Fluid Ontologies: Myth, Ritual, and Philosophy in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea

Ballard, C.; Goldman, Laurence R.

ISBN 10: 0897895576 / ISBN 13: 9780897895576

Published by Praeger, 1998

About this Item

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Seller Inventory # Q-0897895576

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Fluid Ontologies: Myth, Ritual, and Philosophy in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea
• Publisher: Praeger
• Publication Date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0897895576
• ISBN 13: 9780897895576
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: New
• Weight: 11 ounces

About this title

Synopsis

Myths are best understood as a convergence of voices from across times and cultures. They are the instruments through which authors and audiences seek to grapple with questions about the fundamental nature of the universe. The answers, however, constantly change in light of changing circumstances such as the interface between western and non-western cultures, or cataclysmic events. The authors argue that these societies' worldviews assume that the process of flow between events, rather than the nature of the events, is critical to a model of human sociality.

Boundaries, whether of a ritual, physical, or social nature, are perceived as constantly broken by the exchange of ideas across time, space, and peoples. Our understanding of such issues as gender relations and the body, social change, imagination, play, and the conceptualization of power is furthered by probing how it is that myth is both expressive as well as constitutive of human thought on these topics.

About the Author

L.R. GOLDMAN is Professor of Anthropology and Sociology at the University of Queensland, Australia.

C. BALLARD is Professor of Anthropology at the Australian National University.