Built in Niugini : constructions in the highlands of Papua New Guinea / Paul Sillitoe.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sillitoe, Paul, 1949- author.

Series:

The RAI Series ; Volume One

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Wola (Papua New Guinean people)--Dwellings.

Wola (Papua New Guinean people).

Dwellings--Papua New Guinea--Design and construction.

Dwellings.

Building--Papua New Guinea.

Building.

Architecture and anthropology--Papua New Guinea.

Architecture and anthropology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xv, 348 pages) : illustrations, maps.

Place of Publication:

Canon Pyon : Sean Kingston Publishing, [2017]

Summary:

The sequel to the acclaimed Made in Niugini, which explored in unparalleled depththe material world of the Wola comprising moveable artefacts, Built in Niuginicontinues Paul Sillitoe¿s project in exemplary fashion, documenting the builtenvironment, architecture and construction techniques in a tour de force ofethnography. But this is more than a book about building houses. Sillitoe alsoshows how material constructions can serve to further our understandings ofintellectual constructions. Allowing his ethnography to take the lead, and payingclose attention to the role of tacit understandings and know-how in both skilledwork and everyday dwelling, his close experiential analyses inform aphenomenologically inflected discussion of profound philosophical questions such as what can we know of being-in-the-world from startlingly different cultural directions.The book also forms part of a long-term project to understand a radically different`economy¿, which is set in an acephalous order that extends individual freedom andequality in a manner difficult to imagine from the perspective of a nation-state, an intriguing way of being-in-the-world that is entwined with tacit aspects of knowingvia personal and emotional experience. This brings us back to the explanatory power of a focus on technology, which Sillitoe argues for in the context of`materiality approaches that feature prominently in current debates about the sociology of knowledge. Archaeology has long been to the fore in considering technology and buildings, along with vernacular architecture, and Sillitoe contributes to a much needed dialogue between anthropology and these disciplines, assessing the potential and obstacles for a fruitful rapprochement.This book is Volume One in The Royal Anthropological Institute Series.'Built in Niugini represents the culmination of Sillitoe's luminous scholarship as an anthropologist who dialogues fluidly with the literature and ideas of numerous disciplines. The arguments throughout engage with key concepts and theories from anthropology, archaeology, architecture, material culture studies, cognitive science, neuroscience and philosophy. The result is a significant work that contributes to not only our regional knowledge of the New Guinea Highlands but also to studies of tacit knowledge and the anthropology of architecture and building practices.'Trevor Marchand Emeritus Professor of Social Anthropology, School of Oriental and African Studies

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 317-334) and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-912385-09-0