Folklore and Symbolism of Green

Colour is not a quality of an object, but a perception. As such, it can symbolise anything we want it to symbolise. This paper reports the results of a survey of the use of colour in folklore and tradition supported by the Folklore Society and the Colour Group (GB). Drawing attention to the diversity of colour symbolism worldwide, it posits two basic principles, the Principle of Adaptation of Ideas and the Principle of Singularity, to account for apparently contradictory usages.     

Ethiopian evil eye belief and the magical symbolism of iron working

Whilst undertaking an archaeological survey in the area around the northern Ethiopian town of Aksum in late 1995 I spotted what appeared to be an obvious short cut on our map. Suggesting to my Ethiopian colleague that we could take this route, he dismissed me with the statement: “we cannot go through that village. They are all Buda there.” What, I asked, was the Buda? The answer came back that these people were variously mad, dangerous, strange, outcast and had the power of the evil eye; they would be liable to curse us. This was not the first time that I had come across such a belief; it was well known in the town itself that many of the artisans engaged in metalworking possessed the power of the evil eye, and walking past green pea fields, what I had mistaken to be simple scarecrows (pieces of rag and plastic tied to poles) actually turned out to be amulets protecting the crop from those with the power to blast it.     

The Material Roots of Rastafarian Marijuana Symbolism

This article explores the relationship between shifting modes of production and the evolution of marijuana symbolism among the early Rastafarians of Jamaica. During slavery, marijuana grew on the island but was probably not recognized. During the shift to indentured labour, black Jamaicans utilized marijuana as a palliative. During the transition to capitalism, marginalized urban Jamaicans sold marijuana and it became a powerful symbol of their peasant past. Finally, once the island had shifted to a predominantly capitalist mode of production and appropriated laws that reinforced capitalist ideology, marijuana became a “holy herb”. This work provides a framework to study the development of religious symbolism and presents an exercise in applying anthropological theory to history. Such an exploration is useful for anthropologists studying ideological systems and ethnobotanists seeking to analyse the dynamic relationships between plants and people based upon changes in material circumstances or shifts in mode of production.     

Symbolism and Irony in Three Novels by Kosmas Politis

Abstract

In a recent book, Mario Vitti has described Kosmas Politis as ‘emotionally the most highly charged novelist’ of the Generation of 1930. Vitti also points out that Eroica is ‘compositely organized down to the minutest detail’, despite the author's assertion that he wrote each instalment ‘on the presses’. In an attempt to account for the ‘magical’, ‘Poetic' quality of Politis’ writing as pointed out by Greek critics, Vitti investigates Politis' use of irony and of the interior monologue. My purpose in this article is to examine further Politis' ironical approach and to make some preliminary remarks about his use of symbols and imagery (a subject on which far more work has to be done), in the hope that, in so doing, I shall shed some light on the ‘emotionally charged’ and ‘highly organized’ nature of Politis' writing. For reasons of space and time I must confine myself to his first three novels, Lemonodasos (1930), Hekate (1933) and Eroica (1937).     

川东地区民间古床纹饰的象征性寓意

川东地区民间古床的纹饰不但题材丰富而且寓意深刻，它们在相当程度上体现了该地区人民的生活、思想与审美观念。其内容包括：吉祥物品纹，花卉、器具纹，果实、蔬菜纹，鸟兽、虫鱼纹，建筑、舟楫纹，人物、故事纹等等。通过对它们的研究，我们可以较为深入地了解该地区的人文历史、审美意识乃至社会观念，从而有利于对优秀传统文化的保护与传承。     

Resisting RAMSI: Intervention,Identity and Symbolism in Solomon Islands

ABSTRACT The Australian‐led Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) continues to enjoy high levels of approval amongst Solomon Islanders. However, this approval belies the existence of a minority, but nevertheless important, dissenting perspective, one which has mostly emanated from Malaitan quarters. How are we to interpret Malaitan expressions of opposition to RAMSI? While these dissenting voices can, in part, be seen through a lens of legal and economic rationality, Malaitan opposition to RAMSI must be properly located within a deeper tradition of Malaitan resistance to the imposition of alien and centralised authority. Malaitans have responded to the RAMSI intervention by invoking kastom as a symbol of difference, unity and resistance, just as they have done in the past. It is argued that resistance to RAMSI must be (re)interpreted as having fundamentally cultural and historical underpinnings. Resisting RAMSI is as much about asserting culture and identity as it is about money and power. This argument is drawn out through an historically contextualised analysis of contemporary articulations of Malaitan resistance. The voices examined come from the public statements of prominent Malaitans, the published manifesto of the Malaita Ma'asina Forum, and interviews with former members of the Malaita Eagle Force.     

