13 research outputs found
Sago bei den Sawos : (Mittelsepik, Papua New Guinea) : Untersuchungen ĂŒber die Bedeutung von Sago in Wirtschaft, Sozialordnung und Medizin
Stones in swamps: remains of a mythical past in the Sepik area
Early documents on Middle Sepik cultures mention special mounds, which fascinated the first travellers in that region, in front of the huge menâs houses. Situated in the midst of the well-groomed meadows of the so-called dancing grounds, these mounds attracted the explorerâs attention, but their meaning remained hidden. Their beauty was enhanced by tall palm trees and colourful bushes, as well as by carvings â some of them huge â and several upright stones (menhirs, stelae) surrounding the mounds. Later research revealed that they were associated with warfare and headhunting, but also with the founding ancestors of villages. This article summarizes these early descriptions and then proceeds to the later, more detailed research. Additional information is included from the authorâs own fieldwork among the Sawos and Kwanga people, and a comparison is made with data from neighbouring cultures of the Middle Sepik region.Les documents anciens sur les cultures du Moyen Sepik mentionnent des buttes remarquables devant les grandes maisons des hommes. Ces buttes fascinĂšrent les premiers voyageurs dans cette rĂ©gion. ImplantĂ©es au milieu de lâespace le plus souvent plat frĂ©quemment qualifiĂ© de place de danse, elles attirĂšrent lâattention mais sans rĂ©vĂ©ler leur sens. Leur beautĂ© Ă©tait soulignĂ©e par des bouquets de palmiers et des plantes au feuillage colorĂ© qui entouraient la butte et auxquels Ă©taient parfois mĂȘlĂ©es de grandes sculptures. Quelques fois, elles Ă©taient entourĂ©es de plusieurs pierres dressĂ©es, menhirs ou stĂšles. Des recherches plus rĂ©centes ont montrĂ© que ces buttes devaient ĂȘtre mises en relation avec la guerre et la chasse aux tĂȘtes mais aussi avec les ancĂȘtres fondateurs du village. Lâarticle rĂ©sume les premiĂšres descriptions et rend compte des recherches dĂ©taillĂ©es plus rĂ©centes. Des informations complĂ©mentaires provenant de mes recherches de terrain chez les Sawos et les Kwanga sont donnĂ©es et une comparaison est faite avec les informations sur les cultures voisines du moyen Sepik
Conclusion
Au terme de notre mission exploratoire, portons un regard rĂ©trospectif et demandons-nous comment les thĂšmes des trois symposiums qui eurent pour objet les recherches anthropologiques dans le Sepik ont Ă©voluĂ©. Comment la question de la matĂ©rialitĂ© des Ćuvres dâart et celle de la crĂ©ativitĂ© des artistes â les sujets mĂȘmes de lâart â sont-elles intrinsĂšquement liĂ©es Ă une approche comparative gĂ©nĂ©rale prenant en compte les entitĂ©s culturelles et les phĂ©nomĂšnes rĂ©gionaux ? On peut aussi sâinterro..
Le Sepik : société et production matérielle
DĂšs sa dĂ©couverte, Ă la fin du xixe siĂšcle, le nord de la vallĂ©e du Sepik fut reconnu comme un des lieux oĂč la crĂ©ation artistique semblait inĂ©puisable. Les cultures installĂ©es sur les berges du fleuve et ses affluents produisaient des objets et des architectures qui provoquaient lâĂ©tonnement par leur impressionnante diversitĂ© formelle. Cette crĂ©ativitĂ© a donnĂ© naissance Ă de nombreuses Ă©tudes. Des Ă©tudes qui ne seront jamais closes, tant la matiĂšre est riche. Les articles rĂ©unis ici en sont ..
The materiality of Sepik societies
From the time of its discovery at the end of the 19th century, the northern Sepik Valley was recognized as one of those places with a seemingly inexhaustible capacity for artistic creation. The cultures found along the river and its tributaries produced objects and architectures that astonished by the impressive diversity of their forms. This creativity has motivated numerous studies with no end in sight so rich is the material, as attested by the articles collected in the present volume. Mos..
Conclusion
At the end of our exploratory mission, let us take a moment to look back and ask ourselves a few questions: How did the themes of the three symposiums dealing with anthropological research in the Sepik area evolve? And how did the materiality of artworks as well as the creativity of artists, in short, the subject of art, become intrinsically linked with the more general approach comparing cultural entities or phenomena across the region? And last but not least, how does the materiality of art..
Curios and Taonga: Early MÄori Collections in Berlin and Their Representation in the Museum fĂŒr Völkerkunde (now Ethnologisches Museum)
This article gives an overview of the very early collections of MÄori artefacts in Berlin. These encompass the collections assembled by Johann Reinhold and Georg Forster and others on the famous voyages of James Cook to the South Seas at the end of the eighteenth century, but also objects collected by the North American captain Hadlock at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Later a wide range of German visitors reported from their tours through New Zealand and brought back artefacts and photographs. This paper points out the provenances of the core areas of the MÄori collection in Berlin and retraces some shifts in the collecting practices as well as in the museum installations. It will be shown how the perception and evaluation of these objects changed and how they became symbols of identity in the course of the nineteenth and twentieth century