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.
Abstract
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.
- HRAF PubDate
- 2006
- Region
- Oceania
- Sub Region
- Polynesia
- Document Type
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator Type
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- Analyst
- Martin J. Malone; 1978
- Field Date
- no date
- Coverage Date
- not specified
- Coverage Place
- Tonga
- Notes
- Edmund Leach
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 275)
- LCCN
- 72179016
- LCSH
- Tongans