The fractal yam: botanical imagery and human agency in the Trobriands
Date
2009
Authors
Mosko, Mark
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland
Abstract
Anthropologists have long appreciated that animals are 'good to think'. In this essay I ponder whether plants might be good to think too, and particularly whether there is any sense in asking if plants (along with animals) might also be 'good to act'. The botanical metaphor of 'base', 'body', and 'tip' animates the origin structures of many if not most societies of the Austronesian world. Less attention has been directed at indigenous elaborations in other socio-cultural domains of the region. Based on recent fieldwork, I outline such ramifications in Trobriand culture, drawing upon the notions of fractal recursion and self-similarity from chaos theory wherein emergent 'tips' yield 'fruit' which become the condition or 'base' for further production and transformation. Accordingly, the base-body-tip-fruit metaphor serves as a cultural template or scenario for social action, shedding new interpretative light on many topics of long-standing anthropological interest (e.g. yam propagation, display, and exchange, kula, mortuary celebration, age categories, fame) as well as more recent theoretical interests.
Description
Keywords
Citation
Collections
Source
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
Type
Journal article
Book Title
Entity type
Access Statement
License Rights
Restricted until
2037-12-31
Downloads
File
Description