Local Colour: Megalithic Architecture and Colour Symbolism in Neolithic Arran

Recent approaches to megalithic architecture have emphasised the importance of considering monuments in relation to the experience of place. Such approaches have taken two forms: emphasizing the relationship between experience and the internal architecture of the monument, or the nature of the experience evoked by the presence of the monument within the landscape. This paper argues that the importance of stone colour in relation to the construction of megalithic monuments contributes to an understanding of place and landscape as well as providing evidence of the symbolic and aesthetic aspects of colour in the past.     

Magnificent entrances and undignified exits: chronicling the symbolism of castle space in Normandy

Recent years have seen an increase in the number of studies on the symbolism of the castle, particularly in relation to lordship. Such studies are interdisciplinary in nature and often employ the language of the use of space in order to determine how castles functioned and how they were perceived. This article considers what the chroniclers of eleventh- and twelfth-century Normandy meant by castle space. This analysis can help us to determine how space was used, its connection to ideas about social relationships, including gender, and the chroniclers' purpose in including the events they described in their narratives. Many of the episodes described by the chroniclers relate to ideas about the authority and legitimacy of both men and women. As such the spatial setting of the castle is a means of holding up good examples of how authority should be exercised as well as illustrations of what happens when people either fail to uphold that authority or appropriate it in an illegitimate manner.     

Colour Symbolism in the Folk Literature of the Caucasus

Colour associations are analysed indirectly by a study of oral traditions and legends, using methods developed in structural anthropology. Colours are considered not in isolation, but mainly in contrasting pairs or in sequences. It has been found that a specific colour could have different associations in different conditions, and that generally the associations are more abstract than concrete.     

Magnificent entrances and undignified exits: chronicling the symbolism of castle space in Normandy

Recent years have seen an increase in the number of studies on the symbolism of the castle, particularly in relation to lordship. Such studies are interdisciplinary in nature and often employ the language of the use of space in order to determine how castles functioned and how they were perceived. This article considers what the chroniclers of eleventh- and twelfth-century Normandy meant by castle space. This analysis can help us to determine how space was used, its connection to ideas about social relationships, including gender, and the chroniclers' purpose in including the events they described in their narratives. Many of the episodes described by the chroniclers relate to ideas about the authority and legitimacy of both men and women. As such the spatial setting of the castle is a means of holding up good examples of how authority should be exercised as well as illustrations of what happens when people either fail to uphold that authority or appropriate it in an illegitimate manner.     

Congress and War Powers: Symbolism and Nondecisions in the Struggle for Influence

This article focuses on war powers issues during the Clinton presidency to test the theory of nondecision-making as developed by Bachrach and Baratz (1970) and Lukes (1974). The first section clarifies key theoretical concepts (mobilization of bias and barrier I and barrier II nondecisions) and argues that war powers issues constitute “key issues” in Bachrach and Baratz's terms, thus permitting the formulation of falsifiable nondecision hypotheses. The second section presents four in-depth case studies of troop deployment conflicts from the Clinton administration: Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, and Kosovo. The third section analyzes the evidence from the four Clinton era cases, revealing a preponderance of nondecisions and essentially symbolic nonbinding resolutions (Edelman 1967; Hinckley 1994). The third section also identifies four mechanisms for deflecting challenges to the prevailing distribution of power (Bachrach and Baratz 1970, 44–48) and shows how all four were employed to deflect challenges to presidential primacy in the various Clinton cases. Following Oppenheimer (1974), the concluding section will offer an expanded vocabulary for classifying various forms of nondecision-making.     

The descent of nations: social evolutionary theory,modernism and ethno‐symbolism

This article explores the use of a revised conception of social evolutionary theory towards an understanding of nationalism. First, I review the debate between ethno‐symbolism and modernism, through the lens of the Warwick Debate between Gellner and Smith, arguing that both are partly right. Secondly, I outline what the revised conception of social evolution is looking first at its traditional conception before outlining a Darwinian view of social evolutionary theory. Finally, I examine how Darwinian social evolutionary theory can help fruitfully bring the ethno‐symbolic and modernist perspectives together. This is done by a sustained engagement primarily with the theories of Anthony Smith and Ernest Gellner pointing to how Darwinian social evolutionary theory can provide a link between the two theories that makes them mutually supportive rather than opposed.