Myth as Argument, Mythmaking as Field of Play: Mythical Manoeuver and Value Appropriation in North Seram, Eastern Indonesia (original) (raw)
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Anthropological perspectives on Myth
Anuário Antropologico, 2002
In this paper, I explore anthropological interpretations of myths. Myths have fascinated scholars in various disciplines - as well as ordinary people. They have recorded and presented history, expounded philosophical ideas and moral values (Plato, Sophocles, Aeschylus), as well as provided patterns for interpreting language, (Müller), psychology (Freud, Rank, Jung) and structure (Lévi-Strauss, Greimas). One of the more puzzling moments in all these studies was the apparent incommensurability between “myth” and “reality.
The people came out and shed their anaconda skins. — Irving Goldman, Cubeo origin myth While functionalist accounts of myth have generally yielded to structural analyses since the appearance of Lévi-Strauss's classic essay, " The Structural Study of Myth, " the relationship between myth and that analytical entity called " culture " is still unclear. The difficulty can be traced to an unfinished anthropological dialogue about what culture is or what cultures are, and how it / they can best be described. My central thesis is that anthropologists have tended to regard their subject matter — culture — as a received object of study and that they have been mistaken in this tendency. The essay proposes to regard " a culture " as generated and perpetually shifting meaning, a motivated affirmation of a system of differences. Establishing the semiotic form of two Arawak and Trobriand origin myths helps to show how 0 0 1 F an thropological theories are themselves composed. A textual criticism of one theory of myth — Malinowski's — is combined with an analysis of two bona fide " primitive " myths. The comparison indicates that the myths provide better theory about the dynamics of cultural identity than does the theory of myth, Anthropologists have written a great deal about myth, and this paper is intended in part to add yet a few more pages to that voluminous literature. But it also has a second purpose, one seldom developed in treatises on comparative mythology: I hope to demonstrate how a myth can contribute directly to anthropological theory. I want to claim that just as anthropological studies of myth have advanced our understanding of that phenomenon, so certain myths can provide insights into the anthropological perspective that informs theory. The thesis I develop in this essay is consequently that the myth-making mind and the anthropology-making mind have much in common at the level of fundamental symbolic processes. The myth I examine is one told by the Arawak of northwestern Guyana about
Archetypes are found all over the world and may have very important significance to the people who have them. Archetypal symbols, for example, have triggered peoples to struggle for some specific purposes. An archetypal symbol in Papua which is found in th e Bintang Kejora flag which is actually the Sampari , also called the Makmeser , the Morning Star has become the people’s symbol of struggle for some time now. This symbol is actually originated in the Manarmakeri myth in the Biak people oral literature tra dition with Manarmakeri as the leading character. This Sampari is very closely related to the Koreri sheben , an era in which there is abundance, no more deaths, only eternal life, and ever lasting happiness. This paper will briefly discuss the Manarmakeri myth starting with its archetypal plot, characters, situations, and symbols, then, on to its developmental implication and political significance.
Anthropos, 2022
Ultimate value is rarely fully realized as people have to maintain a balance between values in their everyday life. Robbins (2015) notes, however, that it may be perfectly exemplified through ritual. In this paper, I want to show that the perfect exemplification of a value that fundamentally matters to a society may otherwise be attained through the incorporation of an overwhelming stranger. Anthropologists have shown that the presence of a potent foreigner incites a sense of categorical disunity that leads to the dialectical counter movement to assimilate them. In this imaginary process of establishing a new unity, I argue, people are not simply attempting to incorporate the pervading stranger but also to encompass them within their hierarchically arranged idea of value. Subsequently, during the moment of assimilation—which can occur through myth, ritual, or other social forms—the community makes their ultimate value socially present. I will try to exemplify my argument by examining key cultural representations of the other among upland-lowland people in North Seram, Eastern Indonesia.
Myth as the Phenomenon of Culture.pdf
National Academy of Managerial Staff of Culture and Arts Herald, 2018
This paper aims at exploring myth as a phenomenon of culture. The authors have used anthropological integrative approach, semiotic method of representing myth as a language of culture, as well as phenomenological method. Myths provide meaning and purpose to all elements of culture. Myth underlies cultural reality – it is a core of culture. If we imagine culture as an onion comprised of different layers (the “onion” model of culture), than myth is the center of it – it is a core beyond articulation. It generates our beliefs and assumptions that are rarely explicated, however there beliefs and assumptions shape both the structure of personality and culture. They are taken for granted, but support any culture. They manifest themselves in an explicit form in values, purposes, goals, strategies, philosophies, which motivate us and shape our reality. Mythology is one of the ways to comprehend and interpret the world around us. Its basic concepts are the “world” and “human”. Through the lens of these concepts, people realized their destiny in the world and formed life attitudes during the early stages of human development. Giving place to philosophy and science, mythology has not lost its important place in human history. Mythological narratives were borrowed by many religions. In recent decades, representatives of literature and art have intentionally used myths to express their ideas. They have not only rethought ancient myths, but have created new mythological symbols. Nowadays, an interest in myths and mythologies has dramatically increased, and it is not by chance. The famous researchers of the primitive cultures and mythologies as the ways of mastering and interpreting the world have demonstrated the creative power and heuristic potential of myths that will be manifested in the future.