Pigs for the Ancestors. Ritual in the Ecology of a New Guinea People.

RAPPAPORT, ROY A.

Published by Yale University Press., New Haven., 1967

Map, black and white photographic illustrations, xx + 311pp, appendices, bibliography, index, dustjacket trifle worn extremities, a good copy, large octavo. A study of the Tsembaga Maring people in the Central Highlands of New Guinea. Taking them to be part of a complex ecological system which includes their human neighbours as well as the flora and fauna with which they share their territory, the author argues that their elaborate ritual cycle, which ostensibly refers to spirits, in fact operates as a homeostatic mechanism regulating the size of the pig population, acreage in cultivation, fallow periods, energy expenditure in subsistence activities, protein ingestion, man-land ratios, and the frequency of fighting. The sustained functional analysis relies upon quantitative data and shows how, when, and to what degree cultural and noncultural variables affect one another. The findings challenge the view that religious rituals have no effect upon the external world as well as the assumption that ecological studies of human groups require an analytical framework fundamentally different from those employed in the study of other animals. This study not only fills a gap in New Guinea ethnography but also constitutes a major contribution to ecological anthropology, the study of religion, and functional analysis. Seller Inventory # 66275

Bibliographic Details

Title: Pigs for the Ancestors. Ritual in the ...
Publisher: Yale University Press., New Haven.
Publication Date: 1967
Binding: Hardcover
Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included