Animals and Ancestors Book Reviews

Animals and Ancestors by Brian Morris Book Summary

Ever since the emergence of human culture, people and animals have co-existed in close proximity. Humans have always recognized both their kinship with animals and their fundamental differences, as animals have always been a threat to humans' well-being. The relationship, therefore, has been complex, intimate, reciprocal, personal, and -- crucially -- ambivalent. It is hardly surprising that animals evoke strong emotions in humans, both positive and negative. This companion volume to Morris' important earlier work, The Power of Animals, is a sustained investigation of the Malawi people's sacramental attitude to animals, particularly the role that animals play in life-cycle rituals, their relationship to the divinity and to spirits of the dead. How people relate to and use animals speaks volumes about their culture and beliefs. This book overturns the ingrained prejudice within much ethnographic work, which has often dismissed the pivotal role animals play in culture, and shows that personhood, religion, and a wide range of rituals are informed by, and even dependent upon, human-animal relations.

👋 Do you love Animals and Ancestors books? Please share your friends!

Animals and Ancestors (Brian Morris) Book Reviews 2024

Brian Morris - Animals and Ancestors Discussions & Comments

Have you read this book yet? What do you think about Animals and Ancestors by Brian Morris book? Ask the bookpedia.co community a question about Animals and Ancestors!