Human-Animal Relationships in San and Hunter-Gatherer Cosmology, Volume I : Therianthropes and Transformation

Exploring a hitherto unexamined aspect of San cosmology, Mathias Guenther’s two volumes on human-animal relations in San cosmology link “new Animism” with Khoisan Studies, providing valuable insights for Khoisan Studies and San culture, but also for anthropological theory, relational ontology, folklorists, historians, literary critics and art historians. In Volume I, therianthropes and transformations, two manifestations of ontological mutability that are conceptually and phenomenologically linked, are contextualized in broader San myth. Guenther explores the pervasiveness of human-animal hybridity and transformation in San expressive culture (myth, stories and storytelling, ludic dancing and art, ancestral rock art and contemporary easel art), ritual (trance dance curing, female and male rites of passage) and hunting. Transformation is shown to be experienced by humans, particularly via rituals and dancing that evoke animal identity mergers, but also by hunters who may engage with their prey animals in terms of sympathy and inter-subjectivity, particularly through the use of “hunting medicines.” Exploring a hitherto unexamined aspect of San cosmology, Mathias Guenther's two volumes on hunter-animal relations in San cosmology link "new Animism" with Khoisan Studies, providing valuable insights for Khoisan Studies and San culture, but also for anthropological theory, relational ontology, folklorists, historians, literary critics and art historians. In Volume I, therianthropes and transformations, two manifestations of ontological mutability that are conceptually and phenomenologically linked, are contextualized in broader San myth. Guenther explores the pervasiveness of human-animal hybridity and transformation in San expressive culture (myth, stories and storytelling, ludic dancing and art, ancestral rock art and contemporary easel art), ritual (trance dance curing, female and male rites of passage) and hunting. Transformation is shown to be experienced by humans, particularly via rituals and dancing that evoke animal identity mergers, but also by hunters who may engage with their prey animals in terms of sympathy and inter-subjectivity, particularly through the use of "hunting medicines." Exploring a hitherto unexamined aspect of San cosmology, Mathias Guenther?s two volumes on human-animal relations in San cosmology link ?new Animism? with Khoisan Studies, providing valuable insights for Khoisan Studies and San culture, but also for anthropological theory, relational ontology, folklorists, historians, literary critics and art historians.0In Volume I, therianthropes and transformations, two manifestations of ontological mutability that are conceptually and phenomenologically linked, are contextualized in broader San myth. Guenther explores the pervasiveness of human-animal hybridity and transformation in San expressive culture (myth, stories and storytelling, ludic dancing and art, ancestral rock art and contemporary easel art), ritual (trance dance curing, female and male rites of passage) and hunting. Transformation is shown to be experienced by humans, particularly via rituals and dancing that evoke animal identity mergers, but also by hunters who may engage with their prey animals in terms of sympathy and inter-subjectivity, particularly through the use of ?hunting medicines.? Front Matter ....Pages i-xxvi Introduction: “... some subjective identification ... which I failed to understand more deeply” (Mathias Guenther)....Pages 1-18 Therianthropes (Mathias Guenther)....Pages 19-48 Transformation in Myth (Mathias Guenther)....Pages 49-94 Therianthropes and Transformation in San Art (Mathias Guenther)....Pages 95-160 Transformation in Ritual (Mathias Guenther)....Pages 161-201 Animals in San Dance and Play: Between Mimesis and Metamorphosis (Mathias Guenther)....Pages 203-222 Transformation and Hunting (Mathias Guenther)....Pages 223-268 Correction to: Human-Animal Relationships in San and Hunter-Gatherer Cosmology, Volume I (Mathias Guenther)....Pages C1-C2 Back Matter ....Pages 269-302