The Anthropology of Names and Naming

303 Pages·2006·3.39 MB·English

by  Gabriele vom Bruck

theanthropologyofnamesandnaming
Thisbookisaboutpersonalnames,somethingofabidinginteresttospecialists
andlayreadersalike.MorethanonemillionpeoplehavecheckedtheAmerican
NameSocietywebsitesince1996,forinstance.Manyphilosophersandlinguists
suggestthatnamesare“just”labels,butparentsinternationallyaredetermined
togettheirchildren’snames“right.”Personalnamesmaybegiven,lost,traded,
stolen,andinherited.Thiscollectionofessaysprovidescomparativeethnography
throughwhichweexaminethepoliticsofnaming;theextenttowhichnamesmay
beproperty-like;andthepowerofnamesthemselves,bothtofixandtodestabilize
personalidentity.Ourpurposeisnotonlytorenewanthropologicalattentionto
names and naming, but to show how this intersects with current interests in
politicalprocesses,therelationbetweenbodiesandpersonalidentities,ritualand
dailysociallife.
GabrielevomBruckiscurrentlyalecturerintheDepartmentofSocialAnthro-
pologyattheSchoolofOrientalandAfricanStudies,UniversityofLondon.She
hascompletedextendedresearchintheRepublicofYemen.
Barbara Bodenhorn is a Newton Trust Lecturer in Social Anthropology and a
FellowofPembrokeCollegeattheUniversityofCambridge.Shehasworkedwith
In˜upiatinnorthernAlaskasince1980,publishingonkinship,economicrelations,
gender,andknowledgesystems.Hercurrentresearchfocusesonlanguagesofrisk
andinstitutionalizeddecision-makingprocessesinMexicoaswellastheArctic.

