Monsters

Bibliographic Data

ID22366605
AuthorsY Musharbash (0000-0001-5700-9047, corresponding author)
EditorsF Stein (0000-0002-0123-9895), Joel Robbins, Rupert Stasch, M Candea (0000-0001-7260-4194), Andrew Sanchez (0000-0001-8660-7505), Sian Lazar (0000-0002-0056-6333), Hildegard Diemberger (0009-0004-7655-6520)
Year2021
Publication date2021-10-15
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueOpen Encyclopedia of Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2398-516X • E-ISSN: 2398-516X
PublisherCambridge Encyclopedia of Anthropology (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.29164/21monsters
OpenAlexW4238022009
LanguageEN
References cited12

Monsters are not only key protagonists in myths, legends, fairy tales, fiction, and films; they also haunt cellars, cyberspace, and crossroads. Based on encounters with monsters in their fieldsites, anthropologists define monsters as inherently social entities but with a defiant relationship to order. This entry showcases that monsters haunt humans in culturally distinct ways. Emphasising the comparative potential of monsters, it highlights the ways in which their study reveals much about what monsters are, about society, and about time and space. Anthropology has made key contributions to the study of monsters: from the meticulous documentation of local monsters in early ethnographies, via regional theoretical frameworks and a gradual increase in singular works concerned with individual types of monsters, to recent comparative monster anthropology. Anthropology continues to have much to offer to those interested in monsters, especially in these times of planetary crises, disasters, catastrophes, ruination, and their accompanying rise of monsters

Art · Cyberspace · Documentation · Ethnography · Literature · Monster · Mythology · Sociology · The Internet · World Wide Web · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · Computer Science · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Gothic Literature and Media Analysis · History

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