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Categories of animality and canine abuse - Exploring contradictions in Nuaulu social relationships with dogs

Ellen, Roy F. (1999) Categories of animality and canine abuse - Exploring contradictions in Nuaulu social relationships with dogs. Anthropos, 94 (1-3). pp. 57-68. ISSN 0257-9774. (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:17310)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.

Abstract

This paper explores concepts of animality found among the Nuaulu of Seram, eastern Indonesia, with special reference to the position of dogs. It argues that it is insufficient to say that dogs are simply a preeminent case of the class "domesticated animal," as this is weak in Nuaulu representations and practice. The relationship between humans and dogs is qualitatively unique, confounding symbolic generalisations. Nuaulu dogs are economically critical, companionable, and objects of sentiment, but when they underperform they are rejected and abused. Such contradictions indicate a tension between dependency (reflected in physical intimacy, anthropomorphization, naming, caring, prohibition on eating) and callousness (reflected in the manner of both their birth and death), which is linked to competing conceptions of animality.

Item Type: Article
Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Anthropology and Conservation
Depositing User: M. Nasiriavanaki
Date Deposited: 15 Jun 2009 17:00 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 09:55 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/17310 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Ellen, Roy F..

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