The Anthropology of Names and Naming
Editedby
gabriele vom bruck
SchoolofOrientalandAfricanStudies
barbara bodenhorn
UniversityofCambridge
cambridge university press
Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown,Singapore,SãoPaulo
Cambridge University Press
TheEdinburghBuilding,Cambridgecb22ru,UK
PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyCambridgeUniversityPress,NewYork
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Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9780521848633
©CambridgeUniversityPress2006
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexceptionandtotheprovisionof
relevantcollectivelicensingagreements,noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplace
withoutthewrittenpermissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublishedinprintformat 2006
isbn-13 978-0-511-16909-0 eBook (NetLibrary)
isbn-10 0-511-16909-4 eBook (NetLibrary)
isbn-13 978-0-521-84863-3 hardback
isbn-10 0-521-84863-6 hardback
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Contents
Contributors pagevii
PrefaceandAcknowledgments xi
1. “EntangledinHistories”:AnIntroductiontotheAnthropology
ofNamesandNaming 1
BarbaraBodenhornandGabrielevomBruck
2. “YourChildDeservesaName”:PossessiveIndividualismandthe
PoliticsofMemoryinPregnancyLoss 31
LindaLayne
3. WhytheDeadDoNotBearNames:TheOrokaivaNameSystem 51
Andre´Iteanu
4. TheSubstanceofNorthwestAmazonianNames 73
StephenHugh-Jones
5. TeknonymyandtheEvocationofthe“Social”Amongthe
ZafimaniryofMadagascar 97
MauriceBloch
6. What’sinaName?NameBestowalandtheIdentityofSpiritsin
MayotteandNorthwestMadagascar 115
MichaelLambek
7. CallingintoBeing:NamingandSpeakingNamesonAlaska’s
NorthSlope 139
BarbaraBodenhorn
8. OnBeingNamedandNotNamed:Authority,Persons,andTheir
NamesinMongolia 157
CarolineHumphrey
v
vi CONTENTS
9. InjuriousNames:Naming,Disavowal,andRecuperationin
ContextsofSlaveryandEmancipation 177
SusanBenson
10. WhereNamesFallShort:NamesasPerformancesin
ContemporaryUrbanSouthAfrica 200
ThomasBlomHansen
11. NamesasBodilySigns 225
GabrielevomBruck
Bibliography 251
Index 271
Contributors
SUSAN BENSON was a Fellow of New Hall, Cambridge. She had a long-
standinginterestinquestionsofraceandidentity,gender,andthebody.She
istheauthorofAmbiguousEthnicity:InterracialFamiliesinLondon(1981)and
ofarticlesonimagesofraceandethnicityinpublicdiscourseintheUnited
Kingdom,andonbodilypracticessuchastattooing.Herrecentresearchin
GhanacenteredonpastandpresentAfricanAmerican/Ghanianengagements
withthelegacyofslavery,primarilythroughtourism.
MAURICE BLOCH is Professor of Anthropology at the London School
ofEconomicsandPoliticalScience.Hehasconductedextensiveresearchin
Madagascar.Hiscurrentresearchinterestsfocusgenerallyoncognitiveanthro-
pology as well as the anthropology of religion. Recent books include Prey
intoHunter(1992),HowWeThinkTheyThink(1998),andEssayonCultural
Transmission(2005).
BARBARA BODENHORN is a Newton Trust Lecturer in Social Anthro-
pology and a Fellow of Pembroke College at the University of Cambridge.
She has worked with In˜upiat in northern Alaska since 1980, publishing on
kinship, economic relations, gender, and knowledge systems. Her current
researchfocusesonlanguagesofriskandinstitutionalizeddecision-making
processesinMexicoaswellastheArctic.
GABRIELE VOM BRUCK is a lecturer in Anthropology at the School of
OrientalandAfricanStudies,UniversityofLondon.Shehasconductedfield-
workinYemenandBritain.Herinterestsincludeelites,religionandpolitics,
genderandmemory.Shehaspublishedontheseandrelatedissues.
vii
viii CONTRIBUTORS
THOMAS BLOM HANSEN is Professor of Anthropology at Yale Univer-
sity.HehascarriedoutfieldworkinIndiaandonIndiansinSouthAfrica.He
haspublishedarticlesonmasculinityandviolenceaswellasonsecularism.
Hisbooksinclude:TheSaffronWave:DemocracyandHinduNationalismin
ModernIndia(1999);WagesofViolence:NamingandIdentityinPost-Colonial
Bombay(2001);withFinnStepputat,StatesofImagination:EthnographicExplo-
rations of the Postcolonial State (2001), and, with Finn Stepputat, Sovereign
Bodies:Citizens,MigrantsandStatesinthePostcolonialWorld (2005).
STEPHENHUGH-JONESisaSeniorLecturerinAnthropologyandaFellow
ofKing’sCollegeattheUniversityofCambridgewhohasconductedextensive
researchinAmazonia.Recenteditedvolumesinclude,withJ.Carsten,About
the House: L´evi-Strauss and Beyond (1995) and, with C. Humphrey, Barter,
ExchangeandValue:AnAnthropologicalApproach(1992).Ethnographicfilms
includeASmallFamilyBusiness(1990).Recentarticlesincludepublications
on gender, history, houses, and house societies. Current interests include
dance, ornamentation, and regional systems in comparative and historical
perspective.
CAROLINEHUMPHREYisProfessorofAsianAnthropologyandaFellow
ofKing’sCollegeattheUniversityofCambridge.Shebeganherworkinthe
SovietUnionin1966andhascontinuedtoconductresearchthroughoutthe
post-socialisttransitioninRussia,andOuterandInnerMongolia.Inaddition,
shehasconductedfieldworkinIndiaandNepal.Herresearchinterestsspan
politicalandeconomicprocessesaswellasreligionandritual.Booksinclude
KarlMarxCollective(1983),ShamansandElders(1996),andMarxWentAway
butKarlStayedBehind(1998).Co-authoredworksinclude:withS.Hugh-Jones,
Barter,ExchangeandValue(1992),withJ.Laidlaw,TheArchetypalActionsof
Ritual(1994);withN.Thomas,Shamanism,HistoryandtheState(1994);and
withD.Sneath,TheEndofNomadism?Society,StateandtheEnvironmentin
InnerAsia(1999).
ANDRE´ ITEANU is Directeur de Recherches at the Centre National de la
RechercheScientifiqueinParis.HehasconductedextensiveresearchinPapua
NewGuineaandhasrecentlycompletedanaward-winningfilm,Lettertothe
Dead.Publicationsinclude:LaRondedesE´changes(1983),OfRelationswith
the Dead (with C. Barraud, de Coppet, and R. Jamous, 1994), Cosmos and
SocietyinOceania(withdeCoppet,1995),andParleetjet’´ecouterai(withE.
Schwimmer,1996).Hiscurrentresearchinterestsfocusontheintegrationof
theWestincosmologiesofPapuaNewGuinea.
CONTRIBUTORS ix
MICHAEL LAMBEK is Professor of Anthropology at the University of
Toronto. His most recent publications are A Reader in the Anthropology of
Religion(2002)andTheWeightofthePast:LivingwithHistoryinMahajaga,
Madagascar(2002).Co-authoredbooksincludeTensePast:CulturalEssaysin
TraumaandMemory(withP.Antze,1996),andBodiesandPersons:Compar-
ative Perspectives from Africa and Melanesia(with A. Strathern, 1998). He is
currentlyinterestedinironyandananthropologyofethicalpractice.
LINDA LAYNE isHaleProfessorofHumanitiesandSocialSciencesatthe
DepartmentofScienceandTechnologyStudies,RensselaerPolytechnicInsti-
tuteinTroy,NewYork.SheistheauthorofHomeandHomeland:TheDialogics
ofTribalandNationalIdentitiesinJordan(1994),TransformativeMotherhood:
OnGivingandGettinginaConsumerCulture(1999),andMotherhoodLost:A
FeministAccountofPregnancyLossinAmerica(2003).Sheiscurrentlyworking
onahistoryofthemedicalizationofpregnancylossandontheexperienceof
pregnancylossin“toxicallyassaulted”communities.