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ÉTUDES ET ESSAIS

L’intestinal et le matriciel

Aux origines mythiques d’une « monnaie » mélanésienne (Nouvelle-Irlande, plateau Lelet)
Brigitte Derlon
p. 157-180

Abstracts

Intestines and the Womb: At the Mythical Origins of a Melanesian “Money” (Lelet Plateau, New Ireland). – Made by women in coastal areas, the “shell currencies” with the most value in the central New Ireland mountains are strings of pearls with a circular decoration on the end. Two myths attribute the origin of these strings to an abusive appropriation by men and present them as imputrescible objects that come out of rotting. In the one myth, these strings result from an anal production by men; and are thus associated with the intestines and excrement. In the other myth, they are likened to embryos attached to umbilical cords; and are thus related to female production via the womb. Through these myths, which underlie major ceremonies (funerals, initiation, and fertility rites), men express their phantasm of reproductive autonomy and thus deceive themselves into thinking that they can do without women in order to endlessly reproduce human beings and society.

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References

Bibliographical reference

Brigitte Derlon, “L’intestinal et le matriciel”L’Homme, 162 | 2002, 157-180.

Electronic reference

Brigitte Derlon, “L’intestinal et le matriciel”L’Homme [Online], 162 | avril-juin 2002, Online since 03 July 2007, connection on 29 March 2024. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/lhomme/160; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/lhomme.160

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About the author

Brigitte Derlon

EHESS, Laboratoire d’ethnologie et de sociologie comparative, Université Paris X-Nanterre.

By this author

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Copyright

CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

The text only may be used under licence CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. All other elements (illustrations, imported files) are “All rights reserved”, unless otherwise stated.

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