Dados Bibliográficos

Resumo

David Graeber's "The Divine Kingship of the Shilluk" explores the symbolic and political dimensions of Shilluk kingship in South Sudan. Challenging conventional anthropological interpretations of divine kingship as inherently oppressive, Graeber argues that the Shilluk king embodied a complex and ambivalent figure, simultaneously representing both life-giving forces and the potential for violence and destruction. He analyzes the ritual regicide of the Shilluk king, arguing that it served not as a mechanism of social control but as a symbolic enactment of the cyclical nature of time, renewal, and the inherent instability of power. Drawing on ethnographic data and historical accounts, Graeber connects the Shilluk case to broader theoretical questions about sovereignty, violence, utopia, and the human condition, ultimately suggesting that the Shilluk kingship offers insights into the paradoxical nature of political power and the human desire for both order and transgression.

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