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

Descripción

Paperback. 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. 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. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

N° de ref. del artículo 9780521387354

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Detalles bibliográficos

Título

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

Editor

Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

Fecha de publicación

1990

Idioma

Inglés

ISBN 10

0521387353

ISBN 13

9780521387354

Encuadernación

Paperback

Estado

new

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