TY - JOUR
T1 - Snakes in the ladies' room
T2 - Navajo views on personhood and effect
AU - Schwarz, Maureen Trudelle
PY - 1997/8
Y1 - 1997/8
N2 - In the summer of 1994 snakes were sighted in a public restroom facility on the Navajo reservation. In this article I analyze the reactions of Navajo involved in this incident in order to illustrate the philosophical principles governing Navajo views of the cultural construction of the human body, self, personhood, and effect. The philosophical system, which provides a cultural context for explaining this disturbing event, is in part based on the principle of synecdoche - the premise that parts of the body (hair, fingernails) and bodily secretions (saliva, blood, skin oil, urine) retain lifelong influence and can thereby affect the well-being of the individual from whom they originated for a long time after their detachment or expulsion. This analysis of the Navajo case contributes to broader disciplinary concerns about the opposition of "self" and "person" found in classic anthropological discourse.
AB - In the summer of 1994 snakes were sighted in a public restroom facility on the Navajo reservation. In this article I analyze the reactions of Navajo involved in this incident in order to illustrate the philosophical principles governing Navajo views of the cultural construction of the human body, self, personhood, and effect. The philosophical system, which provides a cultural context for explaining this disturbing event, is in part based on the principle of synecdoche - the premise that parts of the body (hair, fingernails) and bodily secretions (saliva, blood, skin oil, urine) retain lifelong influence and can thereby affect the well-being of the individual from whom they originated for a long time after their detachment or expulsion. This analysis of the Navajo case contributes to broader disciplinary concerns about the opposition of "self" and "person" found in classic anthropological discourse.
KW - Effect
KW - Native America
KW - Navajo
KW - Personhood
KW - Self
KW - The human body
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U2 - 10.1525/ae.1997.24.3.602
DO - 10.1525/ae.1997.24.3.602
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0031488531
VL - 24
SP - 602
EP - 627
JO - American Ethnologist
JF - American Ethnologist
SN - 0094-0496
IS - 3
ER -