Anthropos: Anthropos, 86.1991,1/6

Anthropos, 86.1991,1/6

Bibliographische Daten

Zeitschrift

Strukturtyp:: Zeitschrift

Werks-URN (URL):: https://digi.evifa.de/viewer/resolver?urn=urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-714820

URN:: urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-714820

Persistenter Identifier:: BV043334262

Titel:: Anthropos

Untertitel:: internationale Zeitschrift für Völker- u. Sprachenkunde

Erscheinungsort:: Fribourg

Verlag:: Ed. St. Paul

Erscheinungsjahr:: 1906

Sammlung:: Zeitschriften und Zeitungen > Zeitschriften zur Ethnologie

Wissensgebiet:: Sozial- und Kulturanthropologie > Allgemeines

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Strukturtyp:: Zeitschriftenband

Werks-URN (URL):: https://digi.evifa.de/viewer/resolver?urn=urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-711879

URN:: urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-711879

Persistenter Identifier:: 1513674362149

Titel:: Anthropos, 86.1991,1/6

Erscheinungsjahr:: 1991

Signatur:: LA 1118

Sammlung:: Zeitschriften und Zeitungen > Zeitschriften zur Ethnologie

Zeitschriftenheft

Strukturtyp:: Zeitschriftenheft

Titel:: Bd. 86, 1991, Heft 1-3

Sammlung:: Zeitschriften und Zeitungen > Zeitschriften zur Ethnologie

Zeitschriftenartikel

Strukturtyp:: Zeitschriftenartikel

Titel:: Symbolic Organization of Space and Social Identity in Alor

Sonstige Person:: Scarduelli, Pietro

Sammlung:: Zeitschriften und Zeitungen > Zeitschriften zur Ethnologie

Anthropos 86.1991; 75-85 Symbolic Organization of Space and Social Identity m Alor Pietro Scarditeli! Abstract. — In recent years an increasing interest has been shown in a particular facet of the traditional cultures of South- eas t Asia: the symbolic organization of space. The ernie catego ry of “house” (Lévi-Strauss 1979; 1984; Fox 1980) has emerged as a symbolic structure, a microcosm which reproduces the •mage of natural and social order. - Through an analysis of the way the people of Alor (Eastern Indonesia) organize and conceive social space inside the village, this paper argues that: (1) the symbolic organization of the space is the main means used by natives to interpret their own social organization an d to define social identity; (2) the symbolism of space is n °t confined to the house but extends to the whole village: ne ighbourhoods, ritual centers, mounds are different parts of a conceptual network, an integrated system of meanings. [South east Asia, symbol, space, house, social identity] p 'etro Scarduelli, Dr.phil. (Milano 1970); since 1980 Assis- lant Professor at the Dept, of Anthropological and Archaeolo- 8'cal Sciences, University of Turin. He devoted himself first to the study of the pre-Columbian civilizations and, in the last ten Ycârs, to the traditional cultures of Indonesia (fieldwork in Nias a nd Alor). - Publications include: Gli Aztechi e il sacrificio untano (Turin 1980); Il rito (Bari 1983); L’isola degli antenati dl Pietra (Bari 1986); Centri, ritualità, potere (with F. Remotti and U. Fabietti; Bologna 1989). Methodological Introduction island is located north of Timor, in that area °f the Indonesian Archipelago which provided Van louden with the ethnographic material analyzed comparatively according to a theoretical trame- w °rk elaborated by J.P.B. de Josselin de Jong an d known as “ethnologisch studieveld. Recently, this theory has been critically recon sidered (Fox 1980; P. E. de Josselin de Jong 1984) an d this has opened the way to a new assessment the comparative study of the Insular South-East cultures related to an “emic” perspective, which is used on the indigenous cultural categories rather dfan on an a priori pattern (“ethnologisch stu- iuveld,” “structural core”). Crucial, among these cultural categories, is the concept of “house, to be fuderstood as a symbolic structure, a microcosm ^hich reproduces the image of both the natural 0r der and the social relations system. During the same years Lévi-Strauss (1979; 1984) came to conclusions which, to a certain extent, are similar; he assumed that the constituent components of the Archipelago societies are not to be defined as families, lineages, or clans; in order to grasp their intrinsic nature, it is necessary to resort to the category of “house.” Even if Lévi- Strauss’ thesis, in particular his notion of “house as a fetish” (1984), does not coincide with P. E. de Josselin de Jong’s and Fox’s, one can find a meaningful and common awareness, supported by recent research on the field, of the importance of the house symbolism as a key to the understanding of the Indonesian Archipelago societies. But field research in the South-East area makes it clear that the symbolic organization of space is not limited to the house, but rather con cerns the entire village. This leads us to believe that, in order to understand the way the traditional Archipelago societies conceive themselves and the world, it is necessary to take into examination not only the metaphors confined to the house, but also the symbolic relationship between the habitation space and the common spaces, as well as the way the relationship between the village and the suiTOunding space is imagined. The analysis of the symbolic organization of space within the Alor Kecil community should be read in the light of this approach, already adopted in the Nias society study (Scarduelli 1986, 1989). The following pages are dedicated to the anal ysis of the cognitive maps used by the inhabitants of this village, situated on the extreme western tip of Alor Island (Eastern Indonesia), to interpret their own social organization and to establish the frame of reference used for interactions within the community. The most relevant element of the cognitive maps is the fact that their inner structure is de vised according to a symbolic pattern related to the village configuration; therefore, to study how the public areas are conceived by the indigenous people is the best way of reconstructing the main

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