The Ancient Mesopotamian Mīs Pî Ritual: An Application of the Ecological Anthropology of Roy Rappaport

This article presents the ancient Mesopotamian Mīs Pî ceremony as a case study in the relationship between ritual and the natural world using Roy Rappaport’s framework of Ecological Anthropology as a guide. Rappaport’s premise is that human populations do not operate independently but are instead, “ecological populations in an ecosystem that also includes the other living organisms and the nonliving substances found within the boundaries of [their] territory.” In Rappaport’s framework, rituals involving the use of animal, plant, and other organic materials link human communities to the ecosystems in which they dwell and to that which they seek to ritualize. Applying this mode of analysis to the Mīs Pî ritual yields the thesis that, from the perspective of the Mīs Pî, nature is integral to the ritual maintenance and well-being of the divine and human realms, and, in effect, the well-being of the cosmos.

Introducción crítica a los orígenes y fundamentos teóricos de la Antropología Ambiental o Ecológica. Una ciencia con mucho maná y cargos (cult)posos.

Introducción crítica a los orígenes y fundamentos teóricos de la Antropología Ambiental o Ecológica. Una ciencia con mucho maná y cargos (cult)posos. Resumen.-Con base en la determinación sintética de lecturas antropológicas, el artículo identificará algunos de los principales argumentos que han marcado el desarrollo de la antropología ecológica. Se hacen explícitos los principales hallazgos en función de la interacción compleja que acontece en el estudio de la relación ecosistema cultura como las antinomias intelectuales que han marcado el desarrollo de la disciplina y que hacen de ella una ciencia que, en su identidad, algunos pretenden como ligada a las ciencias naturales y otros a las humanidades. Palabras clave: Antropología, cultura, historia de la antropología, ecosistema, naturaleza Critical introduction to the origins and theoretical foundations of environmental or ecological anthropology. A science with a lot of mana and charges (cult) Abstract: A science with a lot of mana and cult (guilty) cargos. Critical introduction to the origins and theoretical foundations of environmental or ecological anthropology. The article will identify some of the main arguments that have marked the development of ecological anthropology based on the synthetic determination of anthropological readings. The main findings are made explicit in terms of the complex interaction that takes place in the study of the relationship ecosystem culture as the intellectual antinomies that have marked the development of the discipline, some claim as linked to the natural sciences and others to the humanities. Keywords: Anthropology, culture, history of anthropology, ecosystem, nature