Date 15 February 2019
Pages 338
Format cm 16 x 24
Price € 30.00
EAN 9782858312962
Publisher Website www.inalco.fr/presses-inalco

The Shaping of Ancestors

Social, Ritual and Political Dimensions of Ancestrality
COLLECTION TransAire(s)
Keywords Ethnology
Ethnographies relating to different human societies. What is an ancestor? When and how does the relationship to ancestors become important?

The key challenge for human societies is to ensure their renewal, despite the hazard of individual destinies and historical events. Ethnography of different human societies shows that the deceased are conceived very differently. The question to which the authors of this book seek an answer is therefore not only "what is an ancestor?", but "when and how does the relationship to ancestors become important, meaningful and therefore operative?"