{"product_id":"tricksters-and-trancers-bushman-religion-and-society-paperback-softback-9780253213440","title":"Tricksters and Trancers; Bushman Religion and Society (Paperback \/ softback) 9780253213440","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eTricksters and Trancers\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eBushman Religion and Society\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eMathias Guenther (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9780253213440\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003ePaperback \/ softback, published 22 November 1999\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e304 pages, 2 maps, 1 bibliog., 1 index\u003cbr\u003e23.5 x 15.6 x 1.6 cm, 0.513 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Despite the voluminous material on Botswana's Bushman (the contentious ethnic label knowingly adopted by the author), this is an important contribution for a number of reasons. First, Guenther (Wilfrid Univ., Canada) provides an invaluable summary and commentary on the multilingual literature on these people. Second, and more important, the text takes up the topic of Bushman religion and cosmology, which, like its social organization, is fluid and varied. In discussing this relatively neglected concern, the author pays particular attention to the significance of the trickster, an ambiguous and disorderly creature from the beginning of time in indigenous thought, and the trance state, an important feature of Bushman ritual system. The value of Guenther's long-term fieldwork among a segment of these people is clearly demonstrated in his examination of these topics and in their relationship to gender issues. He concludes with a suggestion for anthropologists to pay greater heed to the relevance of ambiguity in Bushman society and cosmology but does not mention the theoretical work of Simmel in this context. Otherwise, this is a first-rate piece of scholarship. Upper-division undergraduates and above.\"—W. Arens, SUNY at Stony Brook , 2000jul CHOICE.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\" . . . a first-rate piece of scholarship . . . an invaluable summary and commentary on the multilingual literature on [Bushman] people.\" —Choice\u003cbr\u003e The trickster and trance dancer are the guides through Bushman (or San) religion, a world of ambiguity and contradiction, and of enchantment. The two figures, who in Bushman belief are symbolically equivalent and mystically linked, embody these antistructural traits.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrefacei\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 1: Introduction: The Challenge of Bushman Religion 1\u003cbr\u003e The Challenge of Bushman Religion 4\u003cbr\u003e Bushman Religion: A Brief Summary9\u003cbr\u003e Notes on Methodology and Orthography10\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 2: Bushman Society15\u003cbr\u003e Nharo Society, 1790's to 1890's17\u003cbr\u003e Nharo Society, 1890's to 1990's25\u003cbr\u003e Bushman Social Organization29\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 3: Values and Individuals50\u003cbr\u003e Values53\u003cbr\u003e The Individual63\u003cbr\u003e Bushman Society's \" Struggle of Society against the State\"71\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 4: Belief and Cosmology74\u003cbr\u003e The Diversity and Ambiguity of Bushman Belief75\u003cbr\u003e Divinity78\u003cbr\u003e Mantis and Moon Worship?81\u003cbr\u003e Cosmogony: Primal Time84\u003cbr\u003e Cosmology: The Human-Animal Nexus89\u003cbr\u003e Ambiguity of Bushman Religion: Social and Cultural Factors101\u003cbr\u003e Social-Structural Factors:102\u003cbr\u003e Cognitive-Cultural Factors:107\u003cbr\u003e \"Foraging for Ideas\": The Factor of Acculturation110\u003cbr\u003e Socio-Cultural Change and Bushman Religion118\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 5: The Trickster121\u003cbr\u003e The Trickster's Many Faces124\u003cbr\u003e The Embodiment of Ambiguity128\u003cbr\u003e The Trickster as God139\u003cbr\u003e Gauwa Meets Jesus Christ147\u003cbr\u003e The Abomination of the Trickster God153\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 6: Stories, Story Telling and Story Gathering:160\u003cbr\u003e The Case of the Moon and the Hare\u003cbr\u003e Textual Variation of the Myth162\u003cbr\u003e Story Transmission and the Foraging Ethos169\u003cbr\u003e Foraging Ideology or Ideology of Foraging?178\u003cbr\u003e The Text and Its Meaning181\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 7: Myth and Gender185\u003cbr\u003e Gender Relations in Bushman Society187\u003cbr\u003e Gender Relations in Bushman Myth and Lore190\u003cbr\u003e The Equality of Bushmen and Women198\u003cbr\u003e The Limitations of Structural Analysis202\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 8: Initiation Rites207\u003cbr\u003e Female Initiation209\u003cbr\u003e Male Initiation211\u003cbr\u003e Variations214\u003cbr\u003e Male Initiation or Hunting Magic?218\u003cbr\u003e Transition and Transformation219\u003cbr\u003e Transformation, Anti-Structure and Egalitarianism225\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 9: The Trance Dance228\u003cbr\u003e Liminality, Transformation and Transcendence231\u003cbr\u003e The Trance Dance and Cultural Revitalization242\u003cbr\u003e Flexibility, Adaptability and Variability of Bushman Ritual248\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 10: Missionaries and the Bushmen251\u003cbr\u003e The Bushman Mission in the Cape at Colonial Times254\u003cbr\u003e The Failure of the Cape Mission261\u003cbr\u003e Contemporary Missions to Bushmen273\u003cbr\u003e Two Incongruous Belief Systems282\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 11: Conclusion: Bushman Religion and the Tolerance of Ambiguity284\u003cbr\u003e Coping with Ambiguity288\u003cbr\u003e Bushman Society and Religion as Communitas and Anti-Structure298\u003cbr\u003e Do the Bushmen (and Hunter-Gatherers) Have Societies?303\u003cbr\u003e The Analytical and Methodological Challenge of Ambiguity306\u003cbr\u003e References Cited312\u003cbr\u003e Endnotes341\u003cbr\u003e Index352\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Indiana University Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52735592038680,"sku":"9780253213440","price":17.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/tricksters-and-trancers-bushman-religion-and-society-paperback-softback-9780253213440","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}