Description: ..". a first-rate piece of scholarship... an invaluable summary andcommentary on the multilingual literature on (Bushman) people." --Choice The trickster and trance dancer are the guides throughBushman (or San) religion, a world of ambiguity and contradiction, and ofenchantment. The two figures, who in Bushman belief are symbolically equivalent andmystically linked, embody these antistructural traits. Preface i Chapter 1: Introduction: The Challenge of Bushman Religion 1 The Challenge of Bushman Religion 4 Bushman Religion: A Brief Summary 9 Notes on Methodology and Orthography 10 Chapter 2: Bushman Society 15 Nharo Society, 1790's to 1890's 17 Nharo Society, 1890's to 1990's 25 Bushman Social Organization 29 Chapter 3: Values and Individuals 50 Values 53 The Individual 63 Bushman Society's " Struggle of Society against the State" 71 Chapter 4: Belief and Cosmology 74 The Diversity and Ambiguity of Bushman Belief 75 Divinity 78 Mantis and Moon Worship? 81 Cosmogony: Primal Time 84 Cosmology: The Human-Animal Nexus 89 Ambiguity of Bushman Religion: Social and Cultural Factors 101 Social-Structural Factors: 102 Cognitive-Cultural Factors: 107 "Foraging for Ideas": The Factor of Acculturation 110 Socio-Cultural Change and Bushman Religion 118 Chapter 5: The Trickster 121 The Trickster's Many Faces 124 The Embodiment of Ambiguity 128 The Trickster as God 139 Gauwa Meets Jesus Christ 147 The Abomination of the Trickster God 153 Chapter 6: Stories, Story Telling and Story Gathering: 160 The Case of the Moon and the Hare Textual Variation of the Myth 162 Story Transmission and the Foraging Ethos 169 Foraging Ideology or Ideology of Foraging? 178 The Text and Its Meaning 181 Chapter 7: Myth and Gender 185 Gender Relations in Bushman Society 187 Gender Relations in Bushman Myth and Lore 190 The Equality of Bushmen and Women 198 The Limitations of Structural Analysis 202 Chapter 8: Initiation Rites 207 Female Initiation 209 Male Initiation 211 Variations 214 Male Initiation or Hunting Magic? 218 Transition and Transformation 219 Transformation, Anti-Structure and Egalitarianism 225 Chapter 9: The Trance Dance 228 Liminality, Transformation and Transcendence 231 The Trance Dance and Cultural Revitalization 242 Flexibility, Adaptability and Variability of Bushman Ritual 248 Chapter 10: Missionaries and the Bushmen 251 The Bushman Mission in the Cape at Colonial Times 254 The Failure of the Cape Mission 261 Contemporary Missions to Bushmen 273 Two Incongruous Belief Systems 282 Chapter 11: Conclusion: Bushman Religion and the Tolerance of Ambiguity 284 Coping with Ambiguity 288 Bushman Society and Religion as Communitas and Anti-Structure 298 Do the Bushmen (and Hunter-Gatherers) Have Societies? 303 The Analytical and Methodological Challenge of Ambiguity 306 References Cited 312 Endnotes 341 Index 352
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EAN: 9780253213440
UPC: 9780253213440
ISBN: 9780253213440
MPN: N/A
Book Title: Tricksters and Trancers: Bushman Religion and Soci
Item Length: 23.4 cm
Item Height: 235 mm
Item Width: 155 mm
Author: Mathias Guenther
Publication Name: Tricksters and Trancers: Bushman Religion and Society
Format: Paperback
Language: English
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Subject: Anthropology, History
Publication Year: 1999
Type: Textbook
Item Weight: 513 g
Number of Pages: 304 Pages
