essay
The structure of symbolism
interpretation of ritual: essays in honour of A. I. Richards • [london] • Published In 1972 • Pages: 239-275
By: Leach, Edmund Ronald.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This source is a reevaluation of the analysis presented in 81: Bott. Leach intends to demonstrate that a structuralist analysis can 'avoid making symbolic substitutions which are not already quite overtly specified in the evidence' (p. 240) which is what he feels that Bott's psychoanalytic approach does. He reviews her descriptions of the ritual and the myth, and adds a further body of myth from 1:Gifford. He then provides a structural analysis of the myths deriving the significant binary oppositions and transformations. Among his other conclusions, he finds that the similarity of the kava ceremony to Christian communion is not due so much to Christian influence as to the innate structural similarity of the two, which in fact, has encouraged the continuance of this pagan ceremony among the Christian Tongans.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Reviews and critiques
- Theoretical orientation in research and its results
- Recreational and non-therapeutic drugs
- Literary texts
- Status, role, and prestige
- Classes
- Visiting and hospitality
- Chief executive
- Executive household
- Mythology
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Tongans
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2006
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Oceania
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Polynesia
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Martin J. Malone; 1978
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- no date
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- not specified
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Tonga
- NotesAdditional notes
- Edmund Leach
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 275)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 72179016
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Tongans