Payback : the logic of retribution in Melanesian religions
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Payback : the logic of retribution in Melanesian religions
Cambridge University Press, 1994
Available at 18 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Bibliography: p. 461-527
Includes indexes
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Near to the heart of the human predicament are impulses to avenge - what most of us will recognize to be negative, counterproductive reactions against others who pose a threat. By contrast, nothing re-establishes our faith in humanity more than extraordinary acts of concession, such as peace-making, generosity and sacrifice. In this study Garry Trompf shows how various aspects of 'payback', both negative and positive, provide the best indices to an understanding of Melanesian views of life. The book explores the reasons why people 'pay back' and opens up a whole dimension in the cross-cultural study of human consciousness. The author conducts his readers through the most complex anthropological pageant on earth, illustrating his arguments from western New Guinea to Fiji.
Table of Contents
- Illustrations and tables
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Preliminaries: the theory of retributive logic
- Part I. 'Tradition': 1. Revenge
- 2. Reciprocity
- 3. Integrating and explaining significant events
- Part II. 'Cargo Cultism': 4. Reprisal
- 5. Redemption
- 6. Wishing and explaining the extraordinary
- Part III. 'Modernization': 7. Recrimination - in 'modern' guises
- 8. Making money and modernizing reciprocities
- 9. Money, morals, meaning: old logics, new retributions?
- Conclusions and recommendations: Bibliography
- Index of Melanesian cultures
- General index.
by "Nielsen BookData"