Foreign Bodies: Performance, Art, and Symbolic Anthropology [Paperback]

A. David Napier (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 30, 1996

In five wide-ranging essays, A. David Napier explores the ways in which the foreign becomes literally and metaphorically embodied as a part of cultural identity rather than being seen as something outside it. Pre-classical Greece, Baroque Italy, and Western postmodernism are among the artistic domains Napier considers, while the symbolic terrain ranges from Balinese cosmography to body symbolism in biomedicine.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

When the strange becomes familiar, boundaries of all kinds dissolve. Napier covers such diverse topics as art, immunology, and social psychology yet manages to create conceptual bonds that hold these five essays together. Here, humans are not mere toolmakers, but meaning makers--pivotally speaking, meaning maintainers. Without the category of "stranger" there could be no separation into "us" and "them." The trouble lies in our collective choice of metaphor. What we conceive is what we believe, and our behavior, for better or for worse, is its flower. This is not light reading. Stimulating relevant theories are often shrouded in needlessly ornate language. At times, Napier seemingly strenghtens his arguments through simplistic West-bashing. However, he also gives his straw man many useful ideations that can help him to become less of a stranger to himself. Recommended for academic libraries.
- Susan M. Olcott, Columbus Metropolitan Lib., Ohio
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Illuminating. . . . Napier introduces the idea that one of the most defining aspects of culture is that of the foreign, a concept he uses in interpreting art and mythology of Western culture." -- Catherine M. Compton, Art Documentation --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 223 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press (October 30, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520205170
• ISBN-13: 978-0520205178
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,320,514 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Not to be missed!, March 19, 2004

By 

Wildeguy "wildeguy2000" (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Foreign Bodies: Performance, Art, and Symbolic Anthropology (Paperback)

This is the second book in what I like to think of as Napier's trilogy. If you have not read Masks Transformation, and Paradox, I recommend reading that one first and then this wonderful book, to be followed by The Age of Immunology: Conceiving a Future in an Alienating World. Napier's work is not light reading. His treatment of the concept of the stranger is relevant to the process he traces out in the first book which deals with the way(s) in which notions of alterity and difference are central to societal rituals of transformation. He says that "the recognition of change hinges both on the apprehension of identity and on the awareness of a potential for paradox." (Myths, 3) In this work he takes that thesis a step further and attempts to prove that this process is universal by examining it in different cultures. In the latest work, he introduces the same ideas but in a brand new context using immunology as a trope. I highly recommend all of Napier's work. Although it is anthropology, don't think that his ideas do not have relevance to other areas of study. I used his book for an analysis of Oscar Wilde's uses of paradox and masks in his dramatic and critical work. Jack Worthing's reference to Lady Bracknell as a Gorgon in "The Importance of Being Earnest" came alive to me after reading Napier's meditations on the apotropaic.

This work brings up crucial questions about how we perceive alterity in our society, no small question. People who enjoy philosophy, mythology, literature, psychology, and of course, anthropology will need to be acquainted with Napier's work. You can start here or buy the whole trilogy as I did. You will not be sad you did.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, September 3, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Foreign Bodies: Performance, Art, and Symbolic Anthropology (Paperback)

Makes an important contribution to the understanding of Indian and Greek art and myth.