An Anthropology of the Subject : Holographic Worldview in New Guinea and Its Meaning and Significance for the World of Anthropology

An Anthropology of the Subject rounds out the theoretical-philosophical cosmos of one of the twentieth century's most intellectually adventurous anthropologists. Roy Wagner, having turned "culture" and "symbols" inside out (in The Invention of Culture and Symbols That Stand for Themselves, respectively), now does the same for the "subject" and subjectivity. In studying the human subject and the way human culture mirrors itself, Wagner has redefined holography as "the exact equivalence, or comprehensive identity, of part and whole in any human contingency." Preliminaries......Page 1 Contents......Page 7 List of Illustrations......Page 9 Preface......Page 11 Abstract of the Argument......Page 13 Introduction......Page 17 1. To Be Caught in Indra’s Net......Page 25 2. Where Is the Meaning in a Trope?......Page 40 3. A Sociality Reperceived......Page 53 4. Our Sense of Their Humor: Their Sense of Ours......Page 70 5. The Story of Eve......Page 89 6. The Icon of Incest......Page 103 7. The Queen’s Daughter and the King’s Son......Page 119 8. The Consumer Consumed......Page 134 9. Echolocation......Page 151 10. Imaginary Spaces......Page 166 11.The Cakra of Johann Christian Bach......Page 180 12. The Near-Life Experience......Page 195 13. Reinventing the Wheel......Page 213 14. The Physical Education of the Wheel......Page 228 15. Sex in a Mirror......Page 243 16. The Single Shape of Metaphor in All Things......Page 258 Glossary of Unfamiliar Concepts......Page 273 Notes......Page 279 Index......Page 285 In studying the human subject and the way the human culture mirrors itself, the author redefines holography as "the exact equivalence, or comprehensive identity, of part and whole in any human contingency".