Children of the Blood: Society, Reproduction and Cosmology in New Guinea / Edition 1

by Bernard Juillerat

Overview

This fascinating book, translated from the French, explores the Yafar society, a forest people living by shifting cultivation, hunting and gathering. Based on fifteen years of research, it offers a detailed examination of all aspects of a society whose material and nutritional relations with their rainforest environment are mediated by a sociocultural system based on a carefully negotiated relationship with natural forces, and harmony between the sexes. The author shows how these basic ideas can be found in the ritualized and institutional aspects of the Yafar's social life, as well as their mythology. Rich in detail and insight, this book fully documents the Yafar's complex ritual involving a symbolic exchange with the spirit world, a secret cult, and curing rites presided over by hereditary religious officials. The author's analysis of Yafar ideologies reveals that sexual reproduction is the key to their society and the model for continuity and regeneration prescribed by nature.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781859731611
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	02/01/1997
Series:	Explorations in Anthropology
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	632
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Bernard Juillerat Research Director,C.N.R.S., Paris Translated from the French by Nora Scott

Table of Contents

General IntroductionThe Geographical and Cultural Setting, The Linguistic Setting: The Eri (Amanab), Transcription of Amanab Terms Part I: Social Groups: Structures, Dynamics and Representations 1 Society and Local Groups 2 Dual Organization 3 From Dualism to Patrilineal Units 4 Household and Family Part II: Social Relations and Symbolic Function in Yafar Social Economy 5 Territory and Land Horticulture-Arboriculture 7 Foraging and Husbandry 8 Exchange and Circulation of Goods Among the Eri, Part III: Sexuality, Symbolic Reproduction and Social Continuity 9 Sexuality, Procreation and Powers 10 Alliance Structures and Matrimonial Behaviours 11 Kinship and its Representations 12 Individual Identity and Social Ontogeny 13 Hidden Powers From Religious Office to Political Authority14 Bad Magic, Bow or Fighting Stick, Part IV: Fracture and Change 15 Contact: Colonization, Independence and Identity

Editorial Reviews

A fine demonstration of what anthropology is and what it is meant to achieve ... Juillerat has made a monumental contribution to anthropology not only in regard to the excellence of his analysis as such but more so, because his work completes and refines previous works undertaken by others. It is hoped that Juillerat's honest commitment to anthropology will inspire others to dig deeper into their subject, as he proposes, and to shed their theoretical armour.” —Jourbanal of Polynesian Society

“A sustained level of precision, elegance, and powerful empirical detail is maintained throughout.” —American Anthropologist

“a pioneering effort to describe and analyse the cultural richness of the peoples in the West Sepik area. It is also beautifully written, rich in ethnographic detail and well produced, with many plates and figures. The decision by the editors of Berg's Explorations in Anthropology series to include this book in their list of outstanding works is fully appropriate.” —Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde

“One of the strengths of this book is that it is descriptively excellent. Juillerat is clearly a painstaking collector of data with an eye for minute detail. For its data alone the book is a valuable anthropological resource.” —Canberra Anthropology

From the Publisher

One of the strengths of this book is that it is descriptively excellent. Juillerat is clearly a painstaking collector of data with an eye for minute detail. For its data alone the book is a valuable anthropological resource.

Canberra Anthropology

a pioneering effort to describe and analyse the cultural richness of the peoples in the West Sepik area. It is also beautifully written, rich in ethnographic detail and well produced, with many plates and figures. The decision by the editors of Berg's Explorations in Anthropology series to include this book in their list of outstanding works is fully appropriate.

Land- en Volkenkunde Bijdragen tot de Taal-

A sustained level of precision, elegance, and powerful empirical detail is maintained throughout.

American Anthropologist

A fine demonstration of what anthropology is and what it is meant to achieve ... Juillerat has made a monumental contribution to anthropology not only in regard to the excellence of his analysis as such but more so, because his work completes and refines previous works undertaken by others. It is hoped that Juillerat's honest commitment to anthropology will inspire others to dig deeper into their subject, as he proposes, and to shed their theoretical armour.

Journal of Polynesian Society

An ethnographic monograph on the Yafar society of New Guinea. Based on 15 years of research, the book provides an examination of all aspects of a society whose material and nutritional relations with their rainforest environment are mediated by a sociocultural system based on a carefully balanced relationship to natural forces and harmony between the sexes. The author covers the Yafar's mythology, social institutions, and the central ideological importance of sexual reproduction. Distributed by New York University Press. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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