Author Biography:
Pierre Lemonnier is a research director at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. His research team is the Centre de Recherche et de Documentation sur l'Océanie, in Marseille.

Contents:
Introduction: Pierre Lemonnier Chapter 1. North Wind, South Wind. Neolithic technical choices in the Jura Mountains, 3700-2400 BC, Pierre Petrequin Chapter 2. The Watch and the Waterclock. Technological choices/social choices, Genevieve Bedoucha Chapter 3. The Reindeerman's lasso, Tim Ingold Chapter 4. Pigs as Ordinary Wealth. Technical logic, exchange and leadership in New Guinea, Pierre Lemonnier Chapter 5. Pottery Techniques in India. Technical variants and social choice, Marie-Claude Mahias Chapter 6. Of Mills and Waterwheels. The hidden parameters of technological choices, Robert Cresswell Chapter 7. Technical Innovation and Cultural Resistance. The social weight of plowing in the vineyards of les Corbieres (Languedoc), Georges Guille-Escuret Chapter 8. The Hunter and his Gun in Haute-Provence, Nicolas Govoroff

This concise book shows the importance of objects that are considered ordinary by cultural outsiders and scholars, yet lie at the heart of the systems of thought and practices of their makers and users. This volume demonstrates the role of these objects in nonverbal communication, both in non-ritual and in ritual situations. Lemonnier shows that some objects, their physical properties and their material implementation, are wordless expressions of fundamental aspects of a way of living and thinking, as well as sometimes the only means of expressing the inexpressible. Through the study of the most mundane technical activities such as fence building, creating models cars, or trapping fish, we often gain a better understanding of what these objects mean and how they work within their cultures of origin. In addition to anthropologists and archaeologists, this book will also be of interest to sociologists, historians, philosophers, cognitive anthropologists and primatologists, for whom the intertwining of "function" and "style" is the very mark of all cultural behavior.

This concise book shows the importance of objects that are considered ordinary by cultural outsiders and scholars, yet lie at the heart of the systems of thought and practices of their makers and users. This volume demonstrates the role of these objects in nonverbal communication, both in non-ritual and in ritual situations. Lemonnier shows that some objects, their physical properties and their material implementation, are wordless expressions of fundamental aspects of a way of living and thinking, as well as sometimes the only means of expressing the inexpressible. Through the study of the most mundane technical activities such as fence building, creating models cars, or trapping fish, we often gain a better understanding of what these objects mean and how they work within their cultures of origin. In addition to anthropologists and archaeologists, this book will also be of interest to sociologists, historians, philosophers, cognitive anthropologists and primatologists, for whom the intertwining of "function" and "style" is the very mark of all cultural behavior.

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to ensure edition identification: ++++ Rochefort-sur-mer, 1789-1802 Pierre Lemonnier Imp. Rochelaise, 1901