198 Pages
1 B/W Illustrations
by
Routledge
232 Pages
1 B/W Illustrations
by
Routledge
214 Pages
1 B/W Illustrations
by
Routledge
Also available as eBook on:
The central purpose of this book is to help change the terms of the debate on animism, a classic theme in anthropology. It combines some of the finest ethnographic material currently available (including firsthand research on the Chachi of Ecuador) with an unusually broad geographic scope (the Americas, Asia, and Africa). Edward B. Tylor originally defined animism as the first phase in the... Read more
Introduction Part I: Restricted Life 1. Humans: Us, the Human Beings, the Living Ones 2. Monsters: An Argument Against Foreigners 3. Beasts: An Argument Against Wildlife Part II: Life as Discontinuity 4. Adversity: An Investigation into Metamorphosis 5. Death: Ritual and the Suspension of Life 6. Catastrophe: Examining Collective Metamorphoses. Conclusion.
Biography
Istvan Praet is Lecturer in Social Anthropology at Roehampton University.
'In meticulously addressing the elemental question of life, this book scrutinizes the Western view of the relationship between biology and animism...An absorbing excursion in philosophical anthropology that subversively calls for a fundamental rethinking and reformulation of the Western understanding of animism, life, and related concerns. Summing Up: Highly recommended.' - CHOICE
