ANTH 206 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Andrew P. Vayda, Sexual Intercourse
8 Jun 2016
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Document Summary
Structural-functionalism (social cement and at the same time surface of emergence for con ict; fusion- ssion) The trivial part: rituals have an ecological impact. The bone of the argument: rituals mediate the relations between people, pigs, and gardens. The rituals serve to mediate relationships between different groups of people. If one of a pair of antagonistic groups is able to uproot its rumbim before its opponents can plant their rumbim it may occupy the latter"s territory. A man becomes a member of a territorial group by participating with it in the planting of rumbim. If a pair of antagonistic groups proceeds through two ritual cycles without resumption of hostilities their enmity may be terminated. The problem with r"s observation is that it is not historical, its just one event and one cycle that he observes. One cycle is observed and one eldwork= isomorphism. The duration of the eldwork is the duration of the cycle, he doesn"t know how it evolved.
