L’héritage d’Alfred Kiyana et l’énigme des paquets cérémoniels meskwaki

Alfred Kiyana’s legacy and the enigma of Meskwaki sacred bundles. At the beginning of the 20th century, Alfred Kiyana entrusted the anthropologist Michelson with the liturgical text related to a so-called sacred bundle. He equally sold him the bundle itself which found its way into the reserves of t...

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Main Author: Emmanuel Désveaux
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Société des américanistes 2010-06-01
Series:Journal de la Société des Américanistes
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/jsa/11282
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author Emmanuel Désveaux
author_facet Emmanuel Désveaux
author_sort Emmanuel Désveaux
collection DOAJ
description Alfred Kiyana’s legacy and the enigma of Meskwaki sacred bundles. At the beginning of the 20th century, Alfred Kiyana entrusted the anthropologist Michelson with the liturgical text related to a so-called sacred bundle. He equally sold him the bundle itself which found its way into the reserves of the ethnographical museum of Berlin, presently located in Dahlem. Recently, the linguist Ives Goddard has presented a new translation of the text. The first section of the present paper proposes a comment of this long text which aims at revealing its mythical background, its ritual implications, and the links to its material counterpart, i. e. the content of the bundle kept in Dahlem. In the second section the commentary attempts a better understanding of the underlying principles of Meskwaki social organization, notorious for its high opacity. The bundle complex appears as an anti-gestational act, merely masculine and saturated with death’s motives, which stands in a transformational relationship with the overall features of Algonquian totemism. As a conclusion, the commentary raises the question whether the bundle complex does give the Meskwaki a specific awareness of the passing of time, in other words, of history.
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spelling doaj-art-6a8aa1e7920440feb96dd3789550aa6f2025-02-05T15:54:18ZengSociété des américanistesJournal de la Société des Américanistes0037-91741957-78422010-06-0196110713310.4000/jsa.11282L’héritage d’Alfred Kiyana et l’énigme des paquets cérémoniels meskwakiEmmanuel DésveauxAlfred Kiyana’s legacy and the enigma of Meskwaki sacred bundles. At the beginning of the 20th century, Alfred Kiyana entrusted the anthropologist Michelson with the liturgical text related to a so-called sacred bundle. He equally sold him the bundle itself which found its way into the reserves of the ethnographical museum of Berlin, presently located in Dahlem. Recently, the linguist Ives Goddard has presented a new translation of the text. The first section of the present paper proposes a comment of this long text which aims at revealing its mythical background, its ritual implications, and the links to its material counterpart, i. e. the content of the bundle kept in Dahlem. In the second section the commentary attempts a better understanding of the underlying principles of Meskwaki social organization, notorious for its high opacity. The bundle complex appears as an anti-gestational act, merely masculine and saturated with death’s motives, which stands in a transformational relationship with the overall features of Algonquian totemism. As a conclusion, the commentary raises the question whether the bundle complex does give the Meskwaki a specific awareness of the passing of time, in other words, of history.https://journals.openedition.org/jsa/11282totemismsacred bundlesliturgytextualitymyth-ritual relationshipclan
spellingShingle Emmanuel Désveaux
L’héritage d’Alfred Kiyana et l’énigme des paquets cérémoniels meskwaki
Journal de la Société des Américanistes
totemism
sacred bundles
liturgy
textuality
myth-ritual relationship
clan
title L’héritage d’Alfred Kiyana et l’énigme des paquets cérémoniels meskwaki
title_full L’héritage d’Alfred Kiyana et l’énigme des paquets cérémoniels meskwaki
title_fullStr L’héritage d’Alfred Kiyana et l’énigme des paquets cérémoniels meskwaki
title_full_unstemmed L’héritage d’Alfred Kiyana et l’énigme des paquets cérémoniels meskwaki
title_short L’héritage d’Alfred Kiyana et l’énigme des paquets cérémoniels meskwaki
title_sort l heritage d alfred kiyana et l enigme des paquets ceremoniels meskwaki
topic totemism
sacred bundles
liturgy
textuality
myth-ritual relationship
clan
url https://journals.openedition.org/jsa/11282
work_keys_str_mv AT emmanueldesveaux lheritagedalfredkiyanaetlenigmedespaquetsceremonielsmeskwaki