Society of Others
Kinship and Mourning in a West Papuan Place
Format:Paperback
Publisher:University of California Press
Published:19th Jun '09
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
This important study upsets the popular assumption that human relations in small-scale societies are based on shared experience. In a theoretically innovative account of the lives of the Korowai of West Papua, Indonesia, Rupert Stasch shows that in this society, people organize their connections to each another around otherness. Analyzing the Korowai people's famous 'tree house' dwellings, their patterns of living far apart, and their practices of kinship, marriage, and childbearing and rearing, Stasch argues that the Korowai actively make relations not out of what they have in common, but out of what divides them. "Society of Others", the first anthropological book about the Korowai, offers a picture of Korowai lives sharply at odds with stereotypes of 'tribal' societies.
"This well-researched, carefully written ethnography ... contributes to anthropological studies of kinship, social organization, and sociality more generally." Choice "This is an ethnography not to be missed: beautifully written, dense with detail, theoretically innovative. I would highly recommend it to all anthropologists." -- Naomi M. Mcpherson Pacific Affairs "Powerful" Comparative Studies In Society And History / Cssh "A generously provocative contribution to Melanesian studies and anthropology generally... Insightful thinking and great originality." -- Michael Wood Australian Journal Of Anthropology "This book should be read by anyone interested in anthropology." -- Tuomas Tammisto Suomen Antropologi: J Finnish Anthro Soc "The volume shines as an example of that long-abused and misused genre: the ethnography... Simply must be read." -- Alex Golub Mitteilungen Des Deutschen "A well-written and evocative ethnography of the treehouse-dwelling Karowai people of Papua New Guinea." -- Don Seeman Common Knowledge
ISBN: 9780520256866
Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 20mm
Weight: 454g
336 pages