Acting with things

Self-poiesis, actuality, and contingency in the formation of divine worlds

Bibliographic Data

ID2973644
AuthorsM Ishii (0000-0003-2794-9067, Kyoto University, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume2
Issue2
Pages371-388
Publication date2012-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHau Journal of Ethnographic Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2049-1115 • E-ISSN: 2575-1433
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.14318/hau2.2.019
OpenAlexW2051325347
LanguageEN
Citations received25
References cited22

The aim of this study is to investigate how divine worlds can be created, vitalized, and lived by people. Focusing not on cognition and operating through things but on bodily action with things, this paper examines the actuality of these actions, which occur prior to the cognitive articulation of the event and create novel experiences of the world. It reconsiders Alfred Gell's theory of idolatry through the ideas of Bin Kimura and Hideo Kawamoto. Exploring the making of spirits in Ghana and spirit possession rituals in South India, this paper presents a fresh view of the formation of divine worlds as the actualization of virtual, vital relations between persons and things that emerge only through their contingent coactions

Action (physics · Aesthetics · Articulation (sociology · Cognition · Cognitive map · Epistemology · Idolatry · Linguistics · MAGIC (telescope · Possession (linguistics · Sociology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Religious studies · Social Psychology

Tools

Open DOI