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Subject and Object in a Vanuatu Social Ontology

A Local Vision of Dialectics

University of Bergen, Norway, Knut.Rio{at}bm.uib.no

In this article, the author addresses the social effects of material exhibitions in Melanesia. He suggests that people in Vanuatu perceive subjects and objects within a totalizing mode of production, in which the material object takes on the capacity of encompassing social relations. He introduces the Vanuatu case as countering some of the analytical problems with materiality, especially efforts to dismantle the subject/object distinction or to understand the role of agency and will in objects.

Key Words: Ambrym Island • art and agency • ceremonial displays • mode of production • semiotic ideology • subject and object • Vanuatu

Journal of Material Culture, Vol. 14, No. 3, 283-308 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1359183509106422


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