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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Anthropology > Social & cultural anthropology
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From Blessing to Violence - History and Ideology in the Circumcision Ritual of the Merina (Paperback)
Loot Price: R1,120
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From Blessing to Violence - History and Ideology in the Circumcision Ritual of the Merina (Paperback)
Series: Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology
Expected to ship within 12 - 17 working days
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The circumcision ritual of the Merina of Madagascar is seen by them
primarily as a blessing, involving the transfer of the love and
concern of the ancestors of their descendants. Yet the ritual ends
in an act of ciolent wounding of the child. Similarily, while the
ritual involves a symbolic assault on women, it is nonetheless
welcomed by them as a mark of receiving the blessing of the
ancestors. In this book, Maurice Bloch provides a detailed
description and analysis of the Merina circumcision ritual today,
offers an account of its history, and discusses the significance of
his analysis for anthropological theories of ritual in general.
Pursuing the theme of the combination of religious joy and
illumination with violence, Professor Bloch explains how, at
various times, the circumcision ceremony can be a familial ritual
as well as glorification of a militarist and expansionist state, or
associated with anti-colonial nationalism. Describing changes that
have occurred in the form of the ritual over two centuries,
Professor Bloch argues that in order to understand the properties
of ritual in general, it is necessary to view it over a longer time
scale than anthropologists have tended to do previously. Adopting
such an historical perspective enables him to identify the
stability of the Merina ritual's symbolic content, despite changes
in its organisation, and dramatically changing politico-economic
contexts. As well as presenting an original historical approach to
the anthropological study of ritua;, Professor Bloch discusses a
range of general theoretical issues, including the nature of
ideology, and the relationship between images created in ritual and
other types of knowledge. The book will appeal widely to scholars
and students of anthropology, history, African studies, and
comparative religion.
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