POLITICS, GENDER, AND TIME IN MELANESIA AND ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIA

Authors
SILVERMAN EK
Citation
Ek. Silverman, POLITICS, GENDER, AND TIME IN MELANESIA AND ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIA, Ethnology, 36(2), 1997, pp. 101-121
Citations number
79
Categorie Soggetti
Anthropology
Journal title
Ethnology → ACNP
ISSN journal
00141828
Volume
36
Issue
2
Year of publication
1997
Pages
101 - 121
Database
ISI
SICI code
0014-1828(1997)36:2<101:PGATIM>2.0.ZU;2-T
Abstract
This article interprets the symbolism and politics of Iatmul time (Sep ik River, Papua New Guinea). Social life is structured by different fo rms of time (e.g., totemism, myth, Omaha terminologies, ritual). Furth ermore, mythic history is a mode of ritual politics. Finally, Iatmul t ime symbolizes paradoxes of gender. The article concludes by comparing the temporality and gender of Melanesian cosmology with the Aborigina l dreamtime.