Introduction – Ritual Actions, Mith, Figuration: Intertwining Vital and Technical Processes in Mesoamerica and in Lowland South America
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11606/2179-0892.ra.2016.116911Keywords:
Anthropology of Life, Vital Process, Technical Process, Mesoamerica, Lowland South AmericaAbstract
Although anthropological investigations on animism have renewed the understanding of Amerindian societies, these analyses have not always highlighted the complexity of the theories of life these societies have been elaborating. Beside animation, living beings are characterized by the diversity of vital processes – such as reproduction, regeneration, senescence, or interactions with their environment – that humans observe and attempt to account for. In the framework of an anthropology of life that investigates the variations of these explications across space and time, the set of articles of this special issue offers an overview of conceptions of life in Mesoamerica and in Lowland South America. Mythologies, figurations and ritual actions are the core of the investigation, which enables to explore many kinds of interweaving of vital and technical processesDownloads
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