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Anthony's Feast: The Gift in Abelam Aesthetics
Author(s) -
Losche Diane
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
the australian journal of anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.245
H-Index - 25
eISSN - 1757-6547
pISSN - 1035-8811
DOI - 10.1111/j.1835-9310.2001.tb00302.x
Subject(s) - ceremony , nexus (standard) , theme (computing) , aesthetics , word (group theory) , sociology , linguistics , art , philosophy , computer science , theology , embedded system , operating system
In this essay I take up a major theme in the work of Anthony Forge: the relationship between word and image. Focusing on the problem of what the Abelam say (or do not say) about the design elements in masculine initiation rites, I explore the relationship between language and the exchange relations that are involved in the ceremony. While the Abelam have no explicit way of explaining the design elements, initiation involves a constructed and aestheticised use of language. This lecture will investigate the word/image nexus from this viewpoint.