Fracturing Resemblances: Identity and Mimetic Conflict in Melanesia and the West (EASA Series)
Simon Harrison
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Description for Fracturing Resemblances: Identity and Mimetic Conflict in Melanesia and the West (EASA Series)
Hardcover. Western societies draw crucially on concepts of the "individual" in constructing their images of the ethnic group and nation and define these in terms of difference. This study explores the implications of these constructs for Western understanding of social order and ethnic conflicts. BIC Classification: 1MKL; JFC. Category: (P) Professional & Vocational. .
Western societies draw crucially on concepts of the 'individual' in constructing their images of the ethnic group and nation and define these in terms of difference. This study explores the implications of these constructs for Western understanding of social order and ethnic conflicts. Comparing them with the forms of cultural identity characteristic of Melanesia as they have developed since pre-colonial times, the author arrives at a surprising conclusion: he argues that these kinds of identities are more properly and adequately viewed as forms of disguised or denied resemblance, and that it is these covert commonalities that give rise to, and ... Read more
Western societies draw crucially on concepts of the 'individual' in constructing their images of the ethnic group and nation and define these in terms of difference. This study explores the implications of these constructs for Western understanding of social order and ethnic conflicts. Comparing them with the forms of cultural identity characteristic of Melanesia as they have developed since pre-colonial times, the author arrives at a surprising conclusion: he argues that these kinds of identities are more properly and adequately viewed as forms of disguised or denied resemblance, and that it is these covert commonalities that give rise to, and ... Read more
Product Details
Publisher
Berghahn Books
Format
Hardback
Publication date
2005
Condition
New
Weight
28g
Number of Pages
192
Place of Publication
Herndon, United States
ISBN
9781571816801
SKU
V9781571816801
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 15 to 20 working days
Ref
99-15
About Simon Harrison
Simon Harrison is Reader in Social Anthropology at the University of Ulster, and has carried out ethnographic fieldwork among the people of Avatip in Papua New Guinea. He has published extensively on Melanesian warfare, ethnopsychology, cultural identity, and indigenous forms of intellectual property.
Reviews for Fracturing Resemblances: Identity and Mimetic Conflict in Melanesia and the West (EASA Series)
This book offers a counterintuitive and innovative approach to the politics of cultural difference and social order. The appeal of Harrison's argument is enhanced because he shows that currently dominant approaches to the politics of identity and difference are likely to be misguided, but does not resort to a wrongheaded appeal to universalism that simply collapses difference. - Anthropological ... Read more