Myth, Ritual and the Oral

by Jack Goody

Overview

In Myth, Ritual and the Oral Jack Goody, one of the world's most distinguished anthropologists, returns to the related themes of myth, orality and literacy, subjects that have long been a touchstone in anthropological thinking. Combining classic papers with recent unpublished work, this volume brings together some of the most important essays written on these themes in the past half century, representative of a lifetime of critical engagement and research. In characteristically clear and accessible style, Jack Goody addresses fundamental conceptual schemes underpinning modern anthropology, providing potent critiques of current theoretical trends. Drawing upon his highly influential work on the LoDagaa myth of the Bagre, Goody challenges structuralist and functionalist interpretations of oral ‘literature', stressing the issues of variation, imagination and creativity, and the problems of methodology and analysis. These insightful, and at times provocative, essays will stimulate fresh debate and prove invaluable to students and teachers of social anthropology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521128032
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	10/14/2010
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	186
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Jack Goody is Emeritus Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of St John's College. Recently knighted by Her Majesty The Queen for services to anthropology, Professor Goody has researched and taught all over the world, is a Fellow of the British Academy and in 1980 was made a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2004 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and he was elected Commandeur des Arts et Lettres in 2006.

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. Religion and ritual from Tylor to Parsons: the definitional problem; 2. Oral 'literature'; 3. The anthropologist and the tape-recorder; 4. Oral creativity; 5. The folktale and cultural history; 6. Animals, men and gods in northern Ghana; 7. The Bagre in all its variety; 8. From oral to written: a breakthrough in story-telling; 9. Writing and oral memory: the importance of the lecto-oral; Appendix. Folktales in northern Ghana; Bibliography.