Rethinking relations and animism : personhood and materiality / edited by Miguel Astor-Aguilera and Graham Harvey.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Astor-Aguilera, Miguel Angel, 1961- editor.

Harvey, Graham, 1959- editor.

Series:

Vitality of indigenous religions.

Vitality of indigenous religions

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Material culture.

Animism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (215 pages).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2019.

Summary:

Personhood and relationality have re-animated debate in and between many disciplines. We are in the midst of a simultaneous "ontological turn", a "(re)turn to things" and a "relational turn", and also debating a "new animism". It is increasingly recognised that the boundaries between the "natural" and "social" sciences are of heuristic value but might not adequately describe reality of a multi-species world. Following rich and provocative dialogues between ethnologists and Indigenous experts, relations between the received knowledge of Western Modernity and that of people who dwell and move within different ontologies have shifted. Reflection on human relations with the larger-than-human world can no longer rely on the outdated assumption that "nature" and "cultures" already accurately describe the lineaments of reality. The chapters in this volume advance debates about relations between humans and things, between scholars and others, and between Modern and Indigenous ontologies. They consider how terms in diverse communities might hinder or help express, evidence and explore improved ways of knowing and being in the world. Contributors to this volume bring different perspectives and approaches to bear on questions about animism, personhood, materiality, and relationality. They include anthropologists, archaeologists, ethnographers, and scholars of religion.

Contents:

Introduction: we have never been individuals / Miguel Astor-Aguilera and Graham Harvey

On the ontological scheme of beyond nature and culture / Marshall Sahlins

Persons or relatives? Animistic scales of practice and imagination / Nurit Bird-David

Adjusted styles of communication (ASCS) in the post-Cartesian world / Graham Harvey

Assembling new ontologies from old materials: towards multiplicity / Oliver J.T. Harris and Rachel J. Crellin

Religious objects: uncomfortable relations and an ontological turn to things / Amy Whitehead

Robot companions: the animation of technology and the technology of animation in Japan / Fabio R. Gygi

The ontological turn, indigenous research, and Niitsitapi protocols of reciprocity / Kenneth H. Lokensgard

Maya-Mesoamerican polyontologies: breath and Indigenous American vital essences / Miguel Astor-Aguilera

Environment, ontology and visual perception: a saltwater case / Katie Glaskin

"Are all stones alive?": anthropological and Anishinaabe approaches to personhood / Maureen Matthews and Roger Roulette.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-203-70988-8

1-351-35675-5

1-351-35676-3

9780203709887

OCLC:

1048662653