Bodies and Persons
Comparative Perspectives from Africa and Melanesia

A comparative analysis of notions of personhood and embodiment in African and Melanesian societies.

Michael Lambek (Edited by), Andrew Strathern (Edited by)

9780521621946, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 March 1998

314 pages
23.6 x 15.7 x 2.6 cm, 0.63 kg

"Lambek and Strathern have produced a rich and fascinating volume...This volume should interest all who are concerned with Africa, Melanesia, comparison, person/body, and contemporary anthropological theory. It is an example of what the best of edited volumes should be." Pacific Affairs Winter 01

Large-scale comparisons are out of fashion in anthropology, but this book suggests a bold comparative approach to broad cultural differences between Africa and Melanesia. Its theme is personhood, which is understood in terms of what anthropologists call 'embodiment'. These concepts are applied to questions ranging from the meanings of spirit possession, to the logics of witchcraft and kinship relations, the use of rituals to heal the sick, 'electric vampires', and even the impact of capitalism. There are detailed ethnographic analyses, and suggestive comparisons of classic African and Melanesian ethnographic cases, such as the Nuer and the Melpa. The contributors debate alternative strategies for cross-cultural comparison, and demonstrate that there is a surprising range of continuities, putting in question common assumptions about the huge differences between these two parts of the world.

1. Introduction Andrew Strathern
Part I. Transcending Dichotomies: 2. 'It's a boy', 'It's a girl!': reflections on sex and gender in Madagascar and beyond Rita Astuti
3. Modernity and formative personhood in Melanesia Edward LiPuma
4. Refiguring the person: the dynamics of affects and symbols in an African spirit possession cult Ellen Corin
5. Body and mind in mind, body and mind in body: some anthropological interventions in a long conversation Michael Lambek
Part II. Transitions, Containments, Decontainments: 6. Treating the affect by remodelling the body in a Yaka healing cult Rene Devisch
7. To eat for another: taboo and the elicitation of bodily form among the Kamea of Papua New Guinea Sandra Bamford
8. Electric vampires: Haya rumors of the commodified body Brad Weiss
Part III. From Exchange to History: 9. Creative possessions: spirit mediumship and millennial economy among Gebusi of Papua New Guinea Bruce M. Knauft
10. Dis-embodiment and concealment among the Atbalmin of Papua New Guinea Eytan Bercovitch
11. Melpa and Nuer ideas of life and death: the rebirth of a comparison Andrew Strathern and Pamela Stewart
Afterword Janice Boddy.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC]