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SINGING SUBJECTS AND SACRED OBJECTS: A PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF THE ‘TRANSFORMATION OF SUBJECTS INTO OBJECTS’ IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIAN MYTH
Author(s) -
Morton John
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
oceania
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.356
H-Index - 25
eISSN - 1834-4461
pISSN - 0029-8077
DOI - 10.1002/j.1834-4461.1989.tb02338.x
Subject(s) - mythology , interpretation (philosophy) , dialectic , paradise , singing , unconscious mind , rite , aesthetics , set (abstract data type) , psychoanalytic theory , sociology , history , epistemology , psychology , psychoanalysis , philosophy , linguistics , art history , classics , theology , computer science , programming language , management , economics
In an earlier paper published in this journal Nancy Munn's ‘The Transformation of Subjects into Objects in Walbiri and Pitjantjatjara Myth’ was discussed and related to Aranda mythology. This paper commences where the earlier one finished and offers a psychological account of ‘the transformation of subjects into objects’. In particular, it discusses, within a psychoanalytic framework, the relationship between communication, the body and the environment inherent in Aranda myth and rite, suggesting that what Munn calls ‘the a priori grounds’ of the Aboriginal moral order can be understood as a set of dialectical shifts occurring within the life‐cycle. These shifts involve the realisation and reconciliation of a number of oppositions, including male and female; earth and sky, death and life; conscious and unconscious; and, in particular, language and speech.