Mambila Divination
Mambila Divination

Author: David Zeitlyn

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-02-20

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 100004078X

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This book offers a major contribution to the study and analysis of divination, based on continuing fieldwork with the Mambila in Cameroon. It seeks to return attention to the details of divinatory practice, using the questions asked and life histories to help understand the perspective of the clients rather than that of the diviners. Drawing on a corpus of more than 600 cases, David Zeitlyn reconsiders theories of divination and compares Mambila spider divination with similar systems in the area. A detailed case study is examined and analysed using conversational analytic principles. The regional comparison considers different kinds of explanation for different features of social organization, leading to a discussion of the continuing utility of moderated functionalism. The book will be of interest to area specialists and scholars concerned with religion, rationality, and decision-making from disciplines including anthropology, African studies, and philosophy.

Words and Processes in Mambila Kinship
Words and Processes in Mambila Kinship

Author: David Zeitlyn

Publisher: Lexington Books

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 9780739108017

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Words and Processes in Mambila Kinship presents a set of studies of the way that Mambila speakers in Cameroon talk about themselves and their kin. Author David Zeitlyn employs conversational analytic methods to further the study of kinship terminologies. This book takes an important step toward a new synthesis between the practice of ethnography and the study of language while presenting African natural language data (still rare in mainstream linguistics) in an accessible format.

Divination and Knowledge in Greco-Roman Antiquity
Divination and Knowledge in Greco-Roman Antiquity

Author: Crystal Addey

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-07-15

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 1315449463

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Addressing the close connections between ancient divination and knowledge, this volume offers an interlinked and detailed set of case studies which examine the epistemic value and significance of divination in ancient Greek and Roman cultures. Focusing on diverse types of divination, including oracles, astrology, and the reading of omens and signs in the entrails of sacrificial animals, chance utterances and other earthly and celestial phenomena, this volume reveals that divination was conceived of as a significant path to the attainment of insight and understanding by the ancient Greeks and Romans. It also explores the connections between divination and other branches of knowledge in Greco-Roman antiquity, such as medicine and ethnographic discourse. Drawing on anthropological studies of contemporary divination and exploring a wide range of ancient philosophical, historical, technical and literary evidence, chapters focus on the interconnections and close relationship between divine and human modes of knowledge, in relation to nuanced and subtle formulations of the blending of divine, cosmic and human agency; philosophical approaches towards and uses of divination (particularly within Platonism), including links between divination and time, ethics, and cosmology; and the relationship between divination and cultural discourses focusing on gender. The volume aims to catalyse new questions and approaches relating to these under-investigated areas of ancient Greek and Roman life. which have significant implications for the ways in which we understand and assess ancient Greek and Roman conceptions of epistemic value and variant ways of knowing, ancient philosophy and intellectual culture, lived, daily experience in the ancient world, and religious and ritual traditions. Divination and Knowledge in Greco-Roman Antiquity will be of particular relevance to researchers and students in classics, ancient history, ancient philosophy, religious studies and anthropology who are working on divination, lived religion and intellectual culture, but will also appeal to general readers who are interested in the widespread practice and significance of divination in the ancient world.

Social Intelligence and Interaction
Social Intelligence and Interaction

Author: Esther N. Goody

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1995-03-23

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 9780521459495

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There is a growing view that intelligence evolved as a product of social interdependence. The unique development of human intelligence was probably linked to the use of spoken language, but language itself evolved in the context of social interaction, and in its development it has shaped - and been shaped by - social institutions. Taking as their starting-point the social production of intelligence and of language, scholars across a range of disciplines are beginning to rethink fundamental questions about human evolution, language and social institutions. This volume brings together anthropologists, linguists, primatologists and psychologists, all working on this new frontier of research.

Contingency and Plasticity in Everyday Technologies
Contingency and Plasticity in Everyday Technologies

Author: Natasha Lushetich

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2022-11-23

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 1538171597

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Technology is a host of social, material, and epistemic transformation techniques, tools, and methods. The common perception of digital technology today is that it is determined, even over-determined. This volume suggests a different view: the digital is indeterminate. Mobilising insights from philosophy, art and architecture theory, mathematics, computer science and anthropology, it situates digital indeterminacy within the wider context of material and immaterial processes, causations, triggerings, and their performative working. The book’s tripartite structure reflects technology’s inherent capacity to transform knowledges, practices, and time. Part I: Social-Digital Technologies juxtaposes arguments for machinic indeterminacy to those of overdetermination in blockchain, cognitive augmentation, and digital ideology. Part II: Spatial, Temporal, Aural and Visual Technologies delves deeper into received ideas about technologies for building spatial structures, manufacturing instruments and constructing the visual space. Part III: Epistemic Technologies analyses the use of plasticity in cognitive science, contingency in thinking habits, ontogenesis in experimental computing, and divination techniques with an inbuilt margin of indeterminacy. List of contributors: Franco 'Bifo' Berardi, Iain Campbell, Stephen Darren Dougherty, Aden Evens, Oswaldo Emiddio Vasquez Hadjilyra, Stavros Kousoulas, Natasha Lushetich, Peteer Müürsepp, Luciana Parisi, Andrej Radman, Alesha Serada, Dominic Smith, Sha Xin Wei, Joel White, Ashley Woodward, and David Zeitlyn.

