Rappaport, "Ritual Regulation of Environmental Relations Among a New Guinea People" (article)

1) What, according to Rappaport, are the key features of a functional approach to ritual? How does his account differ from those of other functional anthropologists, while still adhering to the basic ideas of functionalism?

2) What are the concrete effects of Tsembaga ritual? How does it create a "ritually regulated ecosystem" (402)? Based on the information from lecture, would you say that Rappaport's functionalism is closer to that of Malinowski or Radcliffe-Brown?

3) On page 395, Rappaport writes, "It is precisely when they are undergoing physiological stress that the Tsembaga kill and consume their pigs, and it should be noted that they limit the consumption to those likely to be experiencing stress most profoundly." How is this a functionalist interpretation?

4) Rappaport asserts that Tsembaga are not cognizant of the nutritional and population sustaining effects of their rituals. What do you think about his claim that a cultural form can perform a vital function, yet the people creating the cultural form don't see it in those terms?

5) Based on this article, what do you see as the advantages and disadvantages to a functionalist interpretation?

 

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