Anthropology and cryptozoology : researching encounters with mysterious creatures / edited by Samantha Hurn.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Hurn, Samantha, editor.

ebrary, Inc.

Series:

Multispecies encounters

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Monsters--Psychological aspects.

Monsters.

Cryptozoology.

Anthropology.

Psychological aspects.

Physical Description:

1 online resource.

polychrome

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Routledge, 2017.

System Details:

text file

Summary:

Cryptozoology is best understood as the study of animals which, in the eyes of Western science, are extinct, unclassified or unrecognised. In consequence, and in part because of its selective methods and lack of epistemological rigour, cryptozoology is often dismissed as a pseudo-science. However, there is a growing recognition that social science can benefit from engaging with it, for as social scientists are very well aware, 'scientific' categorisation and explanation represents just one of a myriad of systems used by humans to enable them to classify and make sense of the world around them. In many cultural contexts, myth, folk classification and lived experience challenge the 'truth' expounded by scientists. With a reflexive, anthropological approach and drawing on rich empirical and ethnographic studies from around the world, this volume engages with the theoretical and methodological issues raised by reported sightings of unrecognised animals. Bringing into sharp focus the anthropological value and challenges for methodology posed by beliefs about unclassified creatures, Anthropology and Cryptozoology: Exploring encounters with mysterious creatures will be of interest to anthropologists, sociologists and geographers working in the fields of research methods, anthrozoology, mythology and folklore and human-animal interaction. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 The place of cryptids in taxonomic debates / Stephanie S. Turner Turner, Stephanie S. 12

2 Cryptids, classification and categories of cats: An ethnozoological study of unidentified felids from eastern Indonesia / Gregory Forth Forth, Gregory 32

3 Cryptids and credulity: The Zanzibar leopard and other imaginary beings / Martin T. Walsh Walsh, Martin T., Helle V. Goldman Goldman, Helle V. 54

4 The Naga tiger-man and the modern assemblage of a myth / Michael Heneise Heneise, Michael 91

5 Human predation and animal sociality: The transformational agency of 'wolf people' in Mongolia / Mette M. High High, Mette M. 107

6 Enigmatic bush dwarfs of West Africa: The case of the siyawesi of northwestern Benin / Sharon Merz Merz, Sharon 120

7 Suspending disbelief and experiencing the extraordinary: How radical participation may facilitate an understanding of aquatic snakes and fish-tailed beings in southern Africa / Penelope Bernard Bernard, Penelope 139

8 Mermaids in Brazil: The (ongoing) creolisation of the water goddesses Oxum and Iemanjá / Bettina E. Schmidt Schmidt, Bettina E. 157

9 Ganka: trickster or endangered species? An anthropologist's role in preventing the extinction of the New Jersey sea monster / Tanya J. King King, Tanya J. 171

10 Far from the madding crowd: Big cats on Dartmoor and in Dorset, UK / Adrian Franklin Franklin, Adrian 186

11 Land of beasts and dragons: Contemporary myth-making in rural Wales / Samantha Hurn Hurn, Samantha 203

12 Digesting 'cryptid' snakes: A phenomenological approach to the mythic and cosmogenetic properties of serpent hallucinations / Luci Attala Attala, Luci 218.

Notes:

Electronic reproduction. Palo Alto, Calif. Available via World Wide Web.

Print version record.

Other Format:

Print version: Anthropology and cryptozoology.

ISBN:

9781409466765

1409466760

9781317180463

1317180461

9781317180456

1317180453

Publisher Number:

99970484787

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.