Showing papers by "Maurice Bloch published in 1985"
01 Dec 1985
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present two of the best known myths of the Merina of Madagascar, which are concerned with food and, more particularly, with beef eating, and the violence with which they are killed in ritual becomes a way of conquering the moral ambiguities of vitality.
Abstract: This article brings together two of the best known myths of the Merina of Madagascar. Both are concerned with food and, more particularly, beef eating. These myths are seen as a general speculation on problems arising from the concept of descent which for the Merina is focused on their megalithic tombs. In the idiom of descent, being like the ancestors is the ideal, but it also means being dead. For the living, therefore, there has to be something else: vitality. This is enjoyable, but morally ambiguous because it is opposed to ancestorhood and leads to putrefaction. Vitality is represented in these myths by cattle, and the violence with which they are killed in ritual becomes a way of conquering the moral ambiguities of vitality while still retaining its strength and pleasurability; while cooking beef avoids putrefaction. This resolution is, however, only a temporary and incomplete solution to the problem of descent.
31 citations