Divination in Exile
Divination in Exile

Author: Alexander Kingsbury Smith

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2020-09-25

Total Pages: 203

ISBN-13: 900444078X

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In Divination in Exile, Alexander K. Smith offers the first comprehensive scholarly introduction to the performance of divination in Tibetan speaking communities, both past and present.

Glimpses of Tibetan Divination
Glimpses of Tibetan Divination

Author:

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2019-11-04

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13: 9004410686

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Glimpses of Tibetan Divination: Past and Present is the first book of its kind, in that it contains articles by a group of eminent scholars who approach the subject matter by investigating it through various facets and salient historical figures. Over the centuries, Tibetans developed many practices of prognostication and adapted many others from neighboring cultures and religions. In this way, Tibetan divination evolved into a vast field of ritual expertise that has been largely neglected in Tibetan Studies. The Tibetan repertoire of divinatory techniques is rich and immensely varied. Accordingly, the specimen of practices discussed in this volume—many of which remain in use today—merely serve as examples that offer glimpses of divination in Tibet. Contributors are Per Kværne, Brandon Dotson, Ai Nishida, Dan Martin, Petra Maurer, Charles Ramble, Donatella Rossi, Rolf Scheuermann, Alexander Smith, and Agata Bareja-Starzynska.

Divination and Prophecy in the Ancient Greek World
Divination and Prophecy in the Ancient Greek World

Author: Roger D. Woodard

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2022-12-31

Total Pages: 331

ISBN-13: 1009221582

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This volume examines the phenomena of ancient Greek prophecy and divination. With contributions from a distinguished, international cast of scholars, it offers fresh perspectives and interpretations of key aspects of these practices. Considering issues such as comparativism, ethnography, cognitive function, orality, and intertextuality, the volume demonstrates their relevance to the elucidation of Greek prophetic practices. The volume also shows how multi- and inter-disciplinary approaches can be applied to a range of topics, from an examination of the very inception of Greek divination, explored within the frame of more archaic cult ideas, through emic elaboration of divinatory practice in Archaic and Classical periods, to consideration of intentional manipulation of prophecy, as depicted in Hellenistic and Imperial Roman sources. Collectively, the essays deepen our understanding of ancient Greek prophecy by offering insights into divinition astéhknē, the centrality or marginality of Delphi and the Pythic priestess, prophetic ambiguity, and cognition, including cognitive dissonance.

Tradition as Truth and Communication
Tradition as Truth and Communication

Author: Pascal Boyer

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1990-03-30

Total Pages: 154

ISBN-13: 0521374170

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Tradition is a central concept in the social sciences, but it is commonly treated as unproblematic. Dr. Boyer insists that social anthropology requires a theory of tradition, its constitution and transmission. He treats tradition "as a type of interaction which results in the repetition of certain communicative events," and therefore as a form of social action. Tradition as Truth and Communication deals particularly with oral communication and focuses on the privileged role of licensed speakers and the ritual contexts in which certain aspects of tradition are characteristically transmitted. Drawing on cognitive psychology, Dr. Boyer proposes a set of general hypotheses to be tested by ethnographic field research. He has opened up an important new field for investigation within social anthropology.

Dreaming the Future
Dreaming the Future

Author: Clifford A. Pickover

Publisher: Prometheus Books

Published: 2001-03

Total Pages: 461

ISBN-13: 1615924175

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For countless generations people of every culture have practiced a broad range of dramatic and sometimes frightening techniques to peer into the future. In this fascinating book acclaimed author Clifford Pickover presents a nearly exhaustive list of fortune-telling techniques, from the ominous practice of human sacrifice to reading clues on the Internet.Pickover not only explores a vast and colorful array of methods of prediction--including dreaming--he also evaluates the accuracy of some of the most astonishing prophecies made throughout history. Just how accurate were such famous soothsayers as Nostradamus, the Delphic Oracle, Edgar Cayce, the children of Fatima (whose third vision has only recently been revealed), and dozens more?This book takes us one step further by exploring our own inner psyches: Why does looking into the future provide a source of solace in a world filled with uncertainty, disease, and chance? And why do the most noted prognosticators so often warn of natural catastrophes of biblical proportions, such as earthquakes and floods that will signal the end of the world?Through insight and wit, Pickover will unlock the door of your imagination with engrossing mysteries, intriguing illustrations, and even modern patents and computer techniques. Also included is a range of practical experiments and recipes--from Stone Age to New Age.Prepare yourself for a strange but captivating ride!