Javno predavanje: Visions and effects in Melanesia: description, cosmology, and transformative action

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Raziskovalci temeljnega raziskovalnega projekta Vizionarske prakse v primerjalni perspektivi: antropološka študija imaginalnega (ARRS J6-3127) vas vljudno vabimo na javno predavanje prof. Erica Hirscha (Univerza Brunel, London) »Visions and effects in Melanesia: description, cosmology, and transformative action«.

Predavanje v angleškem jeziku bo v četrtek, 21.9.2023, ob 11. uri v Dvorani štirih letnih časov ZRC SAZU, Novi trg 4, 2. nadstropje, v Ljubljani.

»Visions and effects in Melanesia: description, cosmology, and transformative action«

This paper considers two different sorts of visionaries and the effects or outcomes of their visions. The first is a man from the Fuyuge speaking area of Papua New Guinea where I conducted fieldwork. He lived earlier last century. The second is a man from another area in Papua New Guinea (Manus Islands) who was again active last century. What I suggest is that for the visions to have transformative consequences they must create a new cosmology in relation to the existing or conventional cosmology. It is only then that new possibilities for action become imaginable. Central here are descriptions that people have available for the actions that they undertake. When new description come into existence new actions become possible. What I show is that the visions of one man had only local effects as he was operating in the conventional cosmology while the visions of the second had wide ranging consequences creating a new cosmology in relation to the old, based on new descriptions for new kinds of actions.

Eric Hirsch is Professor of Anthropology and Division Lead of Anthropology, Development and Geography at Brunel University London. He has a long-standing interest in the anthropology and history of Papua New Guinea and Melanesia more generally. He is the author of Ancestral Presence: Cosmology and Historical Experience in the Papuan Highlands, 2021.

Vljudno vabljeni!

Inštitut za antropološke in prostorske študije, ZRC SAZU