Cosmologies in the Making: A Generative Approach to Cultural Variation in Inner New Guinea

Barth, Fredrik

ISBN 10: 0521342791 / ISBN 13: 9780521342797

Published by Cambridge University Press, 1987

About this Item

This is an ex-library book and may have the usual library/used-book markings inside.This book has hardback covers. In good all round condition. Dust jacket in good condition. Please note the Image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item,350grams, ISBN:9780521342797. Seller Inventory # 4137643

Bibliographic Details

Title: Cosmologies in the Making: A Generative ...

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Publication Date: 1987

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Good

Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included

About this title

Synopsis:

In examining the changes that have taken place in the secret cosmological lore transmitted in male initiation ceremonies among the Mountain Ok of Inner New Guinea, this book offers a new way of explaining how cultural change occurs. Professor Barth focuses on accounting for the local variations in cosmological traditions that exist among the Ok people, who otherwise share largely similar cultures. Rejecting existing anthropological theory as inadequate for explaining this, Professor Barth constructs a new model of the mechanisms of cultural change, emphasizing the role that individual creativity plays in it, and maintaining that cosmologies can be adequately understood only if they are regarded as knowledge in the process of communication, rather than as fixed bodies of belief.

Book Description:

Offering a new way of explaining how cultural change occurs, this book examines the changes that have taken place in the transmission of secret cosmological lore in male initiation ceremonies among the Mountain Ok tribe of Inner New Guinea.