Los "quanta" en las sociedades tradicionales
Quanta in Traditional Societies
Author(s): Olivier KellerSubject(s): Cultural history, Social history, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, Culture and social structure , Social Theory
Published by: Instytut Studiów Iberyjskich i Iberoamerykańskich, Wydział Neofilologii, Uniwersytet Warszawski
Keywords: ethnography; traditional thinking; ritual cosmology; number; Indian America; Ancient Mexico;
Summary/Abstract: Many rituals in traditional societies consist of successive gestures performed in reference to certain objects, places or moments of high symbolic value, such as the points of the compass, in order to maintain or even recreate this value. When the mode of reference is a one-to-one correspondence (bijection) with the objects, places or moments in question, we will call it a quantum; and since it is a matter of reproducing a symbolic “virtue”, a power, a quality and not a quantity, we believe it is essential not to confuse quantum with number. We will give examples of quanta drawn from ethnographic literature, with particular reference to certain contemporary Mexican rituals. We will specify how the quantum diff ers from the number, and then we will put forward a hypothesis on how this concept may have appeared in traditional thought.
Journal: Itinerarios
- Issue Year: 2023
- Issue No: 37
- Page Range: 9-22
- Page Count: 14
- Language: Spanish