1st Edition

The Art of Anthropology Essays and Diagrams

By Alfred Gell Copyright 1999
316 Pages
by Routledge

316 Pages
by Routledge

296 Pages
by Routledge

The Art of Anthropology collects together the most influential of Gell's writings, which span the past two decades, with a new introductory chapter written by Gell. The essays vividly demonstrate Gell's theoretical and empirical interests and his distinctive contribution to several key areas of current anthropological enquiry. A central theme of the essays is Gel's highly original exploration of... Read more
CONTENTS List of Plates vi Foreword by Eric Hirsch, Department of Human Sciences, BruneI University vii Acknowledgments xv Introduction: Notes on Seminar Culture and Some Other Influences 1 1 Strathernograms, or the Semiotics of Mixed Metaphors 29 2 Inter-Tribal Commodity Barter and Reproductive Gift Exchange in Old Melanesia 76 3 The Market Wheel: Symbolic Aspects of an Indian Tribal Market 107 4 Style and Meaning in Umeda Dance 136 5 The Technology of Enchantment and the Enchantment of Technology 159 6 Vogel's Net: Traps as Artworks and Artworks as Traps 187 7 On Coote's 'Marvels of Everyday Vision' 215 8 The Language of the Forest: Landscape and Phonological Iconism in Umeda 2329 Exalting the King and Obstructing the State: A Political Interpretation of Royal Ritual in Bastar District, Central India 259 The Published Work of Alfred Gell 283 Index 286

Biography

Alfred Gell was a reader in Anthropology at the London School of Economics, and was posthumously awarded a Professorship by the School.