Die Macht der Gegenstände. Menschen und ihre Objekte am oberen Xingú. Brasilien
(Curupira Band 6)
Marburg: Förderverein "Völkerkunde in Marburg" 1997
245 pp., DM 42,-; ISBN 3-8185-0258-7
The power of objects. Human beings and their objects at the Upper Xingú, Brazil
##This book opens up a supra-regional theoretical discourse about material culture, and searches for new methods particularly suitable to the examination of objects. The first part is a critical look at the history of anthropology. It comprises a discussion about how objects were treated in previous anthropological theories. The results of most studies on material culture do not explain the objects themselves, but shed light upon other parts of culture, cultural history, social structure or economy. Some newer approaches, which treat nonverbal cultural media as a kind of language, applying the methods of linguistics and semiotics to the study of material culture are also presented. Part two looks at theoretical approaches in neighboring sciences in an attempt to broaden our view of material culture and encourage new insights. One important contribution to symbolism beyond language was made by the philosopher Susanne Langer who developed the idea of explaining visual forms as pieces of art or ritual. The work of the psychoanalyst Ernst Boesch is applied to develop an understanding of objects as constructions of human experience. Boesch´s work focuses on symbolic forms and meanings and the examination of the processes of artistic work. The third part is an experiment applied to the objects of an Amazonian Indian culture in order to find out about their "philosophy of things." On a structural analysis of myths follows an evaluation of ethnographic data and an interpretation of the use of objects in the course of rituals. Bows and arrows, being the most frequently mentioned mythical objects, have been chosen as representatives for material culture. The results of the experiment show that the symbolic meanings of things determine everyday, as well as ritual interaction with them: how things are talked about in myths, their manufacture and use as well as the dramatization of certain objects.##
Keywords: Langer, S., Boesch, E., symbolism, psychoanalysis, language, visual culture, art, objects
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