showing” and the substances it involves acquire a conceptual character and the capacity to enunciate Deleuzian “events.” “Showing” is thus revealed as a moment that posits and creates concepts, a revelation that transforms and reorients anthropological notions of ritual. Anthropology's recent turn to ontology extends a trajectory of rethinking established analytical domains, such as kinship, politics, and ritual. I reassess ritual by exploring the concept of “showing” among Chagga‐speaking people of Rombo District, in Tanzania's Kilimanjaro Region, where substances such as eleusine (finger millet), entrails, milk, and beer have the capacity to reveal the past and point to the future. Through this case, I consider the analytical limitations of notions such as “interpretation,” “symbol,” and “signification” as I investigate how “showing” and the substances it involves acquire a conceptual character and the capacity to enunciate Deleuzian “events.” “Showing” is thus revealed as a moment that posits and creates concepts, a revelation that transforms and reorients anthropological notions of ritual.
Note:
Copyright: © 2015 by the American Anthropological Association
,
Copyright: © COPYRIGHT 2015 American Anthropological Assn.
URL:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/amet.12119/abstract
URL:
http://search.proquest.com/docview/1663918079
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