ISSN:
0066-4677
Language:
English
Titel der Quelle:
Anthropological forum : an international journal of social and cultural anthropology and comparative sociology
Publ. der Quelle:
Abingdon : Routledge, Taylor & Francis
Angaben zur Quelle:
Vol. 27, No. 1 (2017), p. 18-16
DDC:
390
Abstract:
Among the most striking images produced in north-east Arnhem Land today are the paintings given to young boys during their first initiation ceremony (dhapi). Skilfully applied on their chest over several hours, while singing and dancing proceeds on the ceremonial grounds nearby, these body paintings act as relational matrixes which locate the initiands within a socio-cosmic web of connections. At the other end of the male ritual life-cycle, the bodies of the deceased undergo a similar process of transfiguration, as they are made to resemble the groups' most sacred objects, seen to instantiate the powers of specific ancestral beings. In the context of these rituals, the links between clans, places, and ancestral beings are expressed by being made visible on and around the body. Pragmatically composed and displayed for all to see, I suggest that Yolŋu ritual images appear as 'matter(s) of relations' par excellence, materialising various sets of social relationships. This paper examines the material logics behind this transfiguration process which, by turning people into ancestors, transform the relations between individuals and groups, between humans and non-human beings, and between the living and the spirits of the dead.
Note:
Copyright: © 2017 Discipline of Anthropology and Sociology, The University of Western Australia 2017
DOI:
10.1080/00664677.2017.1287051
URL:
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00664677.2017.1287051
Permalink
