Revista de Estudios Sociales

rev. estud. soc. | eISSN 1900-5180 | ISSN 0123-885X

The Wrath of the Spirits: Ritual, Dance, and Social Integration among the Onge of the Andaman Islands

No. 90 (2024-10-04)
  • David Lagunas
    Universidad de Sevilla, Spain
    ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9619-0149
https://doi.org/10.7440/res90.2024.03

Abstract

Drawing on A. R. Radcliffe-Brown’s seminal work The Andaman Islanders, this article analyzes anger as a cultural focal point in a non-Western society. The discussion navigates various themes related to anger through an ethnographic dialogue. In the Andamanese worldview, anger is linked to the wrath of spirits and is regarded as an antisocial force. The study reveals that the interplay between different codes—mythological, techno-economic, symbolic, matrimonial, and acoustic—partially corresponds with the patterns noted by Lévi-Strauss in his Mythologiques series. Pandya’s thesis suggests that Andamanese rituals are designed to harness power to reconcile oppositions, particularly between humans and spirits. The text’s originality lies in highlighting the role of dance as a medium for communication between humans and spirits, aimed at soothing the spirits’ anger. The article also underscores Radcliffe-Brown’s identification of two foundational concepts in anthropology during his study of the Andaman Islands: first, the Durkheimian notion of organic solidarity, and second, a unique experience of solidarity expressed through dance. Dance is interpreted as a language of social integration, serving as a key cultural practice in countering the spirits’ wrath and the resulting destruction.

Keywords: Andaman, dance, spirits, integration, anger, ritual

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