Bodies and Persons: Comparative Perspectives from Africa and Melanesia
by: Michael Lambek/Andrew Strathern (Ed.)

Softcover. Cambridge UK, Cambridge University Press, 1st pbk, 1998, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 298 pages. This book suggests a bold comparative approach to broad cultural differences between Africa and Melanesia. Its theme is personhood, understood in terms of what anthropologists call embodiment. These concepts are applied to questions ranging from the meanings of spirit possession, to the logics of witchcraft and kinship relations, the use of rituals in healing, and even the impact of capitalism. Questioning common assumptions about the huge differences among these discrete areas, the contributions document surprising continuities. Clean copy.