From Blessing to Violence History and Ideology in the Circumcision Ritual of the Merina

Name: From Blessing to Violence History and Ideology in the Circumcision Ritual of the Merina
Price: 17.25 USD
Availability: InStock
ISBN: 9780521314046

ISBN-10: 0521314046

ISBN-13: 9780521314046

Edition: 1986

Authors: Maurice Bloch, Meyer Fortes, Jack Goody, Edmund Leach, Stanley Tambiah

List price: $52.99

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Description:

The circumcision ritual of the Merina of Madagascar is seen by them primarily as a blessing, involving the transfer of the love and concern of the ancestors of their descendants. Yet the ritual ends in an act of ciolent wounding of the child. Similarily, while the ritual involves a symbolic assault on women, it is nonetheless welcomed by them as a mark of receiving the blessing of the ancestors. In this book, Maurice Bloch provides a detailed description and analysis of the Merina circumcision ritual today, offers an account of its history, and discusses the significance of his analysis for anthropological theories of ritual in general. Pursuing the theme of the combination of religious joy…

Book details

List price: $52.99
Copyright year: 1986
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication date: 4/30/1986
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 228
Size: 5.79" wide x 9.21" long x 0.55" tall
Weight: 0.748
Language: English

Maurice Bloch is Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His work is unique in that he is both an active field-working anthropologist and a general theoretician. Bloch has been a leading figure among those anthropologists who seek to reintegrate social and anthropological theory with the work of cognitive scientists and prehistorians.



Preface



The social determination of ritual



Background politico-religious history of the Merina, 1770-1970



Background to Merina Social organisation and religion



Description and preliminary analysis of a circumcision ritual



The symbolism of circumcision



The myth of the origin of circumcision



The history of the circumcision



The circumcision ritual in history: towards a theory of the transformation of ideology


Notes


References


Index