baumann (review of- by e.m. loeb) : das doppelte geschlecht

3
1162 American Anthropologist [58, 19561 Kina rite. However, in so intuitive a critique it is a question as to how much was read into the drama and what would have been Eberle’s reaction on location. Another important contribution is the correlation o f hunting cultures with realistic dance styles, agrarian cultures with abstract styles. This idea is emphasized repeatedly in the dis- cussion of the Selk’nam R16keten rite (267, 277, 282, 307 ), and also brought up in connection with the Aranda of Australia (426,479) . The theory is plausible enough and could be supported from many parts of the world, but it hardly warrants a state- ment to the effect that abstract features of the K16keten prove agrarian derivation (268). A t times, valid stylistic distinctions are incorporated into questionable chronol- ogies, such as the proposed development from enactment of the self to rhythm ic mime to realistic enactment of a role (29, This monumental work leaves the reader with a mixed regret and gratification: regret because it was impossible f o r the theater expert to report any o f these enact- ments as an eye witness; gratification because the anthropologists did record them in the nick of time and with sufficient detail for interpretation by a specialist, and because an expert took the trouble to decipher th e theatrical patter ns and meanings. Das Dojpelte Geschlecht: Ethnologische Studien aur Bisexualitdt i n Ritus un d Mythos. HERMA“ BAUMANN. erlin: Dietrich Reimer, 1955. 420 pp., 1 fig., 5 maps, 1 chart. $10.00. Reviewed by EDWIN M . LOEB University of Californ ia, Berkeley Hermann S. Baumann is known as an Africanist, and is co-author o f the compre- hensive volume Volkerkunde von Africa, 1940. In the present book, which has taken a decade of compilation, Baumann has branched out to cover the world-wide migration o f what he considers a complex of traits occurring in the regions of “Archaic Cultures,” and diffusing to neighboring areas. The “Archaic Cultures” of Thurnwald and Bau- mann are not confined to Egypt and its migrations o f culture, as with Elliot Smith and Perry, but apply to the entire Mediterranean and extend outward through migrations o f certain select traits of culture. Baumann brings these traits to the New World as well as to the Far East and the Pacific Islands. These traits include megaliths, the Divine King, as well as the sexual traits of “world parents, and the world egg, the motive of cutting in half a bisexual being, bisexual souls, ritual change of sex, etc.)” (p . 374). Diffusion maps are in color and of excellent design, with tribes and traits fully listed. The maps show the diffusion o f the above listed traits, with the exception o f Divine Kingship. The present volume will replace Das Zweigeschlechtewesen (The Two-sexed Being), 1928, y J. Winthuis, who started with Australia (where, according to Baumann, the two-sexed being actually does not exist) and pursued his subject from the evolutionary standpoint. Baumann deals with the diffusion o f myths and ideas from higher centers of culture. The central theme of this book is that people who have been influenced by the religions of “Archaic Cultures,” but who have not as yet been converted to the later, intensely patriarchal religions, believe that neither gods nor man are complete unless they have the magical powers o f both the male and the female. This belief partly supersedes the sexual antagonism of more primitive peoples, who are obsessed with the idea that everything female (especially female blood) is contaminating.

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7/30/2019 BAUMANN (review of- by E.M. Loeb) : das doppelte Geschlecht

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/baumann-review-of-by-em-loeb-das-doppelte-geschlecht 1/2

1162 Am eric an Anthropologist [58, 19561

Kina rite. However, in so intuitive a critique it is a question as to how much was

read into t he dra m a an d wh at would have been Eberle’s reaction on location. Another

im po rta nt contribution is the correlation of hun ting cultures w ith realistic dance styles,

agrarian cultures with abstract styles. This idea is emphasized repeatedly in the dis-cussion of th e Selk’nam R16keten rite (267,277, 282, 307), and also brought up in

connection with the Aranda of Australia (426, 479). The theory is plausible enough

an d could be supported from ma ny parts of the world, b u t it hard ly w arran ts a stat e-

m ent to th e effect th at ab stra ct features of the K16keten prov e agrarian deriv ation

(268). A t times, valid stylistic distinctions are incorporated into questionable chronol-

ogies, such as th e proposed developm ent from en actmen t of the self to rhy thm ic mime

to realistic en actmen t of a role (29, 494).

This monumental work leaves the reader with a mixed regret and gratification:

regre t because i t w as impossible for the theater expert to report any of these enact-

m ents as an eye witness; gratification because the anthropologists did record th em inthe nick of time a nd with sufficient detail for int erp reta tion b y a specialist, an d because

an ex pert took the trouble to decipher th e theatrical patter ns and meanings.

Das Dojpelte Geschlecht: Ethnologische Studien aur Bisexualitdt in Ritus und Mythos.

HERM A“ BAUM ANN.erlin: Dietrich Reimer, 1955. 420 pp., 1 fig., 5 maps, 1

chart. $10.00.

