Tracking the Ancestors
On their Journeys along the Sepik River in Papua New Guinea
by Jurg Wassmann and contributions by Markus Schindlbeck, Christiane Falck, Raymond Ammann, Hans J. Markowitsch, Angelica Staniloiu and Marie M.P. Vandekerckhove
Paperback (Published)
(July 2022)
ISBN: 9783825349530
5.28 x 8.27 inches
Price: $84.00
In stock
This rich ethnography, a thoroughly revised version of a book published in 1991, presents long-term and new research findings on the Nyaura (or West Iatmul) people, a society on the Sepik River in Papua New Guinea. Nyaura mythology centres around the primeval journeys of their ancestors who – accompanied by powerful, versatile crocodiles – formed the landscape and founded settlements; it is expressed and stored in numerous long song cycles and visualised in unique knotted cords. These songs express the Nyaura’s worldview, their thoughts on the social order, and the concept of the person. In this comprehensive monograph, the author also explores a range of current and fundamental questions from the cognitive sciences regarding the memorisation of these hundreds of songs, thus linking anthropological data with cognitive science findings. Neuropsychologists share their reflections on learning, memorising and remembering. Studies on the historiography of the Middle Sepik, on the altered concept of personhood as result of religious change, and on the dualistic structure of ceremonial music round off the monograph.
- By (author) Jurg Wassmann
- Contributions by Raymond Ammann
- Contributions by Christiane Falck
- Contributions by Hans J. Markowitsch
- Contributions by Markus Schindlbeck
- Contributions by Angelica Staniloiu
- Contributions by Marie M.P. Vandekerckhove
Other Titles in this Series
Being ‘Mande’
Person, Land and Names: Among the Hinihon in the Adelbert Range, Papua New Guinea
Volume 3
Similar Books
La Suisse, espace privilegie du neoliberalisme / Die Schweiz, ein idealer Nahrboden fur den Neoliberalismus
Beiträge zur Islamischen Kunst und Archäologie
The Arts and Archaeology of Funerary Cultures in Islam
Volume 10.0
Gender in Gandharan Art
Representations and Interactions in the Buddhist Context (1st-4th centuries CE)
Groundbreaking Technologies in the Middle Paleolithic of the Levant
8igh Resolution and Multi-scale Functional Analysis of Ground Stone Tools
Volume 3
Liberating the Repressed Self among Contemporary Chinese
A Theoretical Study Involving Tu Weiming and Jürgen Moltmann
Volume 41
The Identity at Death of the Old and Young from the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages on the Southeast Asian Mainland
The Lizhi 荔枝 (Lychee) in Chinese Literature
Translation of Chinese Sources by Michael J. Hagerty. With an introduction and edited by Hartmut Walravens
Volume 66
Viyano – A Passion for Kurds and Mountain Life
The Werner Finke Collection. With the assistance from Eszter Agota Hars and Marina Stoilova
Volume 2
