Towards an Ontological Understanding of Relationships
Towards an Ontological Understanding of Relationships
This chapter summarises the analysis provided in the book and suggests how an anthropologist might conceptualise relationships in ontological terms. It argues that what distinguishes ‘relationships’ ontologically from the epistemological forms of relational practices — such as connection, association, resemblance, comparison — are necessity and transcendence, which give ‘relationships’ the character of an infinite being. This has been shown in Iatmul ethnography, outlined in this book through the ontology of brotherhood.
Keywords: anthropologist, ontological terms, Iatmul, brotherhood
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