Reviewed by EDWINM. LOEBUniversity of Californ ia, Berkeley

Hermann S. Baumann is known as an Africanist, and is co-author of the compre-hensive volume Volkerkunde von Af rica , 1940. I n the present book, which has taken a

decade of compilation, Baumann has branched out to cover the world-wide migration

of what he considers a complex of tra its occurring in th e regions of “Archaic C ultures,”

and diffusing to neighboring areas. The “Archaic Cultures” of Thurnwald and Bau-

man n are no t confined to E gyp t and its migrations of culture, as with Elliot Sm ith and

Perry, b ut apply to the entire Mediterranean an d extend outward through m igrations

of certain select traits of culture. Baumann brings these traits to the New World as

well as to the Far East and the Pacific Islands. These traits include megaliths,

the Divine K ing, as well as the sexual trai ts of “world p arent s, an d the world egg, the

world giant, a nd bisexual ideas (bisexual gods, bisexual ances tral spirits, t he Plato nic

motive of cut ting i n half a bisexual being, bisexual souls, ritu al chan ge of sex, etc.)”

(p . 374). Diffusion map s are in color an d of excellent design, w ith tribes a nd tra its

fully listed. The maps show the diffusion of the above listed tr aits, with t he exception

of Divine Kingship.

The present volume will replace Das Zweigeschlechtewesen (Th e Two-sexed Being),

1928, y J. Winthuis, who started with Australia (where, according to Baumann, the

two-sexed being actually does not exist) and pursued his subject from t he ev olutio nary

standpoint. Baumann deals with the diffusion of myths and ideas from higher centers

of culture.T h e central them e of this book is th at people who hav e been influenced b y the

religions of “Archaic Cultures,” b u t who hav e not as yet been converted to th e later ,

intensely patr iarch al religions, believe th at neither gods nor m an are com plete unless

they have the magical powers of both the male and the female. This belief partly

supersedes th e sexual antagonism of more primitive peoples, who ar e obsessed w ith t he

idea that everything female (especially female blood) is contaminating.

7/30/2019 BAUMANN (review of- by E.M. Loeb) : das doppelte Geschlecht

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/baumann-review-of-by-em-loeb-das-doppelte-geschlecht 2/2

Book Reviews 1163

Africanists will find much proof confirming this bisexual theory. For example,

in my field work among the Kuanyama Ambo Bantu of Southwest Africa, I found both

Divine Kingship and the relics of a megalithic culture. The Kuanyama have a god

called Kalunga who usually is male, but is spoken of as “the mother of the people.”

The culture hero, “He Who Was Self-created,” was born from an egg. In former days,

the royal maidens crawled under the legs of the king or his sons, making sexual con-

tact in symbolic jus primae noctis, and thus both obtained special powers from the

opposite sex. Today, girls undergoing puberty become possessed with warrior spirits.

In the boys’ circumcision, the boys are called “brides.” When medicine men are initiated

they must have contact with homosexuals, and often become homosexuals.

Baumann does not differentiate between the inspired and noninspired shaman,

as did Carlyle May recently, writing on glossolalia (A.A. 58, No. 1:91) ; it is only the

former who often are berdaches, and then only in the Old World. He believes that

moieties were influenced by the bisexual idea (as the Chinese Yin and Yang idea). He

thinks that moieties first were connected with clans and were exogamous; later, inmany places influenced by conquest, one moiety become the male moiety of the con-

querors, and the other the lower and female moiety. To keep relative positions, the

moieties had to become endogamous. Unfortunately, the book contains no map of

moieties. Most moieties of Africa, including the Herero and Masai, are endogamous.

Baumann was unable to use twins as a proof of his theory because he did not dif-ferentiate in the treatment of twins of like and unlike sex. The peculiar regard which

the “Archaic Culture” people hold towards twins of unlike sex, combining both the

male and the female in one “personality” but born as two individuals, is a valuable

point that Baumann could have used to confirm his theory (see Loeb, E. M., “The

Twin Cult in the Old and New World,” Rivet Anniversary Volume, Mexico City: inpress).

These are small details. Readers from all professions who deal with mythology and

ethnic psychology will find the present book indispensable.

Adam with Arrows: Inside Aboriginal New Guinea. COLINSIMPSON. ew York: Fred-

Reviewed by JAMES B. WATSON, lziwersity o j Washington

Colin Simpson is an Australian free-lance journalist and writer who has in the last

decade concerned himself with native peoples of Australia and, more recently, Papuaand New Guinea. To date three books have appeared using the figure “Adam” as a

part of the title. The present one is the second of the series so far published in Australia,

the first of two “Adam” books on New Guinea.

The background work for Adam with Arrows is compounded of travel (including

brief visits to several remoter parts of New Guinea) and extensive tape-recorded inter-

views with old Territory hands and some of the present and former administrative

personnel of the Department of District Services and Native Affairs. Simpson wenton two patrols, one into so-called Kukukuku country in Morobe District, and one from

Wabag in the Western Highlands District. Both areas are in the vanguard of Australian

contact and control, which is essentially the subject of the book. Simpson had official

permission to read Patrol reports; he has also read the principal explorers’ memoirs,

and anthropological reports such as Beatrice Blackwood’s on Kukukuku.

The book is rich in the legend-making material of the Australian penetration of

New Guinea. In fact, the book itself is a part of that very active cultural process, for

erick A. Praeger, Inc., 1955. 240 pp., 51 plates (10 in color), 5 maps. $5.00.