Premium
Sacrifice and the problem of beginning: meditations from Sakalava mythopraxis
Author(s) -
Lambek Michael
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of the royal anthropological institute
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.62
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1467-9655
pISSN - 1359-0987
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9655.2007.00411.x
Subject(s) - sacrifice , temporality , action (physics) , liminality , personhood , epistemology , foundation (evidence) , transitive relation , philosophy , sociology , aesthetics , history , theology , mathematics , archaeology , physics , quantum mechanics , combinatorics
This article addresses the general problem of beginning in human thought and action. It argues for complementing the emphasis on transition in the analysis of ritual with attention to beginning and for supplementing the relative passivity of liminality with the resoluteness of initiating action, while also attending to both the transitive and intransitive aspects of beginning itself. Drawing from representations of the foundation of a Sakalava monarchy in Madagascar, the article presents sacrifice as an exemplary form of beginning. Describing sacrifice in this manner obviates the need for any theory of sacrifice while offering new insights on the gift, ethical personhood, and the temporality of tradition.