Living Life's Circle: Mescalero Apache Cosmovision

by Claire R. Farrer

Overview

The product of more than fifteen years contact and life with the Mescalero people in southern New Mexico, Living Life's Circle is one of the first works devoted to the emergent new interdiscipline of ethnoastronomy, the study of how the sky and its movements form "templates" for life in particular cultures. Urged by her friend and mentor, the remarkable singer and medicine man Bernard Second, to "Pay attention," Farrer began to recognize a powerful primary metaphor based on acute astronomical observation and its direct relevance to all aspects of Mescalero life.

"Should be read by every student of culture."—M. Jane Young

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826315601
Publisher:	University of New Mexico Press
Publication date:	09/01/1994
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.85(d)

About the Author

Claire R. Farrer was visiting professor of Southwest studies at Colorado College and was named the NEH/Harry Jack Gray Distinguished Visiting Professor, 2002-2003, at the University of Hartford, Connecticut.

Editorial Reviews

"An excellent account of Apache philosophy as seen through their ceremonies."

"An excellent discussion of the relationship between ethnoastronomy and the base metaphor in the Apache world view.a

An excellent account of Apache philosophy as seen through their ceremonies.

An excellent discussion of the relationship between ethnoastronomy and the base metaphor in the Apache world view.

From the Publisher

Farrer (anthropology, California State U.) spent over 15 years with Mescalero singer and medicine man Bernard Second, in southern New Mexico, and relates what she learned of how celestial phenomena provide a template for the culture's life on earth. A contribution to the emerging field of ethnoastronomy. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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